Hi guys, I know the subject has been touched.However, lens flare in my canon xl1s is very hard to defeat. I am not using any filters at night and have a standard 16x lens. I simply want to be able to shoot at night and not have a candle or any other light source create a huge vertical lens flare. Sometimes there is not enough time to flag the lights and a large lens hood eliminates your wide shots to an extent. The canon lens seems to be hugely sensitive to brite light in the day and night. Have there been any new solutions to this problem.I have noticed expensive broadcast cameras can shoot directly into a light (example stadium) and they have no problem at all. Advice would be great.

Rob, I just stumbled over your post.

What you describe sounds like "vertical smear" to me. That is not a problem of the lens but of the CCD. There is no cure for that other than upgrading to the XL2 :-((

I run into the same problem. It is called vertical smear, and is directly related to the size of the image chips inside the camera. 1/4" chips in cameras like the GL1 and GL2 have an even greater problem with vertical smear. A camera with bigger chips is the only way to avoid this issue.

True lens flare is common to all lenses. It is minimized to a great extent by manufacturers with special coatings on the lens glass; by the user with polarizing filters, and the use of carefully designed lens hoods called matte boxes.

Another problem I have experienced with including bright lights in my camera,s field of view is the effect upon the auto focus system. I believe turning off the image stabilizer may reduce focus shifting in this regard.

That's right - the CCD smear of the original XL1 was very dissapointing indeed, and Sony trounced Canon in that department with their PD150. I'm glad to hear the XL2 is better - it deserves to be.

tom.