horrible lens flare
 

used the xl1s with 16x lens for first time (christening event)
video has horrible lens flare, whenever there is a window or ceiling light also floaters are apparent, this seems to be a very disturbing problem, I also use the gl1 with no lens problem.I removed the uv filter which did help a little but still got lens flare. Never had a camera were you could not have a protective filter on the lens.
Can anyone give me some feedback on what to do?
Is this a lens defect?

George,

Something happen to me. I thing its the space between the filter and the lens that makes the lens flare.

Try this that I have not tried yet. Put a 72mm spacer between the lens to push the filter away from the lens. I am going to do this and see if it works. You may have to use 1 or 2 of them.

Good luck.

This problem you describe is most likely caused by the Optical Image Stabilization. Make sure OIS is switched off whenever shooting towards lights. Be careful to stay out of the "Green Box" (easy recording) mode, as OIS is always on when using this mode, even when it's switched off at the lens.

I have the same problem as well. I took off my 72mm protective filter as well and no help. I just try to keep it away from a light source as much as possible. In regards to the Optical Image Stabilization. What benifits are there to shutting it off other than helping with the lens flare? (sorry to change topic).

My observation is that turning off OIS can reduce a 'dancing pixie lights' effect that can be seen with bright point objects in a generally dark field.

The flare effect appears to happen mainly when shooting in a generally dark setting with a few bright objects on the frame, a rather difficult lighting situation. What I've found is effective is to keep the bright points of light from 'seeing' the lens and out of the field of view by carefully selecting camera position, and by using lens hood and flags to mask the light source when possible.

I tried turning off the Image stab during a scene here in central florida where a councilman was shot and the police vehicles lit the subject from behind, no help, I tried ganging 2 UV's together and also tried using muli coated expensive UV's. Removing Uv's. believe I have tried everything. Help at this point is replacing the lens because no one will own up to the fact that this lens has a problem.

I've seen the "dancing lights" problem and it's most usually caused by Optical Image Stabilization. Be careful not to shoot in "Green Box" (Easy Recording) mode because O.I.S. will be on even if you have it switched off.

On rare occasions I've seen UV filters cause this, but I've *never* seen this problem in the lens alone. Not saying you don't have a problem, I believe you do, just that it's completely outside my experience.

Central - sounds like you are shooting under very difficult lighting conditions. This sounds not so much like a lens problem as using the rig outside its normal operating envelope. Filters may not help the problem if the stray light is the color light you are interested in (except that a polarizer might help under some specific circumstances).

There was only one time that I had the worst lens flare ever with my XL1, 16x lens and the 3x wide. It was an outdoor wedding in September. It seems at certain times of the year and time of the day it can be the worst. Just like when your driving and the sun seems to be so hard to get away from. I think this makes lens flare the worst. I don't know if a high end, expensive camera has this problem or not but the best thing to do is "move away" from the source of bad light. In a live situation your screwed unfortunately. Sometimes you have to just get a camera shot from another postion to avoid the lens flare. It seems to me that the fall is the worst time of year for the sun, atleast here on the west coast. Must be the angle or something.

Thanks everyone, my shots though are night shots and the lights are sometimes brutal (even car headlights are bad). And a lot of the times authorities will not allow you move so you shoot what you can from where your at. watching other news clips however, I rarely see floaters, might be because others are more experienced than I am. Also in bigger cities media seemed to be more invited and have more freedom of movement than I so my angles are more limited. The problem however is costing me, unless the shots are compelling, the studio usually cuts them. I thought about trying a polarizer just as last ditch effort. I was trying to calculate when a polarizer is effective, 90 degree right angles to the source ??. Do other cameras have problems with night shots??

Quantum,
I know exactly about the weird lighting during Sept and Feb kinda comes in from one side and low and very bright .makes it really hard to shoot alot of things easy. Its really contrasty too,even for still photography. I dread it every year here in Nashville.