My very 1st noob night shoot - help.


zenny

New Member
Dec 6, 2010
29
0
0
After getting my D7K in Dec (latest fw), tonite was my 1st attempt at shooting manual and nite shoot.
A disappointment as I dont really know what went wrong.

Shot several pics using tripod with 35mm 1.8 lens.
Settings: Manual, 8" at f8, 15" at f11 and f16 and all had these on every nite shot. ISO 100 for all shots. Long exp NR=ON, High ISO NR=LOW
My day shots were ok though.
As I'm new to dslr, I'm not sure if its the lens or the cam or maybe me....:embrass:



Any advice, guidance appreciated!
 

Last edited:
Did you remove your UV filter when shooting at night?

Try that... and most of bright dots will disappear. BTW, they are called ghosting, and are reflections of the bright lights in the scene. If you look closely, you will be able to match the pattern of the lights to the bright lights in the scene.
 

lets say for some reason, removing the filter is not an option. What you can do is change position or change the angle.
 

Did you remove your UV filter when shooting at night?

Try that... and most of bright dots will disappear. BTW, they are called ghosting, and are reflections of the bright lights in the scene. If you look closely, you will be able to match the pattern of the lights to the bright lights in the scene.

Hi,

Does ghosting appears on all (cheap and expensive) UV Filters? Or just more often on cheap ones?
 

Did you remove your UV filter when shooting at night?

Try that... and most of bright dots will disappear. BTW, they are called ghosting, and are reflections of the bright lights in the scene. If you look closely, you will be able to match the pattern of the lights to the bright lights in the scene.

Ok, I'm the likely culprit then as I had forgotten to remove the UV filter due to my excitement to try out night shots. Gosh, feel like a fool.
Am using Hoya HMC UV filter btw.
 

lets say for some reason, removing the filter is not an option. What you can do is change position or change the angle.

Point noted. Will take note of this tip. Thank you.
 

Hi,

Does ghosting appears on all (cheap and expensive) UV Filters? Or just more often on cheap ones?

They will appear on all filters. The better the filter, the less it shows... but will still show a bit once in a while even with the best filters...

Even with no filters, sometimes will get a little ghosting. In that case, all you can do is to adjust the angle you are shooting from.
 

They will appear on all filters. The better the filter, the less it shows... but will still show a bit once in a while even with the best filters...

Even with no filters, sometimes will get a little ghosting. In that case, all you can do is to adjust the angle you are shooting from.

Thanks....Having some ghosting issue with my current cheap UV at some scenes where changing angles didn't help (have to remove it). May be getting a better grade UV (probably Hoya HMC) ones.
 

Thanks....Having some ghosting issue with my current cheap UV at some scenes where changing angles didn't help (have to remove it). May be getting a better grade UV (probably Hoya HMC) ones.

Why do you need a filter in the first place? At night there is hardly any UV to be filtered out. Your lens was designed and built to work perfectly fine without filter. Why wasting money on something that is not required? Learn to be careful and alert. Get a lens hood for additional mechanical protection, it also blocks stray light. Lens front elements are tough, there is no need to be scared that they will disintegrate upon first contact with a finger.
Most UV filters today seem to be a convenient way of making money for many shops.
 

Last edited:
Why do you need a filter in the first place? At night there is hardly any UV to be filtered out. Your lens was designed and built to work perfectly fine without filter. Why wasting money on something that is not required? Learn to be careful and alert. Get a lens hood for additional mechanical protection, it also blocks stray light. Lens front elements are tough, there is no need to be scared that they will disintegrate upon first contact with a finger.
Most UV filters today seem to be a convenient way of making money for many shops.

What I'm more scared is that the lens get scratched by sharp objects and not "disintegrate upon contact with a finger". Gotta be careful is one thing but accidents is another......
 

What I'm more scared is that the lens get scratched by sharp objects and not "disintegrate upon contact with a finger". Gotta be careful is one thing but accidents is another......
I prefer to have images without filter flare. Being scared just prevents people from exploring new things.
Read here for more details about damages to lenses and the resulting effects: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=842148
Keep in mind that your lens is not an investment, it will not accumulate value, it will depreciate. It is meant to be used, it is designed to stand a lot of things. Just use it. My lenses (even the simple kit lens) have been to dusty and sandy areas, have seen rain drizzle and sea water splashes, got their fair share of knocks and bumps and even one drop from one meter level. Not that you should do the same, but all lenses do well, still. None has any filter. In contrast, we have had multiple threads here about filters damaged by knocks and falls and the filter glass got split. The filters got stuck with damaged filter threads.
Most lens hoods are mounted on the lens barrel, not the front element like a filter. Which means: the knock is caught by soft plastic, the energy is spread and the weakest link (= the first to break) is the mounting clip of the lens hood. In addition, the protruding design of a lens hood makes it more difficult for anything to hit the front element.
Filters have metal rings, are screwed in (more or less tight) to the front element and whatever knock hits the filter ring will be forwarded to the lens directly.
 

I prefer to have images without filter flare. Being scared just prevents people from exploring new things.
Read here for more details about damages to lenses and the resulting effects: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=842148
Keep in mind that your lens is not an investment, it will not accumulate value, it will depreciate. It is meant to be used, it is designed to stand a lot of things. Just use it. My lenses (even the simple kit lens) have been to dusty and sandy areas, have seen rain drizzle and sea water splashes, got their fair share of knocks and bumps and even one drop from one meter level. Not that you should do the same, but all lenses do well, still. None has any filter. In contrast, we have had multiple threads here about filters damaged by knocks and falls and the filter glass got split. The filters got stuck with damaged filter threads.
Most lens hoods are mounted on the lens barrel, not the front element like a filter. Which means: the knock is caught by soft plastic, the energy is spread and the weakest link (= the first to break) is the mounting clip of the lens hood. In addition, the protruding design of a lens hood makes it more difficult for anything to hit the front element.
Filters have metal rings, are screwed in (more or less tight) to the front element and whatever knock hits the filter ring will be forwarded to the lens directly.

Thanks. Will keep it in mind.


Seriously, was impressed by how much damage a lens can take....(not that I will deliberately try it) Thanks for the link.
 

Last edited:
daredevil123 said:
They will appear on all filters. The better the filter, the less it shows... but will still show a bit once in a while even with the best filters...

Even with no filters, sometimes will get a little ghosting. In that case, all you can do is to adjust the angle you are shooting from.

+1 for this.

Or if adjusting the angle of shooting is not possible, last resort can be cloning it out in pp.
 

Hm I've shattered a filter, with rest of the lens intact. I think the filter can absorb some amount of impact energy, depending on what kind of hit it was and at what angle.

Anyway you can just photoshop them away for now :p