This picture isn't MINI-related, other than it's an exterior shot of the hotel we stayed at during a club run.



The picture was taken a little bit before sunrise, using ambient light. The lens is an older (mid-80's) 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. The exposure was 1/13s, and the lens was wide open (f/1.8).

The obvious problem is the green ghosts of the hotel lights. The ghosts are rotated 180 degrees relative to the lights that caused them.

I've had this happen in daylight shots as well. In those cases, the ghost is usually of a sparkle off of a piece of chrome or something similar. I just posted this one because it's the most-drastic example of the ghosting I've gotten so far.

I haven't had this lens for very long, so I was wondering if there's something wrong with the lens, or if this is just something I'm going to have to be careful of while shooting at large apertures when there are point-sources of light present.

The lens is unfiltered, except for a UV protective filter.

 

its filter flare

see http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...ght=lens+flare

Night shots ... dont use the UV filter

 

Thanks for the link - after doing some more research, I also concluded it was probably the filter.

I get into the habit of regarding the clear UV filters as just being there to protect the front lens element - I often forget that they *do* affect the image as well.

I'll try a few shots without the filter and see if that clears things up.

 

Yeah, either UV or skylight 1A will protect the lens

If your going to use an UV, and want top quality pics, you need to buy a top quality UV filter and they can cost over $100

For example, it makes no sense to add a $20 normal UV filter in front of a $1000 lens with flouride elements in it. You just degraded the picture on that $1K lense!

 

It could also be from the lens itself. You don't mention brand or size, but cheaper lens will not have the best coatings or elements.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the UV filter. The lens is a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. It's not an expensive lens (about $100), but it's highly regarded as one of the sharpest lenses Nikon has ever made. Many photographers like it better than the faster f/1.4 and f/1.2 versions, since those aren't particularly sharp unless you stop them down to f/2.0 or f/2.8.

 

I agree....it's not the lens. Non of my Nikkor lens have ever given me any kinds of problems like that.