Light bouncing back into lens? (Super Speed mk 2 k 3)

[Brant Hadfield]

Has anyone else had issues with PL mount lenses like the Super Speeds getting light thrown back into the lens causing a light blue circle whose shape and size varies with, and matches, the lens aperture? The issue is most acute in the 18mm and 25mm, and happens with a strong lit source in the frame, direct or indirect. I am not talking about the sensor flare. This is a light blue area which opens and closes with aperture. Solutions? I love the Super Speeds on the Red (Scarlet in my case), but this issue gives me a lot of trouble. I have seen it now on two sets - the MKii and MKIII.

 

[Shane Kelly]

do you have a sensor guard installed? The lack of this used to cause more of a flare than a circle but just checking.

 

[Daniel Soderberg]

I have used my Mk 2 Speeds on Epic for a year now and never seen anything like that... What is the light source that is shining into the lens?

 

[Brant Hadfield]

I don't have a sensor guard, but that sounds interesting.

The light source could be a lightly colored building reflecting direct sun, it could be a direct light source. Anything that throws a lot of lit into the lens, creates this halo like circle, center is screen midpoint, and the edges are clearly the blades of the aperture. Stop it down and the light blur circle gets smaller, open up, bigger. It is an area of faintly raised black levels and bluish tint. Several people who've seen it on the monitor believe light is "getting in" or bouncing back into the lens from the back. It is most sharply evident in the wider lenses, the 18 and 25, though I have seen it more faintly in the 35. If I can post a pic I will. Seems strange others aren't seeing this sometimes. Are there any known issues with the baffling in front of the OLPF?

 

[Adam Eden]

I shoot with mk iI super speeds nearly every day. I personally own an epic m and x. I never have the problems you Are experiencing. A s I have owned an epic since day dot. If you get white streaking from lights then that's the flare guard fix. All epic x models have that installed . I get red rings sometimes when I am at t2.8 and point the camera directly at the sun. But that is the Olpf issue that nearly all digital cameras have

 

[ericyoung]

Picture will definitely help to diagnose the problem.

 

[Brant Hadfield]

Well the camera in question here is actually a Scarlet. I posted on the Epic section thinking that part of the camera's construction identical, and more people would be exposed to the problem I have had with the Zeiss Supers. My everyday lenses, an assortment of Nikon, a Tokina wide, several Canons, never have this issue. I will have to hunt through some footage to see if I ever rolled on the problem. I generally would not! When it is there, it can be remedied by changing the shot away from the light source, but that is often exactly where I want the lens pointed. I will be getting the lenses shipped to me in a week for a shoot, so hopefully I will find an example in old footage before then.

 

[Brant Hadfield]

Any chance my issue is due to both sets of Super Speeds I have used being in need of internal cleaning? Some sort of film from decades of moisture condensation and evaporation?

 

[Rolf Kestermann]

I have the the same issue with my Super speeds, especially the 18, 25 and 35.They will create a purple hot spot in the middle of the frame when closed down past about 5.6 with a bright surrounding and a dark center. The only way around it is to use a ND 12 with or without a Hot Mirror filter. The reason is the OLPF between the sensor and the lenses which were
designed to look at raw stock with nothing in between.

 

[Brant Hadfield]

Yeah, that is it exactly. And it seems to me that opening further than 5.6 just fills the frame with that lightened area. I dont think it actually goes away. What makes little sense to me is how few people seem to have, or notice this issue. What about newer glass and Epic/Scarlet?

edit: watching House of Cards (Epic, Master Primes), I think I am seeing similar tendencies, though maybe less pronounced. Except for the shot in Ep 10 or 11 when the prostitute throws the curtains open in the hotel room. I didn't go back and look at that brief shot again, but in real time, it looked similar.