Fuggler, the fog is sun flare as well, IMHO. Did you look at the lens uw? It's very easy to see or not if there is fog. If you look at my shots you can see how light flare looks like fog. It's just on a plastic that isn't as sharply defined.
The corners are showing as that's where the flower petal shade isn't.
Jack
Jack, first off, thanks for taking the time to take those images.
A couple of quick comments...
Your sample, which is a bit hard to tell from the small images, appears to be much sharper (more on that issue later) and much, much sharper in the corners.. and the lens flair looks nothing like that shown with G10's.
Some of this could be from differences in how much of the lens each camera is using, as the Fuji has a slightly smaller aperture when wide open (smaller diameter).
But I believe the confusion is from two overlapping issues:
1. Lens flare will happen in the corners.
2. Any fogging of the lens, makes lens flare hugely more obvious.
The result is that what our experts think is just lens flair, is actually lens flair from the fogging...
Let me see if I can show the issue.. please take some time and compare these images with Jack's....
After entering the water...I adjusted my strobes.. they stayed in the same position during the whole dive... I initially got images like this:
Keep in mind my strobes are farther out and pointed out farther than Jack's...
And this (notice in the upper left hand side, just above the fish, there is more "flair".
Vis, by the way, was around 25 ft.
Then this:
At that point I look at the lens, and it appears that there is a very light haze on the inside of the lens... and keep in mind that I had just gone thru about an 8 degree thermalcline.
So, to see just how bad it really was.. I took this image.
Remember, I have not moved my strobes...
Non-strobe pictures.. regardless of which direction I point the camera, show the "lens flair".. into the sun... away from the sun... pointed down.. all have it (I think I know why).
So I decide to wait (how stupid of a suggestion is that one..) and see.. and go to cutting out as much normal light as possible..., and you get this:
Notice that the middle 1/3 is now pretty clear....but both sides (matching the fogged appearance above).. are just blurry... really blurry. Notice that Jack's pictures do not look like this.
So what is really happening here? Well, fogging or any film on the inside of the lens makes the lens flare issue several times bigger.
My strobe position never caused any lens flare.... but even just back scatter could make enough light to cause it to show up.
Here is another image from that dive:
Get close enough and that back scatter was not the issue, and you get blurry...they are both the same thing.
Ambient lighting, in hazy water is a killer in this regard.. as particles are reflecting light in every direction.. under those conditions...no position or method will work.
Right now, off Destin, the surface water is around 84, the air was around 90 and the bottom is 77...if there is moisture in the air space.. it will condense on the lens.. and it will do it at the sides first (thinner)...a month or so from now it will be twice that temperature gradient.
However, looking at the above video, and my lens after weeks in a cool, dry environment... there appears to be a light film on the inside... which is somewhat mottled.. just like the appearance in the video. That film gets easier to see when the lens is cooled, but it is there all the time.
To answer a couple of other "expert" points...
1. Moisture inside the air space = fogging... and telling someone on a dive to just wait 10 minutes is perhaps the stupidest suggestion I have ever heard (I timed my cold water test, and it took almost 2 hours to clear). If this is the company's "expert", it is no surprise it does not work.
2. How could I possible get the outside of the lens dry, while the inside was still fogged...wow...that one was really, really hard..I wanted the lens to cool down quickly... so I used cool water....and then....walked outside in the cool air... but as it was not going away, after a while, I just brought it in and used some warm air blowing on it until the outside was room temperature, but the inside was still cool to take the pictures...which I did not need to do, as over an hour later, it was still easy to see.
I believe they made a fair number of bad lens...and are convinced that anyone that has an issue is an idiot...could not possibly understand how to delicately use their beautiful and perfect product. I don't have a clue what that patchy haze is over the inside lens, but am willing to bet, from the images I have seen, that there are others with the same condition.
Note: To see the haze, you have to have a strong, single light source.. and look at an angle thru the lens, you also have to make sure that both surfaces on the outside are absolutely clean.
And for the record, I was trained in photography by Minor White, all my Physics classes were for physics majors and am an engineer....
