Lens reflection with wide angle lens (Olympus 9 - 18mm)

[Andreni]

Hey there

There is already a similar thread about lens reflections in "Strobes and lightening" but I did not get a helpful response, so i post it again here :kiss2::

For Palau and Iceland I rented the 9-18mm wide angle lens and matching dome port for my omd em5. I love to shoot against the sun to show the rays of the sun behind the corals. And if I did this, it didn't matter if I shooted with or without flash i always had the problem with reflection of the lens on the pictures. For Iceland the white writing was masked for Palau not. But both of the times I had the same problem. Is there no way to prevent this reflection? With my normal lens 12-50mm this doesn't happen, just with the wide angle lens. I wanted to buy a wide angle lens but this somehow restrained me from doing it.

Example here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129373933@N02/21275715866/in/album-72157658024211489/ (if you zoom in you can even read Olympus, which really annoys me).

I would be so happy if somebody could tell me how i have to shoot such pictures without reflection..

Thanks a lot!

 

[JackConnick]

Hi;

You can use a anti-reflective ring that Olympus makes for the 9-18 it is part #260543. But you might also try cutting some strips of black gaffer's tape and covering the lettering on the front of the lens.

 

[Andreni]

As i wrote: for Iceland the white letters where covered with tape (or a ring, whatever). There still was a reflection when shooting upwards.. On most of those pictures you can see the lens... So this doesn't seem to be the solution to my problem...

Any other idea?

 

[Storker]

If you've covered all that can be covered and still get a reflection, the only option is to point your camera so that less light enters the dome.

You can't beat the physics.


--
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Typos are a feature, not a bug

 

[JackConnick]

Larger glass domes can help, but that's about it.

 

[Andreni]

Ok, I think i got this....

But why does it only happen with the wide angle lens and not with my normal lens 12 - 40 (or 50, the one you can switch to Macro)?

 

[Storker]

Same port, or different? Anyway, different lens.

=> Lens-dome distance, reflection angles.

 

[Ryan B.]

Per a suggestion elsewhere on this site, an inexpensive 52-62mm step-up ring works well. (I couldn't gather from your statement, "for Iceland the white letters where covered with tape (or a ring, whatever)" whether or not you'd tried one.)

 

[Nemrod]

Basically if you shoot into the sun "to show the rays" you are also going to show the reflections. Glass domes with antireflective coatings are going to work better than acrylic domes and larger domes are going to have less reflections than smaller domes. Making sure there are absolutely no reflective surfaces inside and behind the dome is critical and of course that there is no light from the strobes, external or leaking internally, but in the end it is simple physics, even the best lenses and domes are not 100% transparent and will reflect light themselves and bounce it about, when you aim directly into the sun you will get reflections. Sometimes by aiming the camera lens slightly one way or the other you can find an angle that works satisfactorily but in the end, it is what it is.

N

 

[RTee]

Andreni,I had a very similar experience but using my 14-42 inside Nauticam 4.5 semi-dome and it was not even taken facing the sun ...just over a very white sandy bottom (on a sunny day). Did not happen when using the 12-50 in that port.