TS-E 17mm weird mini-flare on edges?

[thatcherk1]

I just picked up a TS-E 17mm yesterday and was doing some test shots with it on my 5Dii. I notice that when there is a bright light just outside of my frame it creates a mini-flare on the edge where the light is nearest to. It isn't centered in the frame, it's just on the edge. When viewing in live-view I pan across the light and it does such a strange flare sort of thing. These are bright street lights, or indoor lamps, but they aren't bright enough to flare out the whole image, just on the side of the frame. This problem is present when tilted and shifted to the extreme as well as when the lens is centered. In fact, I can get the flare to react without panning the camera. I simply lock off the tripod with the light out of frame, then shift the lens until it's in frame and I see the flare moving and reacting to the edge of my image as I shift the lens.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is this normal? Does it have something to do with internal reflections in my 5D because the lens has such a large image circle? I tried googling, but all I could find was that the lens performs great with standard flare.

I'll try and post some pictures at some point. And I might try it on my 7D.

 

[Viggo]

Haven|t really experienced this, but if the lens is tilted and shifted maximum, you have moved the center away from center, and it could be something like that.

I can try with mine if you have the exact tilted shift rotate settings on the lens. I can try and replicate it.

 

[NWPhil]

I was looking at this lens, before deciding for the 24mm - for what I did read on field reports, tests, etc, this lens is prone to lens flare due to the front element's shape.
It might be an issue that you have to deal with, and put some extra effort with set up. Post the pic and meanwhile contact canon itself and see if they can answer that better.
Hope is just that - it is a lens I will consider in a near future...

 

[thatcherk1]

Here are some samples.

The first is a still that I took last night. There is a street lamp just outside the frame on both sides of the image. They created a sort of strip of darkness. You can see it better on the left side. These lamps weren't bright enough to produce a normal flare across the lens, but they were able to do this weird business on the sides.

The following videos are a test that I just did with a flashlight. One is a pan of the camera with a stationary flashlight. You can see a normal lens flare across the frame, which looks normal, but you can also see this weird flare that seems related to the edge of the frame more than to the image circle that the lens produces. This is more obvious in the test that has a locked-off camera and I was shifting the lens horizontally revealing the flashlight. In this test, the lens and light aren't changing angles, so a normal lens flare wouldn't change much. However as the lens shifts there is a distinct flare that comes from the side, and when the flashlight is out of frame in a specific spot it gives off that dark band that you see in the still image of Griffith Observatory.

Panning Video
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatcherkelley/6679348181/

Shifting Video
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatcherkelley/6679351661/

I have a friend who suggested that it might be due to the image circle being larger. He said that bright lights that are apparent in the image circle (but not covered by the sensor) can bounce around in the camera housing and cause this kind of flare. He said he has seen it in some video cameras where the solution is to glue black felt around the sensor to reduce this light bounce. This is not possible with a SLR's plethora of moving parts. I've never seen this phenominon with a crop camera and a full frame lens, but maybe that's because crop cameras are designed with that problem in mind. Or maybe my friend is full of it.

And finally, I also just tested this with my 7D and it does the same thing. It's not as prominent, but still the flare still very obviously plays off the edge of the image area vs a standard flare.

Thanks for any help.

 

[kirispupis]

I have the TS-E 17 and yes it is prone to flare. You need to be very cautious when using this lens to photograph outdoors, because if there are any light sources just out of the frame they will cause flare.

For this reason I typically use my TS-E 24 II when photographing outdoors as it does not have this problem. The TS-E 17 is usually too wide for the task anyways (though it looks very fitting for your example). I use my TS-E 17 much more often for interiors where the issue is rarer.

 

[thatcherk1]

Great thanks!

I can live with this flare. I just picked up the lens yesterday and this was my first shot. I guess somewhat of a stress test seeing that I had identical lamps just outside the frame on both sides of the camera. I now know what to avoid, and to bring my french flag with me when I shoot.
I've just been googling and googling and reading that the lens is prone to flare, but it is nicely managed and looks good (as far as flare goes). But this flare that I encountered wasn't what I expected and I couldn't find any info on it. I just want to make sure I don't have a faulty lens. Now that I know it's normal, I can go have fun shooting with it and not worry.

On a side note, I got the 17mm to replace my 16-35 for ultra-wide landscapes because my 16-35ii is just not sharp enough on the edges. When I shoot 24mm on the other hand, I use my 24-70 which is much much nicer than my 16-35 in terms of edge sharpness. I hear the TS-E 24mm is Canon's sharpest lens, but is it significantly sharper than the 24-70 at 24mm? I've been selling large prints (24x36) of my work lately and want to know how significant of a difference it would make on a print that size. Any thoughts?

 

[Viggo]

I hear the TS-E 24mm is Canon's sharpest lens, but is it significantly sharper than the 24-70 at 24mm? I've been selling large prints (24x36) of my work lately and want to know how significant of a difference it would make on a print that size. Any thoughts?

In, short, YES. And in longer YES. Check this out.

http://thedigitalpicture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=101&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=0&LensComp=486&CameraComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0

And that's not even considering the HUGE difference in barrel distortion.