Lee (or possibly others) filter flare

[graham@edinburgh]

Is it an expected side effect to get some serious lens flare when the sun's nearby?

I'm guessing some of the coating on lens minimises/cuts it out, but this coating doesn't apply to filters?

Bit of an extreme example but still :

[matthew_h]

I got a very similar result with my Cokin filters when shooting into the sun in this shot:



Makes it look like the lens is dirty.

I think it is pretty unavoidable if you have a slide in filter and shoot at the sun although I am more than happy to hear otherwise.

[beano500]

I think you'll find that all lenses and filters will flare to some extent if you include the sun in the shot, or have inadequate hood for sun (and other light) at an angle.

If you don't want flare: a) don't point the glass at the light! and/or b) don't add more layers of glass than necessary - I prefer not to use filters at all and c) always use lens hood (though it would make no difference head on!)

On a related issue, I change my 20mm lens hood from an HB-4 to an HB-1 (which is designed for a 28mm) when I realised that there was a possibility of curtting out risk of flare due to going to smaller APS-C sensor size.