Nokton 50mm flare

[mascarenhas]

Hi,

I got really bad veiling flare (bad as covering a good portion of the frame, around 20%-30%) from my new Nokton today, shooting against the sun about a couple hours from sunset (the sun wasn't in the frame, but outside the frame, on the top and to the side), with the included hood. Does anyone here had a similar experience? Do you have a better hood to recommend for this lens? There were just three shots against the sun in the roll, the third one had some flare but not as bad (but the sun was lower, around 1 hour to sunset), so I got a little worried.

 

[mascarenhas]

This is what I am talking about (straigth scans from Epson 4490 with Epson scan, resized to 800 pixels in the longest dimension in Lightroom, 75% jpeg quality):

 

[fidget]

Thanks for posting these. I will run a few frames on testing my Nokton 50mm for this feature. Better to be aware of what can happen than to ruin a days shooting.

Aside from the flare, your last picture has a little flash too? The chap on the right appears to be almost sans trousers, bad case of builder's bum?

 

[ferider]

Pretty bad. You using a filter on the lens ?

Roland.

 

[troym]

Fabio: Do you have a silver or black lens?

 

[rich815]

Pretty bad. You using a filter on the lens ?

Roland.

I was thinking the same thing. Looks like the kind of flare a skylight/UV filter on the front would produce in such situations.

 

[markinlondon]

A filter certainly won't help in that kind of light and the Nokton hood is pretty minimal too. I certainly got more flare with mine in low light club stage shooting situations than my Summicrons. It's probably why I sold it apart from the size which made me never want to carry it around.

Well spotted, Fidget

 

[mascarenhas]

Black. Bought used here at RFF, but it's as close to mint as these things get. And no filter, I don't bother with skylight. I think it was bad luck with the sun's position, you can see the light is coming in a similar angle on both shots... I'll ask again, is there a better suggestion for a hood? I think I'll try some of the cheap metal screw-in hoods some guys sell at eBay, at $10 it's a cheap experiment (and they seem to extend a little more than the CV one).

Fabio: Do you have a silver or black lens?

 

[markinlondon]

A 52mm folding rubber hood should be dirt cheap and better than the supplied model, it will show up more in the finder but you should be able to cut a vent in it with a craft knife very easily.

 

[Rogrund]

According to Mr. Gandy, the Voigtlander LH-3 hood fits the 50/1.5 Nokton.

 

[mascarenhas]

Hahahaha, I only noticed THAT after I took the shot.

Don't get me wrong, the Nokton seems a wonderful lens from the couple rolls I shot with it. It's very sharp, and did well in strong backlight in shots where the sun's rays are not falling obliquely. It was money well spent! My Jupiter 9 flares much much more easily, and the flare is much worse.

Thanks for posting these. I will run a few frames on testing my Nokton 50mm for this feature. Better to be aware of what can happen than to ruin a days shooting.

Aside from the flare, your last picture has a little flash too? The chap on the right appears to be almost sans trousers, bad case of builder's bum?

 

[mascarenhas]

The LH-3 is good for less VF blockage, as it's vented, but I doubt it protects more, being for a 35mm lens... About the rubber hood, I have one, apart from being ugly it blocks almost a quarter of the M3 VF. Cutting a hole in it does not make it a vented hood, because in the vented hoods the "vent" is perpendicular, isn't it? Cutting a hole in a rubber hood would let light in anyway.

According to Mr. Gandy, the Voigtlander LH-3 hood fits the 50/1.5 Nokton.

 

[Nokton48]

Looks like hot, tropical sun.

You could try creating a shadow onto the lens with your hand, or a hat, in such extreme situations. That's actually -quite- effective. The stock CV hoods are minimal, in their sheilding qualities, IMO.

 

[x-ray]

The flare from my tabbed summicron was worse.

 

[BrianPhotog]

Looks like hot, tropical sun.

You could try creating a shadow onto the lens with your hand, or a hat, in such extreme situations. That's actually -quite- effective. The stock CV hoods are minimal, in their sheilding qualities, IMO.

I've had mu Nokton for a couple of years and don't think I've ever gotten flaring this badly with it...and I'm in "hot & tropical" Taiwan...well, now there's a typhoon closing...but generally

 

[Mazurka]

Looks like the sun was shining on the front element at an oblique angle. You'd have caught it with an SLR.

Next time, wear a hat or place your hand above the lens.

 

[selma-1]

The Voigtlander LH-3 hood does fit but not all that well. I didn't like it and sold mine.

 

[thafred]

I have similar experience regarding flare at oblique angles with the Nokton..looks exactly like your pictures ...

since the hood was no help i ditched it and didn´t get a larger one because even without hood I dislike the Noktons size so that obviously wouldnt help. I use a good b&w mrc UV filter up front now with no hood and flare isn´t too much a issue only in some situations like the above. the filter at least didn´t worsen the lenses flare behavior Imhe...

I´d say work with it! ether use your hand to cast a shadow on the front element or change the composition, I think the Noktons flare is very predictable so it can be worked around and the lens unquestionable gives very good results otherwise so it´s worth working around the flare..

also sometimes exactly this flare can give pretty good results ;-)

 

[mascarenhas]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I will take more care with the Nokton and the sun here in the tropics (as if worrying about burning holes in my shutter wasn't enough ). A couple shots with flare is no big deal, I had 50 flare-free shots last weekend, the Nokton is worth every penny.