[dcpropilot]

I'm a little puzzled. My 35-70 lens is showing a white sheen in photos that I really can't explain. Here are two photos to compare:

Both taken with a light in the room that is located between the camera and the back wall.


Taken with a SMC-F 35-70mm 3.5-4.5




Taken with a SMC-F 50mm 1.7


Both photos were taken using the same 49mm metal hood. Any ideas what this could be? I looked for a white haze on the lens, but didn't see anything obvious...

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Last edited by dcpropilot; 02-21-2014 at 10:17 AM.

[Ole]

It doesn't look like haze to me. It looks as if the two images are focused differently - the first one is focused on the telescope (?) in the background, the second image is focused on the object hanging down from the lamp.

[Canada_Rockies]

I think Ole has the answer.

[oxidized]

It looks to me like the 35-70 is just less contrasty lens. Makes sense being an old zoom

[pacerr]

Perhaps relatively representative for a non-Di lens under those lighting conditions? How's it perform under more contrasty conditions?

[dcpropilot]

I think it may be the focusing....I retook the shot, this time focusing on the hanging object, and it seems to have made a difference.


Thanks everyone for the ultra-fast responses!

[MSL]

I think if you want to make a comparison like this, you need to set the 35-70 at 50mm, focus on the same region and keep the exposure settings the same. Right now this isn't an apples to apples comparison.

[dcpropilot]

I just now tried to get the settings as close to possible in the following photos. Looks pretty close to me now...


35-75mm




50mm

[DeadJohn]

I agree with others who think it's just low contrast, not haze. There's not much color and brightness variation in that scene. You're also using an old lens that might not show much contrast.

Both taken with a light in the room that is located between the camera and the back wall.

Even though the light is outside the frame, it might still be shining on the front of the lens and reducing contrast.

[Tanzer]

I agree with DeadJohn -- that looks like lens flare. When you say the light is "between the camera and the back wall", I assume you mean that the back wall is the one that we can see in the image, as opposed to another wall behind the camera. In that case, the light is likely hitting the front element and scattering inside the lens.

[Just1MoreDave]

I'm a little puzzled. My 35-70 lens is showing a white sheen in photos that I really can't explain. Here are two photos to compare:

Both taken with a light in the room that is located between the camera and the back wall.

That line makes me think light shining in the viewfinder caused the haze. I see that on really long exposures. It is a sneaky thing because normally your eye blocks the viewfinder and you aren't doing long exposures every day. The mirror blocks a lot of this stray light but it's not 100%.

[wildman]

I agree with others who think it's just low contrast, not haze.

Me too...

... souped up the tonal curve mainly in the mid-range of the first pic through PP for a bit more pop.

[narual]

This is exactly what my iPhone does when I take a photo and the flash goes off, unless I take the white case off the phone first -- the case bounces the light back at the lens or something, and everything comes across a little milky looking. But I can't imagine that's the problem you're having here… just struck me how similar it looked.

[mbukal]

I'd like to know something about me and "haze", here is an example Pentax DA17-70/4 and Tokina28-70 / 2,8 ATXPROSV, it seems to me that the Tokina sharper, I was wondering if I'll remove this haze at 70/2, 8 if you put the Hoya 77mm HMC UV (c) multi coated slim filter:


Tokina 28-80/2,8
Resolution: (1/15) sec.
Aperture: f / 2,8
Focal length: 70 mm
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
ISO Sensitivity: 400
Flash: (off)


Tokina 28-80/2,8
Resolution: (1/15) sec.
Aperture: f / 3,2
Focal length: 70 mm
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
ISO Sensitivity: 500
Flash: (off)


Pentax DA17-70/4
Resolution: (1/15) sec.
Aperture: f / 4
Focal length: 70 mm
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
ISO Sensitivity: 500
Flash: (off)


Tokina 28-70/2,8
Resolution: (1/15) sec.
Aperture: f / 4
Focal length: 70 mm
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
ISO Sensitivity: 800
Flash: (off)

[Ben_Edict]

I'd like to know something about me and "haze", here is an example Pentax DA17-70/4 and Tokina28-70 / 2,8 ATXPROSV, it seems to me that the Tokina sharper, I was wondering if I'll remove this haze at 70/2, 8 if you put the Hoya 77mm HMC UV (c) multi coated slim filter:

No a UV cut filter won't help here, as there is not much UV lighting in your indoor shot at all. What you see is the typical result of using a very fast lens fully open in a low contrast scene. The Tokina is certainly a good lens, which is pretty sharp, as far as I know, but with the aperture fully open, it will show lousy contrast. Looks nearly as bad as my old 135/1.8 Soligor, when used fully open. Nice for portraits, but for anything else, you need to step down the aperture to f/4 or f/5.6, to getter much improved contrast.

Ben