Need Help w/ Wide Angle Lens Flare

Just returned from some diving in Eilat (Red Sea).

One of my favorite dives is a site called Moses Rock. This pinnacle/bommie is filled with hard & soft corals. It's got clowds of anthias. The highlight are the glassy fish.

Here's the problem: I'm using a budget rig.

Olympus SP-310 & PT-030

Sea & Sea wide angle lens originally made for Nikonos

Sea & Sea YS-60 strobe & Matthias Heinrich optical adapter

When pointed toward the sun, the Sea & Sea lens tends to flare. I've tried using my hand as a shade. While I can't complain about a lens purchased on eBay for $100, does anybody know of some processing tools that can fix lens flare?

I've attached a sample photo.

Thanks!

Hey Desert,

I know that happens on occasion even topside with a regular lens which is why they have a glare shade on the telephoto extensions. I'm not sure what would fix that. It would be difficult and painfully long but you could fix it using the cloning tool in PS. Did this glare happen at every angle pointed toward the sun?

Hi Gary,

I'm guessing there is some optical irregularity between the PT-030 and Sea & Sea lens.

The trick was to try to keep any bright light out of the middle of the frame. I did over 200 photos on each dive, so there were plenty of keepers. Still using the old SP-310 camera. Lithium batteries, plus using the flash at slave power setting 1 was great for quick recycle.

The rest are at: www.pbase.com/krancer/eilat

Hi Desert,

Interesetingly enough I just read an article in this months scuba diving magazine by Stephen Frink. It was in a section titled Q&A with Stephen Frink. Fascinating stuff as I think it will definitely help me. In this article it suggests that small bubbles will sometimes adhere to the lens creating wierd artifact in the photo. Don't know if that's what you were experiencing or not but he suggesting fanning the port with your hand to remove them.