lens reflection/flare/halo

Has anyone else sometimes notice a reflection/flare/halo when taking video underwater, when the light reflects back from lens to the dome port and then on to the final result, showing as 1-2 silver rings? I have attached some frame grabs to illustrate the point.

I am using an Equinox housing w Panasonic GS400 camera and sometimes an additional wide angle lens converter that came with the housing. These rings appear quite often and drive me nuts.

Can anything be done? Are other Equinox users seeing this?

it happens with some cameras when you point it at the sun badly ...i have never seen it this bad though ... does the lens ending have metal on it ?

one thing to try is to paint it with black (permanent marker or something) next extreme to go to is put black felt on it. It almost seems ridiculous for it to be happening though as you got it even when pointing downwards. I dont understand how the light got to it to reflect when pointing downwards .. thats weird.

Hopefully youve not had the housing too long....Get a refund! What kind of design would end up with those results. We all get reflection when shooting into the sun but shooting down too ?!? Sack 'em.

I was trying to film a wreck in pitched black 35 degrees water yesterday here in Tallinn and even with the dual (but quite weak, 35 and 75 halogen) external lights the lighted details of the wreck created this relfection. Initially I also thought that this happens only in clear blue waters when sunlight from surface enters the dome port when you shoot upwards, but this experience proved me wrong.

I have these problems both with the additional W/A lens as well as without it.

The W/A lens is a Sakar 0.45x 58 mm lens. So when using that, there are no camera silver parts visible. I have attached 2 photos of the w/a lens and as you can see, many rings are created by it internally, so nothing can be matted or painted black there. Could other w/a lenses be better? Or do they also have similar appearance which would relfect on the dome? What do the Sony and Keno W/A lenses look like from the front?

Without the additional lens, the rings (just somewhat different) appear. In that case I could paint some part of the camera silver rings black, just I am afraid that even in that case the camera lens itself might relfect from the dome. Without the w/a lens the camera is also at least 2/3 inces from the dome port internal surface, which I assume makes things even worse.

I recommend that you make a matte black paper lens hood and put in to the lens before mounting in the housing. Cut the hood so that it has 4 petals - 2 top and two side - and so that it's JUST out of the picture. Mount it on the lens w/ tape.

Good luck!

James

It seems that it is the result of direct light hitting the wide angle lens. james has the right idea. the light needs to be flaged from the lens to loose the rings.

can you take a picture of the front of the housing with the camera mounted in it???

The disturbing reflection is caused most likely by light coming in front. Make a reflection shield (like you see in regular teleobjectives) outside the port covering it from light coming outside the field of wideangle. There was someone having similar problems with Equinox in Thailand and wrote about it in ScubaBoard.com.

Do you think these issues are solved with Equinox's new design of their front lens panel? Notice that in these pictures the front panel is solid yellow, like the tube itself, instead of a clear plastic. Seems with this design that way less light would enter the housing from the front. These images were sent to me today from Equinox, before I came across this thread.

Other than the reflection issues mentioned in this thread, are the Equinox housings reliable and built well? Do they feel solid? They certainly look solid.

Thanks!

hi,

i had the same problem w/ reflection using Equinox. in the beginning it was much worse than it shows in your pictures. i taped and used marker pen and changed wide angle lenses. it got a bit better than with using the crap Equinox sent w/ the housing but still not good. after taping and using the marker pen i placed the red filter's rubber ring further from the housing, and that made it better, but i could NEVER film anything from below (shooting up). to get rid of all reflection you need to have a shade that sticks out at least 5 cm.

Why wouldn't this be a problem with other housings? So, you don't think the newly designed front panel will help solve the reflection issue?

Scott

THE FULL STORY (Sasha/Tom)

I think it is important to know that Equinox has stood behind their product and offered to fix the reflection problem at no charge to any customer. Equinox admits to the reflection issue with their particular units and has done everything in their power to accommodate the customer.

Equinox offered to fix the problem and cover standard shipping of the product. Would another manufacturer do that?

All housing manufacturers experience a hiccup from time to time. It is important on how that company deals with the problem tells whether that company is worth dealing with.

I welcome all questions and concerns about our products and stand behind our products.

We have offered an affordable underwater video housing solution for 14 years and have thousands of satisfied customers and we have always tried to do right by our customers.

TJ Mansfield

EQuinox