Robert Deutsch wrote:
Serial number: 335083
Date code:?? Where is it?
The date code is on the opposite side from the serial number. It is etched into the black material and not very easy to see. Hold the lens vertically over a bright light and you'll see the code.
I haven't encountered any flare during my 200+ shots. I have tried to see the flare as directed, but still no luck. Mind you that I haven't tried very hard as it sounds rediculous to try to create a problem I probably will not see if I shoot 'normally' .
Not sure if this matters: I used my 1D with my 24-105 to try to see this 'feature'.
I can reproduce the issue in sunlight every time at f/4 and 24mm. And the light source doesn't need to be in the frame at all. Just has to be about a 45 degree angle.
Pop it up to f/5.6 or 26mm+ and it goes away.
By the way...Canon has admitted that it's a flaw in the lens in general. Every lens produced will have it, so posting serial numbers in this specific case won't be of any use. They're all defective...in a cool, light-from-heaven kind of way.
Edit: Hmmm...just read somewhere else that someone with an "EXTREMELY reliable" source says that not all the lenses have the problem. That's contradictory from what I've been told, but so far we've had lots of people told lots of different things by various spokes of Canon. Maybe some of them are ok...I doubt it, or else Canon would have caught the problem at the time the line was changed, I would think...but who am I to say?
File: 100_0008.CR2
File size: 7,068KB
Camera Model: Canon EOS 20D
Date/Time: 2005:10:21 13:51:55
Shutter speed: 1/10 sec
Aperture: 4
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -1
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Single frame shooting
ISO: 400
Lens: 24 to 105mm
Focal length: 24mm
AF mode: One-shot AF
Image size: 3504 x 2336
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto
Color space: AdobeRGB
In two weeks shooting I have not seen the flare so this morning I tried introducing it by shooting at 24 F4 with a bright desk lamp at about a 35-40 degree angle. After a number of tries this is what I got.
Oh Charles, just buy one already. Something tells me that even the price of a "defective" lens that a seller *needs* to get rid of will still be only slightly less than retail because, hey, it's still LNIB.
charlesk wrote:
Wow, this flare problem is really bad. I can't imagine anyone wanting to use a defective lens like that... so someone should sell theirs to me.
Out of curiosity, does the effect manifest itself differently on FF vs 1.3x or 1.6x sensors? Would seem that it should...
c
My shot of the desk/computer was on FF, haven't used the lens much on the 20D but will try.
Is this really a problem, who the heck shoots into the sun or lights like this? If it happens with the hood too, then I understand. Any sense that this is a real prolem vs. misuse?
I previously posted that I have not seen the "heavenly light" flare in normal picture-taking, and this remains true. However, I did some more testing and found the effect, albeit under extreme conditions that I would normally avoid (bright light from a bare lightbulb just outside the frame, the light mere inches from the lens), and I'm now convinced that this indeed represents a defect/anomaly that needs to be fixed. What concerns me is not so much the flare pattern (which *is* unusual) but the fact that I did not see it in the viewfinder, which has been reported by others. This is quite peculiar. Although I still think that the problem is very unlikely to occur in normal shooting, it really shouldn't be there. I'll be sending the lens in for repair/update when it's available. The first picture shows the effect, the second, from almost the same position, is free of it.
i have taken tons of pictures with my other L lens that featured flare due to my shooting into the sun or light...i always chalked it up as a mistake on my part...now we have people here on the forum taking 100's of pictures without problems and attempting to recreate the problem....is there a lens that exists that if you work hard enough with that wont exhibit flare under the right circumstances?...im not trying to whitewash a problem im just making an observation that comes from my use of several l lens....i find this whole thing very interesting
