Circular aberrations in night photos

I am getting circular aberrations in night outdoor photos. The lense is throughly clean and these aberrations show up in multiple cameras taking pictures of the same subject at the same time. Different photos do not have these circular on the files. These photos are not of the sky and no light source is visable on the horizon that might effect the image. There does not appear to be any moisture dropletts on the lense. I also have taken several of the images inside an airconditioned room, with what appears to be similar aberrations. They are all take away from any light source or surface that might relect light into the lense.

Several friends claim these are orbs

Any idea what is the probable cause of these aberrations.

Alchemist
Houston, TX

without any images to look at it would be impossible for a sane person to know what the H.E.(double hockeysticks)!! you are talking about.

Given that I don't suffer from the aforementioned limmitations, I'll hazzard a guess anyways...

If you were shooting in a cool (airconditioned) environment, a light (perhaps imperceptable) amount of condensation (or mould) may have formed on any (not necessarily the outer) lens surface and acted as a difuser, causing a circular halo around any bright spots in the image area.
I have some great ones, done on purpose with my 85mm soft focus lens.
You post your, I'll post mine....

Are they anything like this:




This was with a 5MP Sony DSC-T3; several others were similarly afflicted.

It wasn't gunk on the lens, or condensation (the camera had been at room temperature for hours, and other shots taken shortly before and after were not affected.

Never got to the bottom of it, haven't seen it since.

Read Eric Frank Russell's SF novel "Sinister Barrier" and you will know exactly what these are.

They are Vitons, and if I tell you that they will be after me....

Yes, they are in ghosts being captured by your camera because we all know that cameras can capture all sorts of electrical energy. Just aim it at your radio, cell phone or television and see what you get!!

The 'orbs' are in fact specs of dust reflecting your own flash. These are seen much more frequently by compact cameras or SLR using pop-up flash where the flash is closer to the lens. The light reflects back more directly than with a flash like the guy in back of the photo is using, and even less if the flash is totally off the camera and the light reflects at a greater angle to the lens.

Alchemist,

Are you using a flash when you get these 'orbs'?

Dan

wow do I ever get sarcastic when I'm drinking...
javascript:emoticon('')
anyways the easiest way to find out if it's condensation is to switch to av and stop it down, if the orbs suddenly look like little stop signs (ie shaped like the diaphram in the lens, problem solved).

if it's dust (or more comon out here flying insects like mosquitos....angling the flash will solve it.

if it's little spirits, alien life forms, wierd electromagnetic feilds generated by some as yet uninvented time machine, I can't help you...those things tend to avoid me like the plague...

Thanks for the replys.

No, I forgot to mention that the images were taken with existing light and no filter was over the lense on any of the cameras.

Several of the aberrations / maybe air pollutants, resemble the dust particles reflecting on camera flash. No flash was used with any of the images, nor was there strong directional lighting in front of the camera.

When I return home, this evening, I will attempt to post several of the images.

Thanks,

Alchemist

This shot was not made only with available light.
Maybe something got set funny and you were not aware of the flash being on, but you can see the shadow generated from the flash. If not yours, perhaps someone nearby behind you taking a photo at the same instant?? (I've had it happen with lots of photographers and relatively slow shutter)

Anyway, via the reflection in the mirror you can see stark shadow behind the statues on the shelves, for example, but no shadow from your vantage point. A good indication that you are, or are very near, the light source.

amoringello, I think you're refering to Chris's image. The original poster, alchemist, hasn't yet posted samples.

The other "flash giveaway" in Chris's image is the photographers' red-eye!

This is apparently quite common with compact cameras that have a the flash very close to the lens.

Sure. I was never claiming it wasn't taken using flash. It was just a snap - the couple had just announced their engagement IIRC.

But the orbs did freak me out, and I did worry that there was something wrong with the camera.

Thanks for the reassurance amoringello. Dust hadn't occurred to me at all.

Looking forward to seeing the alchemist's example, sorry to hijack the thread.

Ah Sorry! My mistake...
Then I am very interested to see what he is talking about.

JR said:
...they're after you....