Wayne Culberson wrote:
Conditions in the mountains there are very different from what I face here in
eastern Canada. Here I live maybe about 100 to 200 feet above sea level,
and the sun is seldom directly overhead, except maybe in the middle of the day
in the summer. There it seems like the sun is always directly overhead.
UV and flare have been a real problem for me in Bolivia in the past. The worst
part is, I didn't know what was causing the problem, and so was
blaming things like airport x-rays and the heat. But I think now one of the
serious problems was UV, even though I have always used a UV or skylight
filter.
There is a difference for your purposes between a UV and the Skylight/1A
filter, which is called a 'skylight' filter for the very reason that it
goes slightly into the visible blue region and tones down some of the
bright blue/almost UV from the sky. Because it goes a little ways into
the highest blue visible light, it can be more effective in the UV as
well. I've used skylight filters at 10,000+ feet in the Sierra Nevadas
in high summer with good results. Depending on the particular problem,
polarizers can work wonders.
<snip>
Also in the past, I've never used a hood, and always used a zoom on the OM's, which resulted in a lot of flare. Ignorance again.
There are 2 reasons why zooms can be a problem. They do have more
internal surfaces to create flare, but that's not a big problem for any
shots except those with the sun directly in them or just barely outside
the frame. The bigger problem is that the shades on all but a couple of
models are only even partially effective at the widest setting. An
80-200 zoom with a hood at 135mm is just like a 135mm prime without a
hood, unprotected. The Zuiko 35-70/3.6 and one Tamron (70-210/??) have
hood and front element movement coordinated so the hood works at all
focal lengths. The 35-70/3.6 hood also reverses to fit in the case and
for less bulky carrying. I've used this lens quite a bit in Mexico and
Costa Rica.
That is one reason I want to take all primes this time.
No matter what lenses you use, the biggest flare buster is in your head.
Paying attention is crucial. Being aware of the relation of the sun to
your lens and angle of view, whether sun or strong reflections are
falling on the front element, whether a lot of white-bright sky and/or
reflective water is in the frame, etc. put you in the position to take
corrective action. Round hoods like Oly uses aren't necessarily complete
protection either. Light coming in from outside the frame, but inside
the hood, can still bounce around and lower contrast. Think about other
shade. Someone mentioned a hat. Sure, but how about the shade of a tree
trunk. How about asking a person to pause 'just there' for a moment. I
have a little gadget that fits in the flash shoe and has a light
gooseneck with a clip on the end that can be used to hold matte black
plastic shapes (or anything else at hand) wherever one wants. Once shade
is seen as a part of one's photographic tools, something to be used, the
battle is more than half over.
Moose
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