problem with glare

[Scotttyd]

I have a nikon coolpix L11 in an ikelite housing (the combo deal they had on their website

Underwater Housing for Nikon Coolpix L11 Camera

As you can see in the attached photo I have a nice halo forming. When I had this in the ocean the previous 10 or so times, this was never an issue, and if I zoom in a little, it does go away. Not sure what is causing this, one of the board members and I were at the pool practicing when I saw this. He told me he had read about this problem but could not remember where. I tried to put a cardboard and/or a paper ring inside the housing around the lense, no help, I tried to block the flash from getting inside the lense by putting a bent piece of cardboard, no help. Anyone have any ideas.

When I take a picture and look down the lense I can see some light from the flash bouncing around inside the housing.

There is a small space between the camera lense and the port (not sure if I am using the right terminology) that needs to be filled.

Anyone else have this problem.

 

[ce4jesus]

I think you're thinking is correct. The light from your strobe is refecting off of the port back into the lens. You might try getting some black window insulation foam and filling any gaps you have between the port and housing. Or, just between the internal strobe and port. Also, if you're using an external strobe, check the placement on that. Otherwise, it is a side effect of a clear housing. My DSLR suffers the same fate with the 14-42mm lens if I forget to put on the rubber gasket which seals the light from reflecting down inside the port.

 

[danclem]

Hi ScotttyD:

During a recent underwater photoshoot there were a couple of folks who had partial halos forming. They used black nail polish get rid of the reflection from silver lettering on lenses, and reflective coating on lenses. These were all DSLR's (Cannon), and apparently there is a housing/lens/strobe combination that causes this problem.

Since this appears to be an rare issue with your Coolpix and its housing, any chance you could borrow another housing and see what happens? Perhaps this housing has a slight manufacturing flaw.

The other options would be to turn off the internal flash and use an external strobe, which will give you much better pictures. Backscatter is at its worst when the strobe/flash is firing directly at the subject.

Good Luck,

Dan

 

[Scotttyd]

the ikelite rep responded in the other forum. They said they will ship me a black rubberbank to fill in the gap (they said there should be one with it??). I cannot turn off my internal strobe (my external strobe requires it to fire. We will see how it works with what ikelite is sending me.

 

[Scotttyd]

I just got ikelite's fix (a thick black rubberband) and problem is solved.

ya

 

[SparticleBrane]

It will also happen if you point the camera towards the sun...at least it will with mine.

 

[tstormdiver]

I just got the same Nikon set-up, good information here. Thanks for posting.