Annoying photo orb

[Joshonator]

Does anyone have experience with this issue? I believe it has to do with using macro rings and taking pictures of a reflective surface. No flash was used for any of these. Is there any way to prevent these from appearing? Tips for removing them in photoshop could be helpful too.

The lens used is a Mikar 55mm photo enlarger with about 4cm worth of extension tubes. This usually happens when the lens is pointed toward the sky or at a highly reflective surface (such as shiny rocks or the eye)

 

[unpopular]

fascinating. I have never seen anything like that. Are the optics completely clear? Any sign of mold or coating rot?

 

[Joshonator]

There is a bit of dust on the inside of the rear element, but no sign of mold or coating rot as far as I can tell. The interesting thing is that I have seen this problem before, using extension rings on a helios 44-2. Heres a less severe example. It also seems to happen more often with smaller apertures.

 

[rokvi]

Is that "just" smaller apertures. and are you using primes or zooms. If zooms is it also occurring zoomed in?

Edit: I just re-read and saw your using the mikar 55m.

I think you do have some sort of mold, I assume its when you make your aperture smaller? Hyper focal comes in to play then.

 

[unpopular]

Does the Mikar have a filter thread? It may perform better in reverse.

 

[Joshonator]

nope no filter thread im going to do some tests with various lenses to see if I can recreate the effect. If there is mold it would have to be an extremely small amount, the elements look quite clear.

 

[wsetser]

Does it only happen when you're using the extension tubes? If so is there anything shiny inside the tube that could cause a reflection?

 

[Joshonator]

I think so, but this particular lens can only be used with extension tubes. I'll have to try without them.

 

[unpopular]

^^ If you mount a enlarging lens at flange then you're not likely to get anything in focus. Does it get better at less extension?

Josh - on a side note, the Nikkor 50's are very popular for this application.

 

[Joshonator]

I found the problem! It is being caused by the reflective inside of the m42 extension tubes. I tried moving the lens around in live view and I could see the orb at a certain angle. I tried the same movement with another set of extension tubes and there was no orb. Thanks to wsetser for the tip.