BEWARE! Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR.

Aworkofmarc · Jul 18, 2014

Intermediate student here... I had my first experience taking pictures with my new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR.

WHAT. A. COMPLETE. SHOCK!

Every single picture taken after sunset that had a light source in it -- ended up with at least 1 alien blue 'ship' floating in my picture.. sometimes a whole fleet of them!

I contacted Sigma and a Paul Piazzano replied asking:

"Does this only occur when you are taking photos with the light source in them?" to which I answered "yes" -- his reply was:

"That is what I thought, it looks like light reflected off your cameras sensor and projected onto one of the lenses elements during exposure. It isn’t something we are able to correct."

Well now... then I'm assuming this must happen with ALL Canon cameras sporting a Sigma lens? WOW.

See the images:

SDB777 · Jul 18, 2014

Odd, some of my best photo's are using Sigma DG lenses.....

Does this happen when you take photo's of things during the 'daylight hours'? Say with the sun in them, or ??

Scott (last photo looks like a excavator bucket) B

SnappingShark · Jul 18, 2014

Is this a new lens you just bought from a store? Return it for a replacement and try that one to see if it's common across all, or just this lens specific to you.
How about on a different body?

KmH · Jul 18, 2014

It's called lens flare, and is common when a bright light source is in the image frame, regardless the lens brand.

Lens flare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Often, adding a filter the the front of a lens just makes it worse, even if the filter is coated to help minimize flare.
Each reflection represents a lens element air gap.