Newton's Rings on my DSLR?

jspitfire · Mar 11, 2008

Hello all, new to the forums here, hopefully someone knows how to fix my problem. I've been out a couple times to take pictures of the Aurora Borealis, and on both occasions have had what appears to be newton's rings in the centre of almost all my pictures.

It was somewhat cold out (-25 Celcius the first time, -5 the second), but I've been out many times taking other night shots (in temps as low as -40) and have never seen this problem. Granted for the Aurora I was out for at least 45 minutes though, which is much longer than I usually stay out when its that cold! Here is an example:

I am using a Canon Rebel XTi. If anyone knows where in the camera this is happening and how to fix it, I would certainly love to know!

Thanks

Jason

BYoung · Mar 11, 2008

This is odd. I also have a XTi and have taken pictures in the middle of winter but I have not had this issue. I've been outside in -40 C with my camera for well over an hour a few times.

Did you inspect both ends of the lens and make sure its not that or a filter you have?

Also what lens were you using?

jspitfire · Mar 11, 2008

Thanks for the quick reply.
I will try taking the filter off next time I go out. I have a Canon 24-85mm f3.5-4.5

BYoung · Mar 11, 2008

I'm new to photography, well around 5 months now, so I have never seen these rings before. but inspecting the lens & filter seemed like a great place to start.

Where you from to see awesome lights like this? My avatar says where I am.

Here is a pic I took the other night you might enjoy along with yours.

jspitfire · Mar 11, 2008

Cool shot there! I just moved up to Yellowknife a couple months ago.

My pic was from this past Saturday night, the aurora was pretty intense!

BYoung · Mar 11, 2008

Ah crazy crazy man, I'm from Hay River. We are a massive lake apart.

I took this pic 2 nights ago.

CanAm · Mar 12, 2008

It is my resolve to see one of the Auroras before I die.

And hopefully photograph it.

fokker · Jul 2, 2014

Bumping an old thread here to see if anybody has a good explanation for these Newton's Rings. I have a similar photo with the exact same phenomenon:

The two things I keep seeing in common with other people experiencing these Newton's Rings are Auroral activity and UV filters. I believe there is some Aurora activity in this photo, though only faint. I never noticed it with my naked eye. This photo is from a couple of years ago and I can't remember if I was using a UV filter - it's possible but unlikely.

paigew · Jul 2, 2014

Interesting! I have never heard of this before. Great photos.

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pgriz · Jul 2, 2014

fokker said:
Bumping an old thread here to see if anybody has a good explanation for these Newton's Rings. I have a similar photo with the exact same phenomenon:

View attachment 78313

The two things I keep seeing in common with other people experiencing these Newton's Rings are Auroral activity and UV filters. I believe there is some Aurora activity in this photo, though only faint. I never noticed it with my naked eye. This photo is from a couple of years ago and I can't remember if I was using a UV filter - it's possible but unlikely.

Newton's rings are an interference pattern set up between a curved surface and a flat surface (so lens + filter combination seems to be part of this), with a monochromatic lights (light from the aurora tends to be of several well-defined wavelengths (see: Auroral Colors and Spectra - Windows to the Universe) with the green line at 558 nm being quite prominent.

Theo2 · Jul 5, 2014

I demonstrated this last semester on a lens to a bunch of freshman physics majors! (Almost) Definitely the flat glass (filter) and convex glass (lens).