Photo Problem?

Scubadevils

Still busy trying to learn settings etc on my DSLR and went out for a few hours yesterday to take some shots. The linked shot below was just to see how to take a fast movement shot so I took a passing sea gull. For some reason there are dark corners on the shot - this was the same for a few shots I took. Any ideas what may have caused this? Could it be a problem with the camera?

Thanks.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=338310023&size=o

peckerhead

Obvious question, but did you have any kind of attachment over the lens? (including a lens hood)

What lens were you using on the D80?

Scubadevils

No, no attachment on the lens. The lens is the 18-135mm.

Fajitas!

The problem is known as vignetting or light fall-off, where the light falls off around the edges... is it a Nikon lens, or a Sigma? What length were you using?

It's not a serious problem, and easy enough to rectify, even easier if you shoot raw.

Roen

Ooo, Little Egret.
Looks like vignetting alright. Probably more pronounced on the wide end of the zoom, although it can also affect any focal length too.

Scubadevils

Thanks for that, was worried problem with the camera.

My zoom is a Nikon and would have been fully extended for that shot. Took loads more today and suspect from previewing that I have the same problem again. Will go google vignetting

Scubadevils

More added to flickr with the same problem. Taken under much different lighting conditions today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/felixdhc/338596875/

Fajitas!

How old is the lens?

Scubadevils

Only about a month or so, just got the camera and lens around the end of November.

Fajitas!

That's a bit strange. Not being a Nikon owner, I'm not sure if that's common to the lens etc.

Does it happen at the wider end of the lens?

Check out www.fredmiranda.com and go to the reviews section and look about for the lens. There may be some other comments of it happening there, or maybe that it happened, people sent it back and the problem was resolved?

Scubadevils

No, seems to be just when taking shots in sports mode with lens fully extended.

Will have a look at the site and see what is said, or maybe even get on to Nikon. Annoying :mad:

DaireQuinlan

From the EXIF data on your pictures you've got the d80 and you're shooting with the 18-135/3.5-5.6 kit lens that comes with the camera right ? I presume its a DX lens aswell as that sort of vignetting when shooting at the far end of the zoom range definately wouldn't happen with a non-dx lens on a digital body.

Do you have a polariser or UV filter on the front of the lens ? or (yikes) both ? that could cause vignetting. Do you have a hood on the front of the lens ? That -could- cause some vignetting but probably more so at the low end of the range rather than the top end.

Looking at review sites, they seem to imply that there is -some- vignetting (or shading as some of them refer to it) at the top end and some at the low end. It could just be your subject matter (bright sky etc etc) in those seagull pics thats making it more noticeable

See if you can grab another identical lens for some comparisons. If its significantly reduced then I'd definately exchange it. If not then it could be just a design flaw inherent in the lens, time to get out the lens correction filter in photoshop for the shots that are particularly bothersome !

Daire.

sorry, forgot to include http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/993/cat/13
This is a pretty technical examination of the lens. Look at the vignetting chart. Notice how it starts high for almost all the focal ranges and drops pretty dramatically as you stop down. This is pretty common aswell, its another potential solution. Although of course it has its drawbacks aswell, longer exposure times & more DOF.

Scubadevils

Yes, is the DX lens that is supplied with the camera - wasn't using any filter or hood on the lens for any of the shots.

It seems from the review you link you gave that it is a flaw in the lens and I doubt Nikon would entertain replacing. Anyway if they did I assume I would still have the same problem.

As I am still very much a novice with photography, those shots were taken using the auto sports mode - I wonder if I were to manually set the camera for fast movement would I end up with the same results?

DaireQuinlan

sports mode probably opens up the aperture all the way to get the fastest exposure possible. Stopping down the aperture will reduce the vignetting but will also increase your exposure dramatically depending on how many stops you put onto it. Just mess around with the manual or aperture priority settings on the camera to get a feel for it.

D.

Scubadevils

Thanks all for the help and suggestions. Going to try get out over the next couple of days and try similar shots with manual settings, see if it makes a difference.