Alex Elmore
EF2
In April of this year, I purchased a used Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens. This is now the fastest lens I own, and the fastest I’ve ever had. Thanks to the slow spring, I didn’t get to test it as much as I wanted, but was very happy with the quality of the photos it produced when I was able to use it. In July, I finally got to test it out at its fastest. I was impressed with the low-light capabilities that f/2.8 has to offer. However, I noticed a couple flaws that, while not very noticable, show up if you look closely at light sources in the photo. I have no idea how to describe it other than some sort of flaring, and I’m not having much luck finding anything about it online. The attached images are extremely cropped examples of this effect. In the first image below (ISO 200, 31mm, f/2.8, 7.2sec), you’ll notice the lightning flaring/blurring to the left, and the street lights look oblong/elliptical. The second and third images are from the same photo (ISO 3200, 17mm, f/2.8, 9.4sec); the second being from the right side of the photo, and the third image being from the left side of the photo. The flaring is noticed here as well, and the flare direction seems to depend on which side of the photo the object is on. Is this a common effect when shooting at wide apertures? If so, what is it called and is there a way around it (other than not shooting at f2.8)?
FYI, I double checked my focus when I noticed this in real time, and I made sure the image stabilizer was off.
![IMG_8656-2.jpg IMG_8656-2.jpg](https://stormtrack.org/data/attachments/34/34172-abd1f745b01821a9c43b0087866c3901.jpg)
FYI, I double checked my focus when I noticed this in real time, and I made sure the image stabilizer was off.
![IMG_8330.jpg IMG_8330.jpg](https://stormtrack.org/data/attachments/34/34170-b39504ee9855f746a359f6c74f825f40.jpg)
![IMG_8656.jpg IMG_8656.jpg](https://stormtrack.org/data/attachments/34/34171-63f46f3b576cfa0943f956df25437ff9.jpg)
![IMG_8656-2.jpg IMG_8656-2.jpg](https://stormtrack.org/data/attachments/34/34172-abd1f745b01821a9c43b0087866c3901.jpg)