Red Haze along border of photos

kjfr

New member
Hi all, I recently purchased my first DSLR and I have been kicking around in some star photography, 30 second exposures with various ISO's and such. However I have found the the higher I place my ISO the more of a red haze I get around the borders of my photos. I thought this was an issue with the camera I bought, as I bought it refurbished. So I returned the camera, and got shipped a replacement. I AM HAVING THE SAME ISSUE on the new camera. I will post photos when I get home to my SD card, and any explanation to this problem would be greatly appreciated, as I cannot find what the cause may be anywhere else. Thank you!
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Are you covering the eye piece? If not, what you're getting is light getting in the back door and around the raised mirror. Not uncommon at all and we all get bit by it at least once. Or like me, once a year at least. LOL
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Are you covering the eye piece? If not, what you're getting is light getting in the back door and around the raised mirror. Not uncommon at all and we all get bit by it at least once. Or like me, once a year at least. LOL

My Nikon N90s (film camera) had a toggle switch with a cover that opened and closed over the eyepiece. I wonder why Nikon doesn't offer it on their digital cameras.
 

kjfr

New member
DSC_0229.jpgDSC_0329.jpgOkay, I uploaded examples of the photos. I took your advice and ran a little experiment! I took the completely dark photo at 3200 ISO with the camera eyepiece covered, and the lens cap on. And I took another photo with the eyepiece open and the lens cap on, no difference unfortunately! The star photo is an example of the issue I was having while I was shooting! Any other pieces of advice?
 

kjfr

New member
Are you covering the eye piece? If not, what you're getting is light getting in the back door and around the raised mirror. Not uncommon at all and we all get bit by it at least once. Or like me, once a year at least. LOL
I posted some photos to the thread, forgot to quote you. I would appreciate if you took a look at them! the black photo is poor quality as I had to shrink it down, but basically it is the most red in the right side of the frame and it intensifies as my ISO increases
 

paul04

Senior Member
Just looking at the info of your pictures, and the iso is 3200.

I have tried a few night time shots on my D3200 (of the ISS) and the best setting I found was shutter speed at 25 seconds.and iso at 100 or 200
 
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SteveH

Senior Member
Just looking at the example you posted - Is that possibly light pollution? Over a long exposure even a little light pollution will be much more noticeable.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
That is definitely light leak. I remember someone else posting about experiencing light leak in other parts of the camera (IR sensor?) and needing to cover their entire camera with a handkerchief for long exposures. I believe it may even have been a D300. Regardless, you shouldn't need to do that on any DSLR.

Was the lens cap and eyepiece covered shot taken in a fully lit room? Ideally, what you want are two long exposure photos with the only difference being the eyepiece cover on and off. Regardless, with both covers on it should be sealed off from extraneous light - though I would posit that the snap on lens caps may not be all that light proof and if left on for 30 seconds in a lit room I might not be surprised to see this pattern.

I definitely think you have light leaks in your camera, but to be sure I would ask you do this.
1. Take a normal, long exposure shot as above.
2. Take the same shot with just the eyepiece covered.
3. Take the same shot with both the eyepiece and the rear IR sensor covered.
4. Take the same shot with a cloth over everything but the front of the lens.

Comparing those shots should be sufficient to determine where light is leaking into your body. If it's anywhere besides the eyepiece then they should be sent to Nikon and you should get a new camera - or they should offer to seal this one properly.
 

kjfr

New member
That is definitely light leak. I remember someone else posting about experiencing light leak in other parts of the camera (IR sensor?) and needing to cover their entire camera with a handkerchief for long exposures. I believe it may even have been a D300. Regardless, you shouldn't need to do that on any DSLR.

Was the lens cap and eyepiece covered shot taken in a fully lit room? Ideally, what you want are two long exposure photos with the only difference being the eyepiece cover on and off. Regardless, with both covers on it should be sealed off from extraneous light - though I would posit that the snap on lens caps may not be all that light proof and if left on for 30 seconds in a lit room I might not be surprised to see this pattern.

I definitely think you have light leaks in your camera, but to be sure I would ask you do this.
1. Take a normal, long exposure shot as above.
2. Take the same shot with just the eyepiece covered.
3. Take the same shot with both the eyepiece and the rear IR sensor covered.
4. Take the same shot with a cloth over everything but the front of the lens.

Comparing those shots should be sufficient to determine where light is leaking into your body. If it's anywhere besides the eyepiece then they should be sent to Nikon and you should get a new camera - or they should offer to seal this one properly.

I will do that tonight! But just so you know, the dark photo was taken in a room with all the lights off, with my camera under a cloth, and the eyepiece covered. I will run that experiment tonight!

Thank you for all the help!!
 

wornish

Senior Member
Covering the eyepiece is an essential first step but looking at the two examples you posted I would say its sensor noise. All cameras show this at high ISO, and taking a 30sec shot at 12800 would be very noisy on most cameras. Thats why they have the Long Exposure Noise reduction option. It takes another shot of the same duration straight after the first shot but keeps the shutter closed and then subtracts the second one from the first to give a much less noisy image. Not sure if the D3200 has this option, but if not you can do it manually by taking a second with the lens cap on and then loading both shots into layers in Photoshop and inverting the second noise only shot before merging the layers.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I will do that tonight! But just so you know, the dark photo was taken in a room with all the lights off, with my camera under a cloth, and the eyepiece covered. I will run that experiment tonight!

Thank you for all the help!!

If that's the case then this is a very strange thing, indeed, and not something I'd have expected to see under those conditions. 30 seconds isn't enough for the sensor to overheat so something strange is going on.
 
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