reflections
I am getting weird reflections like this on longer exposures with my camera. Any ideas what would cause this? Is it reflections off of a lens element? Is it normal? Does it mean my lens is just crappy?
These were both taken with a Canon EOS D30 with a Canon EF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lens
Pictures below:
UPDATE: Kenny was right -- it gets better as I stop down the aperture. Example pictures here.
UPDATE 2: The consensus (minus a minor flame-war) on photo.net agrees with everyone here -- that it's just a common problem with cheaper lenses, made worse by the UV filter.
f/3.5, 35mm, 1.3s shutter speed
f/3.5, 35mm, 2.5s shutter speed
Try a smaller aperture that is about 3 stops from wide open and get back to me in the morning.
I'll vote for crappy lens.
It's lens flare. Worse with more lens elements, wider apertures, and non-coated lens elements. The reason you're seeing it so badly is that you're taking exposures of very high-contrast subjects, and the bright parts (e.g. the CMT sign) are bright enough that even a dim, shitty reflected image of it is bright enough to compare favorably to the rest of the subject (the sky).
See if you can borrow a better lens, hopefully a prime lens, for comparison.