Newbie question. Apparent vignetting effect - what caused it?

Leebert

Leebert

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Lee
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Hi all,

I was out taking a few shots the other day and saw a plane having fun so took a few photos.

Looking at the images on the camera screen, they looked fine if a touch dark but looking on the PC later, they seem to be brighter in the middle. What would cause this and is there anyway around it?

My camera is a Nikon D5000 and the lens is a Nikkor 55 - 200 f4 to 5.6 AF-S DX ED

Attached is a sample image (unprocessed)...


DSC_0001 by MrLeebert, on Flickr

Many thanks,
Lee
 
A lot of lenses will cause slight vignetting by themselves. Other possible culprits are filters and lens hoods, particularly filters that have been stacked (i.e. more than one on the lens at once) or lens hoods that haven't been mounted correctly.
 
Fairly typical of many cheaper zooms at lowest f/number. It will clear up at higher f/numbers. Some expensive lenses are no better wide open either, especially those with very low f/numbers.

You hardly ever notice it in normal picture taking, but for anyone that believes the marked f/number is a reliable indicator of true light transmission, eg when setting exposure using a hand meter, it can come as a bit of a shock.

Edit: many cameras now have an automatic vignetting correction option in the menus, which basically boosts the ISO around the edges to compensate.
 
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