Landscape, Travel, Candid, Street, and Wildlife Photography
This is not really a new or unknown problem, but I had not heard of it, so I figured I would share my experience.
Yesterday I went on a hike in a local state park with the plan of photographing a waterfall. I hiked out and spent about two and a half hours photographing the falls, coming away with some great shots of the falls and local fauna. I had some nice creamy water shots of the falls taken during a long exposure session.
However, when I got home I found all my long exposures were awful with purple and white streaks in a pattern through the image. The pattern was consistent through all the images whether or not the camera was vertical or horizontal so I knew I had a light leak somewhere. The initial culprit was the 72-77mm step up ring I used on the 10 Stop ND. However, I posted one of the images to a local forum and asked for help and suggestions. One of the respondents posited that it might be a light leak from the viewfinder. After some back and forth and an article on that very thing affecting D600s I had it on the list of things to try when I took test shots. Other things to rule out were a light leak in the step up ring and angle of light causing an internal reflection.
As soon as the clouds broke I pulled out my tripod (an Awesome Vanguard Abeo Pro 283CT with the new GH-300T ballhead) and took several 30″ exposures into the sun and away from the sun. I took one with the viewfinder exposed an one with my hand covering it, and sure enough its a light leak from the viewfinder causing the issue. Its actually a pretty serious light leak, and now that I am aware of it I’ll be using the viewfinder cap or some other method on all my long exposures. I really don’t know why this hasn’t happened before now, but I am educated so I wanted to pass it on to anyone who might find it useful.
D600 Viewfinder Light Leak
Owner and Photographer at AKA Photography, Garrick has been capturing images for most of his life. He has traveled extensively, capturing landscapes and people from around the world. He has also captured daily life as a soldier while deployed as a Combat Medic and Flight Medic in both Iraq and Afghanistan. As Jack Kerouac wrote, "So Shut Up, Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, And Don't Be Sorry."
