Weird problem... need help.

I bought a used Canon 30D DSLR a few months back. The lens on it was broken, a little piece of plastic on the lens when it connects to the camera body. I was getting a partial ring on all shots with a good amount of sky in frame. I figured it was the lens. Well last week I got a new Tamron lens and was shooting some crows in my backyard tree today, and the ring is back... What could be causing this?
Notice the "brighter" area from top to bottom in the middle of this shot.
<a href="http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/douchebagNO2/?action=view&current=IMG_1119.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/douchebagNO2/IMG_1119.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Canon 30D's are know to have an issue with "water spots" on the sensors. Here is a thread forum that talks all about it. Im not sure if thats your problum but it sounds like it could be.

"I am currently on my second 30D. The first one I returned because of highly visible spots when using an aperture of f/22 or lower. I tried it at f/32, and they stood out like a soar thumb. I had tried blowing out the sensor, but nothing seemed to help. The spots don't seem to resemble dust; they show an appearance like that of a water spot. "

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithmarshall/123154773/

Good luck I hope this helps you some

Darin

I just looked at your exif data from the picture you posted. The metering mode to your camera is set to spot metering. In spot metering mode the camera will only properly expose one small section of the picture. This is not the default setting for this camera. You want to set it on evaluative metering. This will properly expose the whole picture. With the picture you posted, there is a big change in exposure from the bright sky to the dark hill in front of you. This is exactly how a sensor will react when it is set on spot metering. I know because the last camera I bought (450xsi) I purchased used and it was set on spot metering. I should have thought of this in my last post.
I would highly recommend you reset the camera to its default settings. There should be an option under the menu settings. Let me know if this solves your problem, hopefully it does.

Darin

No, it's not the spot metering, I just went outside and took 4 pictures each with a different light meter setting and they all showed the same ring. It would have been rad if that was the problem but alas, it's not.

It's really hard to see exactly what you're talking about in this photo. I see the lighter area in the center of the frame and since you are shooting into the sun there, it appears to be lens flare to me. Lens flare is caused by light bouncing around between lens elements caused by direct light entering the lens.

Does the "ring" you are talking about appear only in shots where there is a bright source of light in the frame? Any light source shining directly on the front element of the lens is likely to cause lens flare. There are several examples of lens flare on the Wikipedia site.

Bummer. Can you post the pictures so we can see them? EOS has a good point about lens flare, but I've never seen lens flare like that in my lenses. I you can post some pictures that are not shot looking into the sun that will help.

Darin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Canyon Hiker

Bummer. Can you post the pictures so we can see them? EOS has a good point about lens flare, but I've never seen lens flare like that in my lenses. I you can post some pictures that are not shot looking into the sun that will help.

Darin

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This happens only in bright light shots like shots with sky in frame, usually small f-stop shots. It doesn't seem to matter if the sun is behind, infront, or on either side of me.
All these shots were taken with different metering, with the glare guard on.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93...2/IMG_1408.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93...2/IMG_1409.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93...2/IMG_1410.jpg

That, unfortunately looks like impending shutter failure. http://photos.bahneman.com/tricks/ar...hutter_failure
I don't know how much it costs to replace a shutter, but I have seen estimates between $200 and $400. You have to decide if that is worth it considering what the body is worth.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EOSThree

That, unfortunately looks like impending shutter failure. http://photos.bahneman.com/tricks/ar...hutter_failure
I don't know how much it costs to replace a shutter, but I have seen estimates between $200 and $400. You have to decide if that is worth it considering what the body is worth.

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I have to agree. That clearly shows the problem. I would be calling who ever you bought it from asap. Looks like they didn't take care of it very good at all. There is a lot of dust (black dots) on the sensor as well.

Edit: after reading that article that might not be dust, but particles of the shutter blade or blades.
Darin

The camera needs cleaning, and the second curtain is hanging for a few milliseconds causing the overexposed segment of a circle. The camera repair shop will give you and estimate, at that time I would be calling the seller.

If the 2nd curtain hangs, and it is undamaged, then you get consistent overexposure.
If it jams, then you get a band of overexposure where it sticks.

If the artefact is curved like this, then your shutter has a piece of the blade damaged.
It could be the leading or trailing blade, and since it's over-exposed it is a piece missing from the shutter blade.


My shutter failure on the 1DSmkII was a wedge of over-exposure at the top of the image, which means the shutter was sticking at the bottom of the camera (the image is inverted on the sensor) and sticking more on one side than the other.

Because I bought from Canon's own ebay reconditioned outlet, it was fixed by Canon under the 1 year warranty.