Photography Issue: Weird or amateur lens flares on pictures and too much grain?

[Adamaru]

Didn't know any threads about photography issues, so...

Hi, I recently got a Canon 5D Mark II from my friend and tried it out with my EF 50mm f/1.8 (not the II). Before that I was using a crop body Canon 1100D (also with the lens mentioned before) and didn't have the issues I'm about to tell you about.

So, I'd like to ask you to take a look at those pictures here (it's best that you download them):[URL]https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bcx2uw8e3knrtlk/AACWp5NUEq2QLsRCtFx2Uzp9a?dl=0[/URL]

First of all, I'm an amateur in the DSLR world, how all the tech stuff works, so I was always kinda winging it. Got the full frame body, so I can change it. I know the pictures on the dropbox folder are bad, but I was testing some settings, so I didn't really care about the composition and stuff.

My first issue which I didn't have back on my crop body, is the sun flare. Why does it become a straight line in almost all pictures with a backlit sun? Is it because of the cheap lens, my incapability to set the right settings, or what? It's not only happening with the sun, it's all kinds of condensed lights, as you can see on the picture with a blonde short-haired girl (the street lights), and the bridge lights on the other photos. Or even in the foreground of a portrait of that guy.

Another thing is, I don't know, weird grain? Zoom into the shirt of the girl, and you'll see a terrible pattern of grain. And even though the ISO is high (6400) I didn't have that kind of weird pattern-ish grain on pictures from my crop 1100D with the same amount of iso. It was just a lot of grain which I was fine with.

Just take a look at the file named "_MG_2584.jpg". I shot it in raw and tried to lighten up the shadows. I'm fine with grain, but oh boy that pattern-ish thing is driving me crazy. Sorry it's kinda blurred on this picture but I was trying to cover it up a bit, and as I'm writing this post I don't have the access to original files. And also the night bridge photos. Even though the ISO on "5.jpg" is only 400, the grain is still there on the sky, and it's incredibily, annoyingly visible.

So these are my questions. What am I doing wrong with the flares, and how do I get rid of that pattern-ish grain? Is it because the camera is broken, or something in it doesn't work properly anymore, or is it the lens maybe? Should I just let it go and get used to crappy lens flares and weird grain? Maybe my editing sucks?

[Headhumpy]

The flares are probably caused by greasy smudges. Wipe the lens clean with lens cleaning solution (or oil-free rubbing alcohol if you don't have any lens cleaning solution). If you have a filter on the lens, wipe both sides of that as well.

The noise looks like banding noise to me. Are you shooting in raw? How much are you pushing the shadows? If it's particularly bad you might be able to send it in for servicing, and there are probably tools to remove it although I'm not familiar with them.

[redback3]

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;52311131]The flares are probably caused by greasy smudges. Wipe the lens clean with lens cleaning solution (or oil-free rubbing alcohol if you don't have any lens cleaning solution). If you have a filter on the lens, wipe both sides of that as well.

The noise looks like banding noise to me. Are you shooting in raw? How much are you pushing the shadows? If it's particularly bad you might be able to send it in for servicing, and there are probably tools to remove it although I'm not familiar with them.[/QUOTE]

Basically this, the flares are coming from smudges on the lens. Have you tried other lenses? If it's still showing up on other lenses then I'm afraid it might be something to do with the sensor.

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As for the grain, try test shots on all different ASAs and see if that makes a difference to your shots. Do you have settings in camera that is pushing your blacks too high which then shows noise due to that or atmospheric radiation. I suspect it might be an issue with how you are processing your shadows in camera because in MG_2584, there is practically no contrast with shadows, it all looks to be mid to highlights only.