FAO : photo knowledgeable people- explain these ghosts pls

[da_ging]

right my mums m8 (a bit wierd) is now convinced that she has a ghost because of what i am fairly sure are some easily explainable anomolies in the photos she takes with her nikon digi cam

here is an pic of what these ghosts look like



(full size here )

apparantly in ghost speak they are orbs but what are they in digi cam terms and reallity?

[shiato storm]

lens refraction would be my first shout. infact i'm pretty sure it is - it was taken directly into a flash reflection, whats being picked up it a catch of that at another point around the lens...like a lens flare if you will, same sort of thing.

[shiato storm]

my next thought would be: does she have any more pictures with similar anomalies on them? if so, get the camera checked out, if its new get it replaced for free cause its faulty.

those are my 2p.

[CrapshoT]

Is she trying to say its an ORB? Could be some dust or something similar reflecting the flash.

[MAS]

I get those things on my cack Sony Cybershot. A lot. I'm pretty sure it's not ghosts...

[Tom]

my mates cam gets this a lot, the problem with cheap digicams

[da_ging]

Is she trying to say its an ORB? Could be some dust or something similar reflecting the flash.

yep she is convinced that she has a ghosltly orb and im fairly sure she has some more photos ,i'll see if i can get some more of these "spooky" pictures from her

i dont believe they are ghosts tho as i got an orb of my own the other day here

[luap.h]

same thing happens with my Canon A40 when I use the flash - I remember asking on a newsgroup about it, but never got a proper response

[shiato storm]

yeah, its the ccd getting confused about the quantities of light hitting it and these artifacts appear. happens on the less able digital cameras...

p.s. also a sign of cheaper lenses and optics...