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I have a Canon 2000D DSLR with 55-250mm lens and no lens hood. Recently, I took a picture of a tractor that was in nearly the same direction the sun was shining from. However, the sun was sufficiently far away to be not in the picture.

When looking at the image through the viewfinder, I could see reflections of the sun and thought I need to purchase a lens hood. However, the final image was perfectly fine with no reflections of the sun.

Why is this the case? Why did I see reflections of sun through the viewfinder but not in the final image?

Two pictures taken, I don't remember which is the one that had sun reflection in the viewfinder:

152mm, ISO-100, 1/320 s, f/5: one tractor

121mm, ISO-100, 1/640 s, f/5: another tractor

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    \$\begingroup\$ difficult to say without having been there. my guess: your skin reflected into the viewfinder. \$\endgroup\$
    – flolilo
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 12:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ Are you wearing glasses? \$\endgroup\$
    – bogl
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 7:49

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Without having more information on how exactly you took your image, and without the possibility to reproduce this effect, one can only guess. I see three possible causes for a sun reflection that is visible in the view finder, but does not appear in the image that is taken by the image sensor:

  1. Automatic aperture control

    Possibly you took your picture with the aperture not fully open. When looking through the view finder, the aperture is fully open, and the sun is reflected inside the lens barrel. During the exposure, the aperture is closed to the chosen value, and the paths of the reflected sun rays are blocked.

  2. Reflection through ocular

    A reflection of the sun may have entered light from behind through the ocular.

  3. View finder penta prism

    The last odd possibility would be sun rays that are reflected in the view finder's penta prism.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Actually, it was wide open; I used the maximum possible aperture opening. \$\endgroup\$
    – juhist
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 12:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ In that case it could be a reflection inside the view finder prisma, or a reflection coming from behind through the ocular, as @flolilolilo suggested. \$\endgroup\$
    – bogl
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 12:10

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