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I got a Voigtländer Vito BL recently. I tried it, and noticed that some of the photos came out with a big light circle right in the middle. I have tried searching for circles, stains, orbs, etc., but I haven't found circles as big as these ones. Does anyone know why this happened?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Did you have a filter on the front of the lens when you took these? If so, what was the filter? \$\endgroup\$
    – scottbb ♦
    Dec 5, 2020 at 0:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ Is this the original lens? Could you repeat this test at wide open, and at f/16 \$\endgroup\$
    – Sherwood Botsford
    Dec 6, 2020 at 19:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ The VITO BL is a leaf shutter camera, maybe the leaf shutter is damaged and lags? \$\endgroup\$
    – rackandboneman
    Dec 7, 2020 at 2:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ @scottbb No filter used! \$\endgroup\$
    – Purpurina
    Dec 8, 2020 at 17:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SherwoodBotsford Yes, it has the original lens. I will try that for the next roll! \$\endgroup\$
    – Purpurina
    Dec 8, 2020 at 17:42

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I had something similar and it was a piece of debris in my lens. Took me ages to work out it was there so definitely worth a look.

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Visually inspect the shutter/aperture while in operation. Does it open/close smoothly or does it hesitate? I suspect your shutter is sticking.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ A leaf shutter should be completely out-of-focus. Otherwise, even when it was working properly, you'd get horrible vignetting at higher shutter speeds because the center stays open from the very beginning of the exposure to the very edges, but it's only fully open for a much shorter amount of time. Also, that washed-out region is more perfectly circular than I would expect of the opening of a partially-open leaf shutter. \$\endgroup\$
    – Solomon Slow
    Jan 4, 2021 at 18:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also note: "...washed out region..." which is somewhat of a different look from "overexposed." \$\endgroup\$
    – Solomon Slow
    Jan 4, 2021 at 19:03
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Both photos were taken with raking light. Both have multiple smaller artifacts. The primary artifacts are not on all photos. The camera dates from the late 1950's before more modern lens coatings were common. I suspect that it is internal reflection. The washed out nature of the primary artifact is consistent with that as are the secondary artifacts. I recommend a lens hood as the first step toward resolving the issue

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