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I am starting to dabble in night photography, so I just bought a lens (Tamron 10-24) and checked it out last night. Please take a look at the photos and help me determine if I have now recorded UFO's (highly doubtful) or the lens has some type of defect. I have 14 days to return this lens. Your help is greatly appreciated. iso 200, 10.5mm, f3.5, 10secs

enter pic info here

Same location but with a different lens. Tamron AF 16-300 Shot at 16mm - iso 200 - F3.5 - 10 seconds. Notice, there are no artifacts.

enter image description here

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    \$\begingroup\$ With the narrower angle of view, the 16mm shot doesn't even include the area where the reflections show up in the 10mm shot. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Jun 5, 2022 at 10:19

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They're internal reflections of a bright light source inside the lens; from their position and the lighting on the trees, I'm going to guess there was some street lighting somewhere just out of the bottom of your shot.

Modern lenses are pretty good at eliminating this kind of internal reflection, but not perfect. If the artefacts appear on every shot, in may be that the lens does have a defect; if it's just on this one shot then it's just one of those things you have to learn to live with and work around; a lens hood may help if you weren't already using one, and remove any filters if you were using any.

With regards to your second photo, it is a significantly tighter shot than the first and doesn't even include the area where the reflections are in the first photo. I don't know the specifics of the lenses and it may be that the 16-300 is just naturally more resistant to internal reflections than the 10-24, but there's nothing there which demonstrates an actual problem with your specific copy of the 10-24.

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    \$\begingroup\$ You could try to block those light sources with your hand (especially if they are outside of your shot). Put your hand in between your lens and the light source and use live view to examine if the reflections disappear. \$\endgroup\$
    – Arji
    Jun 4, 2022 at 19:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 for "... remove any filters..." \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Jun 5, 2022 at 10:21
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So here's an update. Last night I used a hood and no "UFO's" showed up. I also took shots without the hood at 10mm & 13mm and the reflections were evident. I then moved to 16mm and no reflections (thanks for the heads up Ross). I was able to capture the Starlink Satellite. Crazy stuff up there.

Thanks to all for the reply's and help.

T

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I used to get odd shapes on long exposures from Pipistrelle bats hawking amongst the trees and larger moths and other bugs flying through the view point

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