A lens hot spot is the most common problem encountered when shooting infrared light. They usually manifest in the form of a bright circle, sometimes in the shape of aperture leaves directly in the center of the image. The problem is exaggerated as you stop down (increase f stop number), with the spot becoming more prominent and defined. Hot spots can also behave differently in different zoom ranges of a lens. If you want to learn about other issues your lenses might have in infrared light, visit our Lens Considerations Page.
Normal photographic lenses are designed for visible light photography and sometimes behave quite strangely in infrared light. This page demonstrates results of the testing we have done with each of these lenses.
All testing is done with our Deep B&W Filter (830nm). This is usually the worst offender in terms of hot spots out of all of our filter options. When a camera is converted with our Super Color Filter (590nm) for example, you might see that the results are much better with some these lenses than our testing shows.
We test each lens by stopping down as much as the lens will allow us too, usually that will be f22, and then we begin to open up the aperture to see the different result. We also included one shot of the lens wide open. An extra step we took in the zoom lenses is repeating this process fully zoomed in.
Click on any of the lenses below to see the results of our testing. We will look to enhance this list as time and resources allow.
A huge thank you to the great people at Kenmore Camera for allowing us to get a massive amount of these lenses tested!
Quick Menu:
Canon Lenses
Nikon Lenses
Fujifilm Lenses
Sony Lenses
Click on lens model to expand hotspot info
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Lens
Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens
Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM Lens
Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Canon EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens
Click on lens model to expand hotspot info
Nikon 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30 mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED Lens
Nikon AF NIKKOR 14mm f/2.8D ED Lens
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens
Nikon 1 NIKKOR 18.5mm f/1.8 Lens
Nikon AF NIKKOR 24mm f/2.8D Lens
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G Lens
Nikon AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED Lens
Click on lens model to expand hotspot info
Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS Lens
Fujifilm XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR Lens
Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR Lens
Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS Zoom Lens
Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2 R WR Lens
Fujifilm XF 27mm f/2.8 Lens
Fujifilm XF 35mm f/2 R WR Lens
Fujifilm XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Lens
Fujifilm XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR Lens
Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR Lens
Click on lens model to expand hotspot info
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens
Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Sony Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens
Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens
Sony Sonnar T* E 24mm f/1.8 ZA Lens
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens
Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Lens
Sony E 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 OSS Lens
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens
Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS Lens
Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM Lens
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens
