I set my camera up in the "lab" tonight to
see under what conditions I could reproduce
the lens flare seen on a couple of my recent
images. Here's an image of one such scenario:

http://www.alaska.net/~thurston/images/FlareSetup.JPG

The lamp is very bright but is not in the
image area as seen on the glass or in the
viewfinder.

Here is what was visible on the glass:

http://www.alaska.net/~thurston/images/FlareOnGlass.JPG

In the viewfinder, there is an ill-defined,
low-contrast area which can be made to
disappear by shielding the lens slightly
with my hand.

The flare is curved while the bulb and element
in the lamp are both linear. This curve
suggests to my inexperienced eye that the
light is reflecting off some section of the
lens barrel. Is there anyone who cares to
make a more educated guess (based on this
limited information)?
________________________________________
John Thurston
Juneau, Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us