Bernie's Birthday at Mahood Lake

They were the best of times, they were... pretty much exclusively the best of times 😉 It was a beautiful drive from Edmonton to Mahood Lake, nestled deep within the beautiful Wells Gray Provincial park in interior BC. The purpose: to celebrate my oldest friend Chris' birthday. He had moved to Vancouver, so his wonderful wife, Ashley, had planned a get-together with friends and family halfway between Edmonton and Vancouver, and at a beautiful, remote, BC lake. Lacking social skills and tact, Chris does not have a deep pool of friends from which to draw, so I was the sole representative from that contingent. Family was well represented and there in full force, along with the lovely Lucia. As always Lucia was as full of grace and dignity as one would imagine such a beautiful dog should be. It was truly an amazing solo drive out to the lake and the weather couldn't have been better. One night certainly was not enough time, but the time was well spent. It was great to catch up and on a personal note, a wonderful drive full of silent moments in awe of the natural beauty of western Canada. The magesty of the mountains, and deep blues of the placid lakes made a perfect backdrop for self-reflection, appreciation and the pride that one feels when driving through a part of the world largely responsible for helping shape the character and identity of the people we grow up to be.



Overexposed streaks bottom of frame Sony A7 with Manual Lenses

I am using a first-generation Sony A7 with some adapted manual focus OM and M42 lenses with cheaper K&F concept adapters and have noticed overexposed streaks of light along the bottom of the frame of varying size and severity. The effect seems reduced when stopping down and also when shooting in lower light scenarios or in varying angles to strong light sources. I have tried different shutter speeds and turning on and off the electronic first curtain with no consistent ability to remove the issue entirely. I am trying to figure out whether this is due to a light leak with the adapter, reflections off the sensor, or any other possible mechanical issue that I am not thinking of. Has anyone experienced any issues like this, or know of any solutions? I am wondering if a Rayqual, Novoflex, or Metabones adapter would mitigate or eliminate the issue. 

 

**Update: To update everyone on the issue, the mystery has been solved. The culprit is the shutter. The problem has progressively gotten worse and is now clearly visible with both native and adapted lenses in certain shooting conditions. The problem seems more pronounced at faster shutter speeds. Going back through older photos taken with this camera, with all lenses there were very subtle signs of the issue that were unnoticed upon the first inspection, but now that I am looking for the problem can easily identify it. I still don't know why the issues seemed to be more apparent with adapted lenses, but at least now know what the cause of the problem was, which is a real shame because the shutter still has less than 20,000 actuations.Thank you to everyone for their advice and input. 

Samples of Issue: