Polka dot flares are not something I expected to encounter after years of shooting directly into the sun. While testing an unreleased lens on my Leica CL, I noticed a series of organised red circular flare patterns appearing only at smaller apertures. Curious about the cause, I compared results across multiple cameras and formats, eventually tracing the behaviour to sensor design and on-sensor phase detection. This post documents that accidental discovery and what I learned f

I guess now I like the idea of how shadow throws an image into ambiguity. You see it but you don't.