Lens performance at different elevations.......?

[Lonnie1212]

It might be the craziest question you have seen today. But please let me explain. I take a lot of city pictures at night. If I stand on the sidewalk and take a picture of a building, I may encounter lens glare, perhaps chromatic aberration, or anything could happen. If I take that same camera and lens and take night photograph from my apartment window, chances are that lens will perform a lot better. The apartment is on the 7th floor in downtown Springfield, Illinois. It overlooks most of the city lights, but not all of them. It is just something that I have noticed over the past couple of years. Even if I take a picture from top floor of a parking garage. The pictures will turn out better most of the time.

Maybe it is a matter of being above city lights that makes a difference. Any opinions please..

Thank you,


Lonnie

 

[petrochemist]

It's simply a matter of how the light falls on the lens. Down low each street light will be a very bright point source introducing flare etc from internal reflections.
Streetlights nearly always have a top that acts as a roof & reflector reducing the amount of wasted light that goes up. Being high you don't see the bulbs of the streetlights so don't get flare from them.

Elevation itself will have very minimal affect. Normal cameras/lenses have been used from the space station and at very low depths & work the same in both situations.

 

[Lonnie1212]

You are probably right about the hood on the street lights. That is probably why I don't as much glare when taking a pic from the 7th floor.