Anomalous Mist Captured on Camera - Any Ideas?

[lotusland]

I took these pictures in 2005 with a Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera, Model DMZ-FZ20. I've taken hundreds and hundreds of photos before this particular day, none of which ever showed this strange "mist" in the images. And thousands since that day, and this mist has never reappeared.

The pictures were taken in a relatively untouched park (not logged) which had previously been inhabited by Coastal Indians. The day was clear, no fog in the air at all.

The thumbnails (albeit large thumbs) below link to the full-size images which are the original files from the camera. Clicking on each one will open the original, unaltered photos. No photoshop, nada If you check the properties of the large picture, you'll see the full details.

In this first sequence, my friend posed against the tree and I took the picture. He then stretched his arm out and I took another. These were taken within a few seconds of each other without me changing my viewing position or lowering the camera.





The mist appeared in the second shot. I took a few more pictures of my friend in front of the tree, none of which had this mist artifact present.

We reviewed the pictures immediately and were both surprised to see the mist on that one picture. We continued our walk into the forest and stopped and took a picture of a tangle of branches:


This first one showed the mist artifact. We reviewed the picture immediately after it was taken and were again baffled by this "mist". We took one more picture of the tangled branches, but the artifact was not present:



We then continued our walk through the forest, taking numerous other pictures, but no more mist appeared.

My question is this: is this artifact some kind of software malfunction? If so, I'm wondering why it hasn't malfunctioned since that day in 2005? The variable density of the mist artifact also seems odd to me. We did check the lens and nothing was on it. As it was winter, there were no insects flying around either.

I've noticed that others with digital cameras also capture this mist artifact from time to time, so it does seem particular to digital photography.

Anyone know if this is software problem or something else? And have you had this happen with your own digital photography?

 

[dorkbot]

I don't know for sure and I'm certainly no expert on digital cameras but the first thing that would occur to me if I had taken those photos is that some set of environmental conditions caused some moisture to temporarily condense somewhere in the camera that wasn't visible by just looking through the front element of the lens.

To my eyes the "mist" appears overlaid on top of the image rather than something that is actually out there and surrounding the branches and such. The ground looks damp to me and your friend is wearing a jacket. Perhaps it has recently rained? Was it humid? That appears to be a large cypress tree so there is a zone of transpiration around the tree. Was the camera in a cool, air-conditioned car in a bag and then taken out into a humid, warm area or perhaps vice-versa such as in your sweaty warm pocket and then taken out in a cool area?

I know I have had weird artifacts, such as fog and even ice crystals show up on negatives in my film cameras when exposed to relatively rapid temperature/humidity changes so that is why I mention it. It may have taken a bit for the climate change to affect the camera, you get a couple shots w/ the fog and then it stabilized so you didn't get any fog in later shots. I would think most digitals should be reasonably well sealed against that kind of thing but model and batch problems occur now and then.

Or I could be completely wrong and it has nothing to do w/ a quick temperature/humidity change but that is what popped into my head.

 

[lotusland]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I hadn't considered moisture in the camera at all.

As for the weather that day, I just looked up the data for the time period when the photos were taken:

Temperature: 4.4 C
Relative humidity: 85%
Sky: Mainly Clear

The camera was hanging by a strap from the shoulder. We had been outside with the camera for over an hour, taking photos all over the park, before this "mist" showed up.

The camera has been used under many weather conditions since (including rain), but the artifact has never shown up again.

I was thinking we were being followed by ghosts!