Twinkle effect

[MIDACL]

Is there a lens, or technic to get light reflections to give that twinkle star effect? In very very extreme light conditions my uzi will do this. And I have seen others with sony cameras get this in many shots. I do prefer not to have this effect in most of my shots, but some pictures it does add to the shine of the subject.

[Mike_PEAT]

Yes, it's called a "star" filter, and you can get it anywhere they sell good filters. Here's a page showing the picture with and without the filter on the camera:

http://www.bugeyedigital.com/moreinfo/ken-knst6.html

[geof]

you can get an inexpensive near-clear filter (ie daylight) and a sandpaper (he,he) and scratch the exterior side straight first ( as evenly through out the lens surface as possible); then rotate the filter 60 degrees and repeat scratch, and then again rotate another 60 degrees and scratch again. You will have three equi-rotated linear scratches. This is what gives you the effect.
And dont buy the "if its factory made its better" hype.
Enjoy...

[gibsonpd3620]

What coarseness should the sandpaper be?

[MIDACL]

Thanks, I think I might pick one of those up, or try the scratch effect on a clear one :P

[geof]

i have used a coarser 60 grit paper; the reason is that you want individual lines, not a fully sanded surface. The star filters work by reflecting the source light through the grooves on the surface. By creating 3 at 60 degrees, you get a 6-ray star. I would suggest do only a few in each direction, shoot and see the result. You can always add more lines, but if you get too many, you end up with so much reflection that it will give your photos a haze. Also, make sure you do the filter as evenly through out its surface as you can. There really is nothing toit. I havedone it with about 6 filters (different sizes) and they all work fine.
cheers