Is there any way to get light flares in a canon m50 and its 15-45mm lens?

Question

I recently got a canon m50 for recording music videos, and despite several bad reviews I have read, I think it works quite well generally. There are some things though that I do not like that I am trying to solve.

One of them is that whenever I have a source of light (like a lamp) in front of the camera or irradiating the edge of the lens I cannot get light flares (which would give a very aesthetic look to my videos).

So is it there any way to get light flares with the lens I have (a 15-45mm lens)? Or do I have to buy another lens for it?

Answer 1

The focal length of your lens does not necessarily determine wether or not you will see lens-flares. Lens-flares appear by reflecting light within the lenses, often bouncing around which in on itself would be considered a mistake. So chances are that with cheaper lenses, you will actually see more lens-flares than with an expensive zeiss-prime lens.

There are some tricks to make lens-flares more apparent: You can use a rubber-band and stretch it in front of the lens horizontally - the rubber-band will be almost invisible since it's so out of focus, however, the reflected light will be caught by it and give you an almost anamorphic-looking lens-flare. For more dyi-tips and tricks concerning lenses I recommend you check out the FilmRiot Youtube channel, or the IndyMogul one. They hinted me towards the rubber-band trick for example.