Diffusing Emergency Scene Lights

July 21, 2012 forum topics
I shoot primarily overnight news and recently bought Panasonic’s HPX300 (before they came out with the 370). I predicted some issues with the 1/3" CMOS but to my surprise it handled the lights at emergency scenes pretty well…up until now. I attached a comparison of when I first started using the camera and now. Lately, I’ve been getting diffraction-like spikes from lightbars & strobes that used to be diffused perfectly. I noticed the issue slowly arise as the weather got warmer. Is it possible the two could be related? Also, I’m using a Tiffen Digital HT multi-coated clear filter. Are there any other filters that may diffuse the light a little more? If not, any idea what the issue could be/how to fix it?