Extreme Backlighting with Sony A7R II
Get Sony A7R II mirrorless at B&H Photo.
The image below is almost black in all non-sky areas, and has received a maximum shadow boost, revealing a violet ghosting flare. I rather like the total effect, as the dark mood invokes a feeling of the ending of the day, and the season.
Of course, many lenses could not do anywhere near so well as here—this is excellence in flare control and maintenance of contrast in a blindingly bright sky/sun.
Flare control is a lens performance issue generally neglected in lab tests (and lab tests suck for really understanding field behavior). I always shoot a variety of flare shots in the field to see how well the lens actually performs, with the sun in various areas in the frame and just out of the frame. Some lenses are utterly destroyed by flare, even ones that are very expensive. Others do great with the sun in the frame, but suffer massive veiling flare with the sun just out of the frame.