This is not a test, merely and observation.
Now I'm not a seasoned expert in the usage of ND filters but I have dabbled in my time. Last summer I bought a set of Cokin ND Grads - generally well respected beginners ND filters. I also bought another set, only for the screw adapter rings, I think it was like £10 for the adapters from 50mm up to 88mm (off the top of my head, somewhere around there anyway) along with 3 gradients, 3 flat ND filters and a carry pouch for them. The kit is great value just for the rings themselves, I am not slating that, but I just thought it would be good to show what can happen when you actually decide to put what is probably a 30p piece of plastic in front of your very expensive lens. I really didn't expect the results to be this bad!
Please note, this wasn't set up as a test, both images are using different exposure settings, particularly to note the one using the ND filters is set at f/8 whereas the one without is set at f/16 so diffraction does play a part in image sharpness. However looking at the full size images of the ND shots, sharpness isn't affected too much by the filter, just contrast and of course colour cast. An unrecoverable lack of contrast as far as I am concerned.
Ok so the first image is one taken using a total of 4 stops of light reduction of the cheapos. These weren't grads, just normal ND filters. Converted straight from RAW.
NKN_5508 by ryan hollings, on Flickr
Now a similar shot (f/16 albiet) with out any. Converted straight from RAW.
NKN_5511 by ryan hollings, on Flickr
Already you can see the huge difference, this proves it's almost not worth it to do a proper test to show how bad these things are to your image quality.
Next up, the same edits have been done on both images, except some slight differences to tone adjustments. Colour, Sharpness & Contrast adjustments all identical. (not white balance however)
ND Filters:
NKN_5508-2 by ryan hollings, on Flickr
You can see it is possible to pull back the contrast, but it to me still seems a bit flat, and any more major adjustments to the images structure/contrast will start to make it look look fake - IMO.
Here's the other with the same corrections applied:
NKN_5511-2 by ryan hollings, on Flickr
Please feel free to tear this apart, but I think overall its a fairly obvious and reasonable observation.
Would be awful if someone had set up all evening for the sunset with their new filter set, thought they had the pictures they wanted and then faced this in post processing.
Edit: If you are interested, the thread for my pictures that day is Elie - 16/02/12
Cheers for reading,
Earl
Now I'm not a seasoned expert in the usage of ND filters but I have dabbled in my time. Last summer I bought a set of Cokin ND Grads - generally well respected beginners ND filters. I also bought another set, only for the screw adapter rings, I think it was like £10 for the adapters from 50mm up to 88mm (off the top of my head, somewhere around there anyway) along with 3 gradients, 3 flat ND filters and a carry pouch for them. The kit is great value just for the rings themselves, I am not slating that, but I just thought it would be good to show what can happen when you actually decide to put what is probably a 30p piece of plastic in front of your very expensive lens. I really didn't expect the results to be this bad!
Please note, this wasn't set up as a test, both images are using different exposure settings, particularly to note the one using the ND filters is set at f/8 whereas the one without is set at f/16 so diffraction does play a part in image sharpness. However looking at the full size images of the ND shots, sharpness isn't affected too much by the filter, just contrast and of course colour cast. An unrecoverable lack of contrast as far as I am concerned.
Ok so the first image is one taken using a total of 4 stops of light reduction of the cheapos. These weren't grads, just normal ND filters. Converted straight from RAW.
NKN_5508 by ryan hollings, on FlickrNow a similar shot (f/16 albiet) with out any. Converted straight from RAW.
NKN_5511 by ryan hollings, on FlickrAlready you can see the huge difference, this proves it's almost not worth it to do a proper test to show how bad these things are to your image quality.
Next up, the same edits have been done on both images, except some slight differences to tone adjustments. Colour, Sharpness & Contrast adjustments all identical. (not white balance however)
ND Filters:
NKN_5508-2 by ryan hollings, on FlickrYou can see it is possible to pull back the contrast, but it to me still seems a bit flat, and any more major adjustments to the images structure/contrast will start to make it look look fake - IMO.
Here's the other with the same corrections applied:
NKN_5511-2 by ryan hollings, on FlickrPlease feel free to tear this apart, but I think overall its a fairly obvious and reasonable observation.
Would be awful if someone had set up all evening for the sunset with their new filter set, thought they had the pictures they wanted and then faced this in post processing.
Edit: If you are interested, the thread for my pictures that day is Elie - 16/02/12
Cheers for reading,
Earl
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