ND Filter. Don’t go Variable! | Jonas Rask
A little warning for my fellow photographers today. I like to shoot high speed prime lenses. That should no longer be a secret to the people who follow this blog. Ever since I started going “collectors heaven” with the old 50 mm lenses I have been needing ND filters in all shapes and sizes. And trust me on this DON’T BUY VARIABLE ND FILTERS! They will mess up your gorgeous bokeh, and specular highlights! What a variable ND filter really is, is two pieces of polarising glass. One linear, one circular. You twist the filter to offset the polarisation. Polarized at a 90 degree angle, the filter lets in zero light. at 0 degrees it lets in 100% light. (Basic high school physics :-P) What this sadly does is introduce artefacts into your out of focus areas. And before you start saying that this is only true on cheap filter brands… trust me…it’s not! I’ve tried variable ND’s from the following companies, and ALL with no exception show this issue! ……
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