“You get what you pay for” is a saying we have all heard and it is somewhat true with ND filters. If you are paying very little for an ND filter, chances are it is not going to be very high performing. This is usually the case from my experience.
But what if you pay a lot for a filter? Does that guarantee that filter will be high performing?
Unfortunately, there are expensive filters out there that are not very good, and many photographers are not even aware of it. As far as I know there is no regulatory body or performance rating that governs ND filters.
I realize I will likely be attacked by many for creating a filter specifically to do well in a color cast test and then testing it against the big boys, however “ND” should be as close to neutral as possible and what you are about to see will shock you. I also wanted to provide hard evidence that yes, there is a difference, and yes it can be measured.
You can download the images I used in this test as well as the spreadsheet here: https://bit.ly/2XPsPoR
You are welcome to scrutinize & criticize my results. I will take all honest feedback sincerely, and improve the test (or the filters if possible), but as of right now, Im pretty proud of my first filters!
Table Of Contents:
03:04 – Myth & True Advantages of Nano Coated Filters
03:48 – Filters Used In Test
04:50 – Methodology of Test
08:00 – Adjusting for 10 Stops
09:45 – Viewing Results in Camera RAW
10:30 – Boring Nerdy Stuff (How to quantitate color cast numerically)
17:48 – Filter Scores
If you are a pure beginner to filters, I think a basic Cokin P filter kit (that comes with adapters and filters) are a good place to start. See the link on the bottom of this description for a good, inexpensive kit.
Michael’s Maven ND1000 (10 Stop) Filters:
MAVEN 100X100MM ND1000 FILTERS
Michael’s Maven ND64 (6 Stop) Filters:
**On PRE-ORDER FOR $99 THROUGH JULY 15TH. REG. PRICE WILL BE $150**
Filters Used in Test:
#NDFilters #BestNDFillter #10StopNDFilter
