Larry "fishbio" of nikoncafe gave me permission to use some of his sample pictures on my blog regarding "the effect of cheap filters on image quality" .
I though this was one subject worth making 'permanent' on my site and useful information for those of you wanting to know what filters are good because the conversation brought up a link with some comparisons as well .
Here is one of the images without and with the filter , the full story is on my blog .
Not really the best example to explain your point. There is barely any in focus branch visible to illustrate the effects, as the vast majority of the image is out of focus.
I have seen the same impact on bokeh with my Canon 100-400 in certain conditions, and the filter wasn't necessarily a 'cheap' one either. A nearly $100 Hoya Pro UV filter. I now shoot filterless with this lens.
I did not run any extensive experiments, but I assume if it is doing this at all, it certainly wouldn't help with in-focus sharpness
And nervous bokeh like this can easily ruin a shot.
MrGreen wrote:
Not really the best example to explain your point. There is barely any in focus branch visible to illustrate the effects, as the vast majority of the image is out of focus.
If you read the actual blog you will see that it refers to "bokeh" in a few places.
So you're telling me it's not a good example of 'bokeh' "because it's out of focus "
Here's a description of " Bokeh " to enlighten you !
I came across an article talking about this same thing, nervous boken. There were quite a few examples showing the difference between photos with and without filters, low end and expensive ones. After seeing the results I pretty much shoot without UV filters UNLESS I think there may be a chance of something happening to my front element, like shooting mud drags or motor cross racing ect….
Don’t get me wrong, I do try and take good care of my gear. It’s just you spend thousand(s) of dollars on a good lens for several reasons, one being IQ. So why stick yet another piece of glass in front of it if you really don’t need to.
drdrew wrote:
i think the sharpness of the stick that is in focus is the main issue.
I chose F2.8 to emphasize the bokeh which is actually our main 'subject ' in this discussion , not the stick . That background image is a crop of a larger image so the sharp part is not in that frame and no part of this discussion .
Hrow wrote:
Bad filters can wreck the images of good lenses. It is that simple. Been there, seen that.
It was something that was always in the back of my mind but never considered too seriously until I saw the first images someone posted illustrating the difference .
After doing my own tests I'm glad I've changed the filter on my 70-200VR .
I did some 8X12 prints today and the bokeh in the cheap-filter shot is markedly worse than on the other two .
