Picture taken by Eric 5D Mark II

I received a small amount of friendly harassment the other day from another photographer about using cheap lens filters. I’ve been using lower price Polaroid Fader ND filters for awhile now and haven’t had many problems. The Polaroid filters general run about $30 to $45 on amazon and cause a small amount of vignetting, but overall I haven’t had a lot to complain about.

The point she was trying to make was that I have a very nice Canon 50mm f1.2 lens, but I’m putting a “junk peace of glass” in front of it. I don’t consider the Polaroid Fader ND filters to be “junk” but it is at the lower end of the food chain.

The conversation went on for quit awhile, before I was finally convinced. I placed an order for a 72mm Light Craft Workshop Fader ND II. The light Craft Fader ND is about 3 times the the price of Polaroid’s Fader ND. The question I have is, will the difference be that noticeable?  Or is this another case of spending more money makes you feel like you have a better product?

Once the Light Craft shows up I’ll run a few tests to see how the two filters stack up. I’m guessing it wont be that noticeable in video mode, but it might be a different story when used for stills.  Either way the looser will probably end up on ebay.


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