K&F Variable ND2-400 Filter (quick test)

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(Edited)

K&F Variable ND2-400 Filter (quick test)

Just got this ND filter and i had to do a quick test. Cheaper filters usually have some kind of color cast and from some research i did, i was not sure how will it go. I started with heavy searching and then realized that it is not that important if you find the best price/quality filter if in your country they only have 3-4 different brands :)

Most popular brand here is Hoya. But it was almost double in price and from what i saw also not free of color cast.

So i ended up picking K&F. Specs say it provides light reduction of 1 to 8.6 stops. I will have to believe them as i am not even sure how would i test that exactly.

nd K&F.jpg

First impression. Yap it does have some yellow/green color cast. But if you don't do a side by side it is actually not that bad.

Also really is that what ever you put in front of your lens it will affect performances. Sharpness is usually affected. So here are some zoomed in crops.

MAX.jpg

First one is MAX setting. If you compare it with other two you can see that this one is softest. But it was an 1 second exposure (didn't want to change F-stop and ISO, my light was on max) so i can't blame the filter for that 100%. Also i can live with that.

MIN.jpg

On MIN setting (1 stop of the light) it does better. You can see a bit more sharpness in the photo below but nothing really spectacular. Still not the fastest shutter speed (1/30)

NO FILTER.jpg

Beside a bit more sharpness you can also see the color cast. It does look worst on this 300% zooms. But for photos even if you are bothered with it, it should be easy fixable.

Photos are taken with 35mm lens that has 52mm filter size. I got 58mm filter and bunch of step up rings because that gives me an opportunity to use this filter on all 3 of my full frame lenses (85mm, 50mm and 35mm). So for 35mm i had to use 2 step up rings to be able to mount the filter. That could also affect performances but i am not sure is it and for how much as i fond no data.

I also do own a chap 15$ filter. Price of K&F 58mm was 42 Eur so ~ 48$. So a test comparison of those two should also be in order. And some more about ND filters.

Why a quick test and why was i in a hurry to buy one you ask? Well

Some may remember some Christmas songs i posted few years in a row. Perla/Perličky/HNS- Vianočný zázrak and Dievčenská spevácka skupina Perla - Vianočný zázrak. We always do it last minute so this year we started talking about it 2 months ago. Guess how much time we have to film it. Yap you guessed right. One day to film and 4 days to edit 😂 and they have kinda a short film in mind 😂

Why ND? I will have to film some outside scenes and would like to have an option of controlling my shutter speed.



New to photography? Struggling to understand Manual mode? Check out some tutorials for easy understanding of Manual Mode shooting.

Photography Basics: Learn Manual Mode (tutorial, Part 1)
Photography Basics: Learn Manual Mode, Shutter speed (tutorial, Part 2)
Photography Basics: Learn Manual Mode, Aperture and ISO (tutorial, Part 3)
Photography Basics: Learn Manual Mode - Thinking process (Tutorial Part 4)





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13 comments
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There is really great difference between those shot. Great work here

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I got the same ND-Filter later I upgraded to ND 2-2000, as well from K&F. On sunny days the 400 wasn't enough anymore 🙈

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I didn't see those, maybe i would go for that :D

i think the market is small so they only have most common ones.

Never heard about K&F until i started looking for NDs

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https://amzn.to/3p5mySU

That's the one I've got.

Heard about K&F for the first time when I needed an A-Mount to E-Mount for my lenses 😃

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looks the same as one that i got, just darker :D

changing mounts is pain :D

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Exactly. I have booth now 😅 but the 8-2000 would have been enough 🙈

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They look good to me, as long as it does the trick of effectively taking you down a stop or two. The yellow tint isn’t really that noticeable I’d say.

I must say I’m always a bit perplexed watching some YouTubers compare compression, or white balance or sharpness in great detail, when 99.9% of the time the end viewer won’t ever or notice or care 😂
They do these 1 hour long comparisons with charts and shit.
I always go with what looks good and my own aesthetic judgement, so if you’re happy I’d say you’ve found the right set. Looks good to me man!

Is there loads of snow where you are? ND’s must be needed all the time in the daylight 😆

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I must say I’m always a bit perplexed watching some YouTubers compare compression, or white balance or sharpness in great detail, when 99.9% of the time the end viewer won’t ever or notice or care.

we do tend to overstress about details that 0.1% of people will maybe notice :)
my main concern was mostly about color cast and that X thing that happens on some variable NDs. also for video a bit of softness is not that of a big deal. it just should not be over the top.

We had snow last weekend, now is melted away. They say we could get more today and tomorrow so it will be kinda a surprise on Sunday. It could be that this ND is not enough to i will need more light :D
From what we talked we should have just few scenes outside, so only thing i don't want is blizzard :D

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I think the image quality looks decent. If it gives you the creative look that you want, that is way more important than a tiny fraction of reduced sharpness. Look forward to seeing the results!

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it looks like that it will work. not really happy when going into something with new gear :D but it is what it is

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I understand. :) At least you got to test it a little first. Hope it all goes well!

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thank you for thiss master 🙏 @bil.prag. It is always pleasure to watch your informative article. God bless you dear @bil.prag

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