# Severe color cast with the built in ND filter adapter?



## Kit Lens Jockey (Apr 6, 2019)

This Amazon review seems to suggest that the built in ND filter adapter we've all been waiting for has a pretty bad color cast. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2E8SJDQGSAHXI/

Granted, the reviewer doesn't seem to know about long exposure noise reduction, so he could just as well have the white balance set to something weird.

More broadly, I always thought that people shied away from variable ND filters because sometimes they put lines or other artifacts into the image. Wouldn't this be the case with the adapter?


----------



## Kit. (Apr 6, 2019)

The reviewer says that the problem appears only on the max (9 stops) ND setting.


----------



## deleteme (Apr 6, 2019)

A color cast is scarcely a deal breaker as it is very easily corrected in post. If you actually think about it ALL images have a color cast, we just have to decide if we like it or change it.
When we shot color film, decisions were made in printing as to what color cast we were going to give it. Hardly a cause for sadness unless you are printing OOC jpgs blind.


----------



## SecureGSM (Apr 7, 2019)

food for one's thought:

https://www.mu-43.com/threads/correcting-color-casts-in-variable-nd-filters-solution.49021/


----------



## Graphic.Artifacts (Apr 7, 2019)

As long as the cast is reasonably consistent throughout the ND range it shouldn't be a problem. If the cast changes when you increase or decrease ND that can cause a lot of extra work and should be avoided.


----------



## neuroanatomist (Apr 7, 2019)

Graphic.Artifacts said:


> As long as the cast is reasonably consistent throughout the ND range it shouldn't be a problem. If the cast changes when you increase or decrease ND that can cause a lot of extra work and should be avoided.


That’s exactly the problem described – increased color cast at high density settings.


----------



## Graphic.Artifacts (Apr 7, 2019)

neuroanatomist said:


> That’s exactly the problem described – increased color cast at high density settings.


Yes I saw that. I use a B+W and although the cast is fairly consistent through most of the range it does shift a bit when you approach full density. I’m generally working within a range of a stop or two for video and rarely use it at full density so for me it works fine. I’ve seen others that shift quite a bit in the middle of the range which I’d avoid for video. I haven’t used the adaptor version so I can’t say exactly how bad the shift is. I can say it’s managble with the B+W that I use despite a noticeable shift at high density. 
Reasonably vs perfectly consistent. Perfectly consistent is going to be unreasonably expensive.


----------

