The Neewer ND filter I use in my matt box is decent, good even and it withstands comparison to dearer filters. I have used it without fear up until now. The other day, when testing the Vespid (and other lenses used the same filter, so this is a Vespid thing), it manifested a variety of odd flare behaviour, some of which were image ruining and a few were very hard to explain, like purple reflections when there were no light sources in or even out of frame.
I jumped online and grabbed a 77mm Hoya 32 or 5 stop ND filter. I find five stop filters allow me full reign in daylight, switching to either a 3 stop in lower light or no filter at all, but with the ISO performance of the S5, 5 stops is fine.
Strait away it was a different experience.
The same situation roughly, but to be honest behaviour was so erratic last time, I was expecting a lot of other results. I will call this a win.
Veiling flare was evident, but again, even enough that I could remove it globally.
I also liked some of the Bokeh and flares I discovered when chasing focus or transitioning.
I think anytime it flares but not uncontrollably is a win. In the file below, the top right was screaming red at me (blown highlights in BMVA language).
The lens is superbly balanced on my S5 rig, making it a great hand held option and focussing is easy. It produces beautifully sharp points of interest, without being heavy handed and produces lovely, interesting, even exciting images.
