After noticing some nasty ghosting and reflection on some of my night-shot photographs, I decided to investigate how different filters performed.

Firstly what is ghosting? Well I’m no optics physicist, but this type of ghost reflection is most commonly found in night photography and other instances when there is high contrast (bright light sources against a dark background) and wide apertures. It is caused by light entering the lens, but then reflecting the inside off the front element or filter, creating a doubling effect. Filters counter this problem by increasing their light transmission, usually with better quality glass and coatings.

I was quite shocked at the findings! Below are the quick images I shot, with no manipulation other than cropping. I tested my Canon 24-70mm L USM with no filter, a Hoya UV(N) HMC and a Jessops Skylight 1A filter. I took the same shot afterwards with a Sigma 50mm EX DG Macro with no filter, and a Jessops UV Filter.

The filter-less shots show that the lenses are both in working condition and we can clearly see how poorly the Jessops filters perform! Both the Jessops Skylight 1A and UV filters fail dismally to impress, adding enormous amounts of ghost reflection. The Hoya UV(N) HMC performs significantly better than, and cost half as much as, the Jessops Skylight 1A. In the second comparison the ghost reflections are almost as bright as the streetlights themselves!

From now on I will avoid Jessops filters like the plague and stick to Hoya HMC at the least. No doubt SHMC performs better still. But this has certainly enlightened me as to the severeity of the filter situation!