Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

I recently received a Sony DSC-RX10 iii which had been very well cared for.
Wanting to preserve its value, I applied a screen protector AND bought a Vivitar UV filter to protect the lens.
I first took a shot (camera full auto) at 600mm across my back yard of a clock on the wall.
I next put the filter on and repeated the shot.
Then I made crops at 100% around the #8 on the clock.
To me - the no-filter image looks sharper than the one with the filter on.
Is this acceptable? Or do I need to up the anty? If so - which filter would you recommend ?
I DID click 'Store Original' (I tried x2) - but it didn't do that

No Filter


Filter Applied

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

No Filter - store original was clicked - I tried again - - didn't work

Ollieboy

Get a quality filter. Vivitar is on the bottom end.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I think your image now needs to be at least 1200px wide, I think that's the issue on attaching the files; not wide enough.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Agreed. Our OP should look at B+W MRC, or any B+W clear or UV version, that fits your filter size.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

I've been looking at the Schneider / B+W website, but can't easily find an authorized dealer. I hear that Amazon and even B&H may not be guaranteed to ship an authentic B+W filter ??
Thanks for the tip on pixel sizes - I guess as uploaded you can see all the detail needed to decide.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

--Bob

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I'd put zero into online nonsense that B&H isn't selling authentic B+W filters ....

Cheaper filters are sold used from KEH, but your size need might be harder to find. The older B+W line is F-PRO, what many of my lenses have, particularly the older ones.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

B+W filters can be authenticated on their web site.
Thanks for the info - I appreciate it

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I buy German Schott Glass B+W (Schneider) or German Schott Glass Heliopan filters only. And both of these brands have different models with different feature qualities and image qualities. Expect to pay $$. I often buy used graded 9 or 9+ (10=new).

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I use B+W 007 Clear MRC nano Master filters

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I can't imagine B&H or Adorama selling counterfeit anything.

How does B+W authenticate a filter? There are numbers and letters on mine but as far as I remember the ones that are the same styles have the same things written on them even when one is a 49mm and the other is a 62mm. Nothing looks like serial numbers. I have many B+W UV, 1A, or Clear F PRO MRC filters, 13 I believe.

therwol Loc: USA

I've never been able to discern any significant loss of sharpness in using UV or Skylight filters for over 50 years. It looks to me like the camera didn't nail the focus on the filtered image. Can you shoot on a tripod with a time delay and take multiple shots? (I'm not familiar with the camera, so I don't know.)

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

UV filters are sort of a leftover habit from film days. Because they are designed to cut response at the blue end of the visible soectrum, they can and usually do leave a slight yellow cast. Clear filters are a better choice.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If you repeat your test after getting a new filter I would recommend using a focus target as a subject. The elements in the images you used don't look like they have really crisp edges and the sharpest thing is the grain in the wood behind the numbers and dots of the clock face.

You didn't state whether you used a tripod, but that will go a way toward ensuring stability of the camera. The shutter speed has been brought up as a possibly important parameter. If shutter shock is contributing to blur an image, it will be concentrated at the start and end of the shutter travel. That means a shutter speed faster than 1/250 second will show the effects of shutter shock only at the edges of the image.

Sharpness of an image is a subjective thing. It's not all that easy to compare two images side by side. I highly recommend a blink test to see subtle differences between two images. A blink test is not difficult to set up. Take the two images to be compared and place them in layers in Photoshop. Then align them so you can turn the top layer on and off and not see motion in the image. If you want, you can use the two images to produce an animated gif and just run it in a loop. Make one image with a longer duration than the other in the animation so you can tell which image you are looking at when you see a difference.

I would probably take the images and transform them to numeric arrays, select elements with edges and measure the slope of the transformation from light to dark. A steep slope means a sharp edge. However, that's an involved process and beyond the capabilities of most software used by photographers.

Mirror Slap Effect on Sharpness