Personally, I have never had any problems with Hoya filters, except for one - the Softener(B). Personally, rather than just "softening" a shot, I feel that it makes it look washed out, almost to a point of being over-exposed. As a few others mentioned previously, the most tried and true method of creating a softening or diffusing filter is to wrap nylon stocking over the lens. An alternative that I have used and prevents vignetting is to get a larger piece of the pantihose or tulle, whichever you choose to use, and stretch it between a craft loop (don't know if that's what its called but that's what i am calling it!) - one of those circular frames that women (and men if they choose! hehe) use to hold their fabric in place for embroidery. You can then hold this in front of the lens as you shoot. Some of you may not like this idea as it means you need to use both hands however, I love the flexibility it gives. Obviously this can only be done when using a tripod and probably a cable release, so it wouldn't be suited to every situation, but it has on many occasions allowed me to shoot, one shot with softener, one shot without, repose the model, shoot again with it, shoot again without etc. So as soon as I get the prints back, I can compare the effect and choose which one I would prefer (ie with softener or without), rather than look at the prints and think "geez, i wish I'd used a softener" or "geez, i wish I hadn't used a softener" etc.... Hope this helps and at least makes some sense - I know I can be very long-winded at times! (Typical woman, you see! Well, so my hubby says...) :-) Tanya. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
