Overheard someone say stacking filters ruins sharpness...

I was at a local meetup in Portland last weekend and this guy claimed putting more than two filters on a lens kills your resolution. I shoot a lot of widefield shots with a star tracker and I use three filters sometimes. Has anyone actually tested this or is it just a thing people repeat?

2 comments

2 Comments

rubysingh13d ago

Would a difference in resolution really be noticeable with your eye, or are we talking about pixel peeping at 400%? I stack three filters on my star tracker all the time, and I've never seen softness that a quick sharpen in Lightroom can't fix. Most of the time, I think people blame filters for bad technique like not nailing focus or having vibration from the shutter. Plus, if you're after an expensive pro filter like a K&F or something, the glass is already sharp enough that adding a few more won't turn your image into mush. What matters more is how clean your optics are and if you're using a solid mount that doesn't wobble. Honestly, I'd rather stack filters to get the exact exposure I want than miss a shot because I'm scared of a tiny drop in sharpness.

harper_foster12d ago

Rubysingh's right, stacking decent filters never caused me softness problems with my star tracker shots either.