Urth 39mm Ethereal ¼ Diffusion Lens Filter (Plus+)

Not a bad filter, I think maybe for 1/4 stop I'd have expected a little more evidence of the diffusion.Unfortunately I dropped mine the other day so will now probably be trying the 1/2.

Picked this up along with the Urth ND16 for bloomed large aperture daylight pictures.Very light specific result as you would expect. Without strong overblown light sources the effect is very minor, almost unnoticeable. In cases where your shooting against the sun however, the effect can take over the images.Tends to make the autofocus on my old T2i hunt or miss-focus every other shot, however I wouldn't expect this to be different from other mist filters and more modern cameras shouldn't have the same level of difficulty.The filter only comes in 1/8 and 1/4. I picked up the 1/4 expecting a result closer to the 1/4 Black Pro Mist in intensity, which, comparing my night tests to sample BPM photos, appears noticeably less.The filter will probably stay on the lens full time as the general effect is very pleasing.Photo comparison sample is with both ND16 and Ethereal 1/4, hence the substantial difference in bokeh.Edit: New sample added (Girl in field).This sample shows that focus is not always very accurate.About 2/3 of my aging camera shots missed focus using both the ND16 and 1/4 Ethereal together.The softness provided by the Ethereal filter allowed about half of the missed focus shots to be usable in editing.This image is just about straight out of camera under harsh 1pm full sun, backlit for extra Ethereal impact.Lens was 85mm, shot at F1.8 in these conditions with a shutter speed of 1/200 allowing off camera flash (photo was only natural light).

I purchased 2 as both of my lenses require 39mm thread. One of the filter's fit perfectly while the other filter had resistance when threading it on my lens. i tried swapping the lenses to make sure it wasnt the thread issue on the lens, but the defective filter still had restistance. I also couldn't screw in my lens hood on one of the filters due to the threading issue.

I don't have any experience with any other "bloom" filter like Black Pro mist, Cinebloom, etc, but this filter delivered exacly what i was looking for!If you like the pictures i took give it a try!

I've got a handful of Tiffen and K&F Concept filters that I use on my Nikon lenses, and I was excited to try this offering from Urth, which I had never heard of before. Upon researching the brand I discovered that they have two lines of filters: the Urth series, which is their cheaper line that comes packages in brown boxes, and the Urth + series, which is their premium line that comes in grey boxes with a plus symbol at the top right of the box. This filter is from the Urth + premium line. The build quality of the filter is top notch, and it uses coated German glass. The metal ring has a slim profile and is double threaded so you can stack more filters on top of it.This filter is Urth's 1/4 strength diffusion filter and it's relatively subtle. They also make a 1/8 strength filter that is SUPER subtle. The diffusion effect of this is more pronounced in very high contrast scenes, where it reduces contrast slightly and adds a soft halo/bloom to the very brightest parts of the scene. In low contrast scenes the difference is more minor but it does add a slight softening effect that can pleasingly temper the harshness of sharp digital sensors.The filter comes with a round metal storage tin with a screw-top lid and a custom cut foam insert, which offers excellent protection when it's transported in a camera bag. A soft cleaning cloth is also included.The box states that the filter is "Consciously designed in Australia" and "Expertly assembled in China".Since there's no warranty information on this Amazon product listing page, here's the warranty info copied from the Urth website:"We believe the best way to make a product sustainable is to make it last a lifetime or more, that’s why we guarantee our products for life.We use the highest quality materials coupled with precise manufacturing processes, but bad things happen to good people (and products) and, from time to time, some units may fail. If your Urth product fails from normal usage, we will replace it with a new unit.To make a lifetime warranty claim, email our customer support team with your order number, a photo or video of the issue, and a written description of the issue."Of course, Urth is a new company (founded in 2014) so there's no guarantee that the company will be around "for life", but it's good that they're willing to stand behind their products.As a bonus, this company claims to plant 5 trees for every filter sold, and there's a code printed in the lid of the box that promises to plant 5 more if you register on the Urth website.I'm happy to have this top quality filter in my photography toolkit, and I look forward to more offerings from this company. It's a nice piece of camera glass that rivals the filters from the big name brands, and I would definitely recommend it.