I have tried Cavision, Lee, and Tiffen soft filters in an attempt to eliminate aliasing and moire but have yet to find a solution. Now Philip Bloom is reporting (from a user's comments) that Zeiss Softar filters offer a potential remedy for these problems. I'm skeptical, given I've tried a number of similar filters (and the Softars claim to "retain sharpness," which would mean... retaining aliasing), but here's the word from Zeiss:
Unlike most softeners and diffusors the Zeiss Softar attachments are not mass produced pieces of plastic. This is why genuine Zeiss Softar attachments do not lose focus and do not produce unsharp out-of-focus images. Zeiss Softar attachments also do not lose important fine detail like eyelashes. Neither do they lose overall contrast and color saturation, which would result in dull images like the ones produced by so many softeners, ”soft lenses”, and diffusors. However, Zeiss Softar attachments reduce, lower, ”soften” the visibility of skin blemishes and freckles thus easing the life of the portrait and beauty photographer, saving retouching efforts, supporting the acceptance of his or her work and increasing the economic success.
More important than any manufacturer description, however, is what users actually report. So: has anyone out there had success getting rid of the dreaded ugliness demonstrated below? Along with the 5D dropping to 480p during recording, the aliasing issue is my chief DSLR complaint.
By all means, if you've found a way of reducing aliasing and moire, please share!
