I performed a test of several lens filters over the weekend and am puzzled. As I understand it, the Kodak DC280 does light metering through a separate sensor near the lens on the front of the camera. That being the case, the camera should not compensate for various filters since it's not "looking" through the filter when in place.

When viewing the results, the camera seemed to compensate for the darkest filter I used (ND 8X) by lightening the shot. In so doing, it lost a bit of contrast and looked somewhat softer than other shots. The 1A, ND Light Gray, Polarizing and Star filters all had the expected effect but the ND 8X, the darkest, did not.

Does anyone know why I'm seeing what I'm seeing? Thanks for any input you can offer.

-- Steve Steinberg (ssteinb1@tampabay.rr.com), May 08, 2000