Seriously though. I have been using the mabo glow filter for an year now and I never really removed it from my camera body. To me it was the best piece of camera accessory which always gave me results that made me have a vision of how my 'final look' would look like. Unlike many other filters I had used before ,it always consistently gave the softest yet most amazing glow to my photos- which made it feel like a one accessory "cheat code" to up my photography( yes I use it for photos even though it's intended for videos ☺️).
Over the year however I did recognize one major issue with leaving the filter on my camera body all the time. For one major example let's say every so often there were always those moments where I couldn't really take a slow shutter photo without compensating with my shutter speed ( sometimes I couldn't even compensate with that either unfortunately). I always wished that the lens filter had some form of VND filter i could pair it with but without a filter thread and also with how mixing filters sometimes gave wonky results
i was hesitant and even reached out to the creator (Max) himself to ask for his recommendation on what VND I should get with my amazing mabo glow. In the end I Finally decided to get a generic one from (k&f) and without a filter thread to pair the 2 filters I was unwillingly forced to swap out my mabo glow filter from time to time and it resulted in inconsistencies within the look of my photos and it always bugged me. That was until January 2024 when the Mabo glow VND was announced as a Kickstarter project..
I immediately knew that this was what I wanted and it made me back the project immediately. Waited over 7 months and finally received it last week. The wait was looong but after having used the filter for the past few days I can confidently say the wait was worth every second!
The Mabo glow VND is amazing in every meaning of the word- it gives u soft glows, amazing colours, no vignettes and most importantly it gives u all of this without ever having to compensate with your shutter speed and therein the intended look of your image!!! It provides true colours and eliminates the annoying tint and "contrast glow" inconsistencies that I had with other VND Filters (cough cough bye bye k&f ), and it does all of this while still giving you everything you can hope for from one of if not the best diffusion filter in the market- the Mabo glow!!
After having used the filter for the past week I was surprised with how much more I was able to concentrate on my craft than finding the most 'optimal conditions' that sometimes plagues us all. It has truly felt like a game changer and if I considered the original Mabo glow diffusion filter as a "cheat code" I would definitely call the VND version as a one step "hack" to level up your content.
I'm not endorsed by the brand in any way and in no way am I someone who makes the best art out there, but I'm someone who loves this art passionately , which is why I decided to write this long review because this product genuinely makes me feel everything amazing I felt when I first started out in my journey with a camera. I strongly believe in the brand because I recognize the effort that's gone into these products. It's not another big company trying to make a cash grab, it's straight from the community, and most importantly I'm glad that the second (lens filter) product of the Mabo brand directly addressed the major issues the fans of the first one might have felt hurdled by. To me this speaks volumes on how much a brand cares for what they put out to their "people". It makes me believe in the community and also gives me a refreshing reminder that every so often you find gems that rekindle the spark you first feel when starting out something new like holding your first camera.
