Comment by rezonant

There seems to be a misunderstanding. The --filter option simple doesn't populate content in the .git directory which is not required for the checkout. If there is a file that is large which is needed for the current checkout (ie the parts not in the .git folder), it will be fetched regardless of the filter option.

To put it another way, regardless of what max size you give to --filter, you will end up with a complete git checkout, no missing files.