Newbie Guide to Filters

[daredevil123]

how they use to test whether the ND is good or not? actual picture taken? Must have pic to prove the quality of these filters.

For vari Nd it is very simple. See if got color cast, how much color cast, and at what stop will cross banding appear. And the wider the lens the more propensity tonsee cross banding.

For resin rextangular nd, key is to watch out for color cast, and also evenness of the nd.

 

[steventay]

For vari Nd it is very simple. See if got color cast, how much color cast, and at what stop will cross banding appear. And the wider the lens the more propensity tonsee cross banding.

For resin rextangular nd, key is to watch out for color cast, and also evenness of the nd.

All vari nd has color cast and cross branding regardless of whether it is round or rectangle

 

[daredevil123]

All vari nd has color cast and cross branding regardless of whether it is round or rectangle

THe difference is how much color cast, what kind of color cast. And cross banding after how many usable stops.

And there is NO rectangular vari-ND.

If you look at the Kenko, color cast only starts seeping in at 9 stops. On Tiffen vari-nd, there is not much color cast throughout the range. Cross banding is minimal on the Tiffen, even at 12mm (on crop), cross banding starts to be noticeable at 7 stops. On the cheaper Vari-nd at that angle, cross banding starts to come in at 3-4 stops.

You really do get what you pay for. Personally Emolux vari-nd is junk and is something I will never buy.

 

[steventay]

THe difference is how much color cast, what kind of color cast. And cross banding after how many usable stops.

And there is NO rectangular vari-ND.

If you look at the Kenko, color cast only starts seeping in at 9 stops. On Tiffen vari-nd, there is not much color cast throughout the range. Cross banding is minimal on the Tiffen, even at 12mm (on crop), cross banding starts to be noticeable at 7 stops. On the cheaper Vari-nd at that angle, cross banding starts to come in at 3-4 stops.

You really do get what you pay for. Personally Emolux vari-nd is junk and is something I will never buy.

pls show the image taken with tiffen vari-nd and the diff for emolux

 

[lightyear2011]

hi daredevil, where can I buy Tiffen vari-ND 77mm here in singapore? I understand that Cathay Photo carries them, but not sure if they sell the cheapest. Thanks in advance.

 

[edutilos-]

pls show the image taken with tiffen vari-nd and the diff for emolux

You have either bought the Emolux or are going to buy it.

In that case, please proceed, no need to squabble over which is better or which is not. Tianya and Emolux are not very good. But Tianya is acceptable if you are not too hiam, I haven't seen the Emolux.

Imho all filters add some form of cast especially when stacking. So I stopped stacking and do exposure blending now. :bsmilie:

 

[daredevil123]

hi daredevil, where can I buy Tiffen vari-ND 77mm here in singapore? I understand that Cathay Photo carries them, but not sure if they sell the cheapest. Thanks in advance.

I got mine in B&H in New York before the price hike. 189usd. Now it is slightly over 200 usd in USA. Cathay sells at 350 IIRC. Kenko vnd price has come down slightly. Check with TK for the current pricing.

 

[daredevil123]

pls show the image taken with tiffen vari-nd and the diff for emolux

You can always Google for the pics. but if you happy can already. Emolux to me is junk. Most serious landscape photographers will not even go near anything by Emolux. Because they do not manufacture their own stuff. IIRC, Nature from China makes their varid nd and rebrand it for them. Any one who wants that fiter can buy the China versions for dirt cheap instead and get the same thing.

If you already bought it, my condolences.

 

[emomanic]

Please be advised that Emolux is the brand owned by Cosmos Optical And Metal Engineering Pte Ltd based in Singapore. All Emolux products were designed in Singapore, manufactured in our wholly owned manufacturing facilities in China and are not related in any way to IIRC, Nature or other brands of variable ND in the market.

Should you require any further clarifications or have any doubts in our product quality under Emolux brand, do feel free to contact our company directly.

You can always Google for the pics. but if you happy can already. Emolux to me is junk. Most serious landscape photographers will not even go near anything by Emolux. Because they do not manufacture their own stuff. IIRC, Nature from China makes their varid nd and rebrand it for them. Any one who wants that fiter can buy the China versions for dirt cheap instead and get the same thing.

If you already bought it, my condolences.

 

[daredevil123]

Please be advised that Emolux is the brand owned by Cosmos Optical And Metal Engineering Pte Ltd based in Singapore. All Emolux products were designed in Singapore, manufactured in our wholly owned manufacturing facilities in China and are not related in any way to IIRC, Nature or other brands of variable ND in the market.

Should you require any further clarifications or have any doubts in our product quality under Emolux brand, do feel free to contact our company directly.

Thanks for the clarifiction. Maybe since you are here, maybe you can feedbackck to your design team to improve the quality of your product line. When you are confident of your product quality, we will be happy to do a side by side controlled environment comparison test against competing products in the market. That way, you can improve the brand confidence among serious photographers.

 

[emomanic]

Please do feel free to come down to our office with the respective competing product and we will be most happy to share your professional expertise in the quality improvement of our product line.

Thanks for the clarifiction. Maybe since you are here, maybe you can feedbackck to your design team to improve the quality of your product line. When you are confident of your product quality, we will be happy to do a side by side controlled environment comparison test against competing products in the market. That way, you can improve the brand confidence among serious photographers.

 

[lightyear2011]

I got mine in B&H in New York before the price hike. 189usd. Now it is slightly over 200 usd in USA. Cathay sells at 350 IIRC. Kenko vnd price has come down slightly. Check with TK for the current pricing.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[snowydust]

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading my current Tianya GND and would like to seek some advice. Is it common to mix different brands of GND and the colour cast is still manageable? I thought of buying a LEE 0.9 Soft and a HiTech/Cokin 0.6 Hard. Feel free to advise, thanks! ^^

 

[jgjonathangoh]

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading my current Tianya GND and would like to seek some advice. Is it common to mix different brands of GND and the colour cast is still manageable? I thought of buying a LEE 0.9 Soft and a HiTech/Cokin 0.6 Hard. Feel free to advise, thanks! ^^

Ur filter holder most probably will not be able to hold different branded filters. Either because of size or thickness. And u also increase the possibility of light leakages.

 

[daredevil123]

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading my current Tianya GND and would like to seek some advice. Is it common to mix different brands of GND and the colour cast is still manageable? I thought of buying a LEE 0.9 Soft and a HiTech/Cokin 0.6 Hard. Feel free to advise, thanks! ^^

For the filters mentuoned, there should not be any problems as long as you stick to 85mm wide filters. Tianya filter holder is a direct copy of cokin P holder. But do note that if you start using uwa filters or ff cam bodies you will start running into problems with the 85mm holder and filters.

 

[snowydust]

For the filters mentuoned, there should not be any problems as long as you stick to 85mm wide filters. Tianya filter holder is a direct copy of cokin P holder. But do note that if you start using uwa filters or ff cam bodies you will start running into problems with the 85mm holder and filters.

hi daredevil, thanks for your advice, i already bought my LEE foundation holder and a 0.9 soft gnd. Looking forward to learning the use of filter =)

 

[daredevil123]

Thanks for the reply.

Prices for the Tiffen VND filter has dropped. currently at USD 149 each. Great price!

 

[gator]

Thank you all for the sharing thus far.

I have a question, is there a difference if I buy an 82mm ND and do a step-down to 77mm for my lens?
Will this reduce vignetting given the filter 'covers' more area in front of the lens.
One other consideration will be flare / light leakage as the filter is now effectively further away from the lens due to the step down ring?...

or just heck care and buy a 77mm.

 

[daredevil123]

Thank you all for the sharing thus far.

I have a question, is there a difference if I buy an 82mm ND and do a step-down to 77mm for my lens?
Will this reduce vignetting given the filter 'covers' more area in front of the lens.
One other consideration will be flare / light leakage as the filter is now effectively further away from the lens due to the step down ring?...

or just heck care and buy a 77mm.

Depends on the lens used and the design of the lens. Sometimes using a 5mm larger filter with a step down ring actually gives you more vignetting, if you are using a UWA lens.

 

[blueblood]

I would like to ask a noob question, doesn't seem to be that mentioned in the 25 pages.

For the sunrise / sunset, will a ND or GND filter be preferred. Or it depends on the blue hour or contrast to the foreground ?
If I only have a choice due to budget contraint / splitting resources, would the ND filters be suffice ? Looking in getting a new brand that has quite a good review.
I'm still venturing into difference type of photography.