I am looking into getting a few nd filters for my lenses. My question is... What are the benefits of going with expensive filters over some of the cheaper filters? I have seen them anywhere from 9 - 115 bucks! What are the benefits that I will see of the more expensive filters? Sharpness? Lens flare?

I have my eye on a kit from Dolica for my Canon lenses. It's like $39 for three filters. It comes with a .3 .6 & .9 The filters are glass. Is there anything I should be weary of? Sorry if this has been covered before, but I couldn't find the answer to my question in a quick search and wasn't sure what thread to look in beyond that. Not to mention the people in here seem to know more about lenses than in most other threads.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

The fancy ones are coated so you cut down on reflections between the lens and filter or between filters.

Yes if you have great lenses like Canon L's. I would not use a cheap ND or even UV filter.

Reflected bounced light really diminishes sharpness contrast and Color.

It is kind of like you can get a 50mm lens for $35.00 or $1,000.00. Is there a difference yes.

B&W an Heliopan are great Canon and Tiffen are quite good. In my opinion.

another source for ND filters....

Singh-Ray Filters: Vari-ND Variable Neutral Density Filter (http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html)

they work great for controlling Canon lens apertures in both Video mode and Still mode....

don't forget to check out the blog.. Focus on Singh-Ray Filters (http://singhray.blogspot.com/)

I have been contemplating the Singh Ray Vario ND also. It looks like it will be great, I just wish that it wasn't so expensive. But if you cost out a full set of good glass B+W, Formatt or Heliopans in all of the grades (.06, .09, 1.2, 3, 6) you might need in changing daylight, the Singh Ray price begins to look reasonable.

Putting on and taking off filters takes time and is a hassle and I am not going to load up my 5D with my mattebox that is larger than the camera to use all of my 4x4 glass.

The Singh Ray Vario is also available with a built-in warming pola that looks pretty sweet too.

Dan

I have been contemplating the Singh Ray Vario ND also. It looks like it will be great, I just wish that it wasn't so expensive. But if you cost out a full set of good glass B+W, Formatt or Heliopans in all of the grades (.06, .09, 1.2, 3, 6) you might need in changing daylight, the Singh Ray price begins to look reasonable.

Putting on and taking off filters takes time and is a hassle and I am not going to load up my 5D with my mattebox that is larger than the camera to use all of my 4x4 glass.

The Singh Ray Vario is also available with a built-in warming pola that looks pretty sweet too.

Dan

Mount 2 Linear Polar Filters together. Rotate one or the other. Result, about 8 stops of exposure adjustment.....For about $50

Ron.

Mount 2 Linear Polar Filters together. Rotate one or the other. Result, about 8 stops of exposure adjustment.....For about $50

Would that work gradually -- i.e. as a linear vari-filter..?

-- peer

Would that work gradually -- i.e. as a linear vari-filter..?

-- peer

The information via Schneider Optics Tech. For my trial run I used an old linear & a new 77 mm Circular, as this was all I had!!, having recently purchased a Singh-Ray 77 mm Vari ND. The combined filters changed from bright to dark, but I've no idea how smooth.

Some form of vari filter works well with both Canon & Nikon glass. A benefit for me.

Ron
A recent video on Vimeo details a very practical way of controlling the 5Dmk2 Aperture, ASA, Shutter when using Canon Glass. You may find this is a better approach.

EventDV TV // 5D Reel - DSLR Cinema on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/groups/8432/videos/4055622)

Cheers. Ron

What are the benefits of going with expensive filters over some of the cheaper filters?

Generally in the quality of the coating Ryan. Remember that the front element of any lens is the element that should have the very best super multi-coating of all the elements in the lens line up. As such, if you screw a filter to the front of your lens, that filter becomes the new front element and that controls a lot of the recorded flare.

So spend the dosh - make sure the filters you buy are beautifully multi-coated if nothing else. I've been surprised at how many polarising filters are completely uncoated - ug!

tom.

Thanks to everyone for all of your input. So now that I have the understanding that I need to spend some significant dough to obtain a quality picture with ND filters, this kind of limits me to a couple of filters. I was originally planning on buying a .3 .6 and .9 for both my 55mm and 77mm lenses. Does anyone have suggestions for the correct density filter for shooting well-lit interviews while still being able to keep the aperture wide open for a shallow DOF? I would also like to shoot outside sometimes, sunny days, and keep a wide aperture. The Schneider filters look very nice, but a little steep in price for me at the moment.

Just so's we know what we're all talking about here Ryan - you're shooting video interviews on a 5DII with a 55 or 77 mm lens?

I am shooting interviews with a 50mm f1.4. I apologize because I realize that I have been typing 55mm, what I meant was 58 and that is the filter size. I will be shooting some outside b-roll footage as well with the stock 24-105mm and the filter size on that one is 77mm. I would like a wide aperture on the outside footage for rack focus shots.

Then I'd be tempted to get wide apertures in other ways - shoot at very low ISO numbers and up the shutter speed if necessary.

Then use your longest focal lengths and have the background as far away as possible.

Mount 2 Linear Polar Filters together. Rotate one or the other. Result, about 8 stops of exposure adjustment.....For about $50

Ron.

Ron:

Have you actually tried that? I have read about others who have and while it works, they have complained about weird random color casts as well. The appealing thing about the Singh Ray is that is is optically engineered to perform the ND function with no color shift and the ring has a calibrated set of numbers, allowing one some reference and repeatability as far as settings. A lot of money for the Singh Ray but two 77mm quality multi-coated linear polarizers aren't cheap either.

Damn, my filter collection is getting out of control, I just bought a B+W circular pola I needed for the HPX300 for another job and I have two Formatt 4x4 circular polas. Too many filters for too many uses but unfortunately not in the right size or style for the 5D MKII. I am determined NOT to turn the 5D into a cine looking camera, no matte box or ff on mine, I want to look like a tourist for the project I bought it for. Low key is best for me.

Dan

Thanks to everyone for all of your input. So now that I have the understanding that I need to spend some significant dough to obtain a quality picture with ND filters, this kind of limits me to a couple of filters. I was originally planning on buying a .3 .6 and .9 for both my 55mm and 77mm lenses. Does anyone have suggestions for the correct density filter for shooting well-lit interviews while still being able to keep the aperture wide open for a shallow DOF? I would also like to shoot outside sometimes, sunny days, and keep a wide aperture. The Schneider filters look very nice, but a little steep in price for me at the moment.

Or you could get a matte box, and buy a set of 4x4 filters that you could use on both lenses... It would cost more at first, but save more in the long run when you accumulate a big collection of various sized lenses.

If you put on a matte box, you instantly receive a job promotion to "big movie guy", which for some of us is a promotion from our current job title and for some us, it becomes a huge nuisance. "Are you shooting a movie?" "What are you shooting?", etc.

I have the Cinevate mattebox and it is larger than the 5D MKII itself, with the french flags and wings, it is huge and would look really stupid walking around shooting hand held.

Dan

Or you could get a matte box, and buy a set of 4x4 filters that you could use on both lenses.

Although a Singh-Ray Vari ND is very tempting, I would need at least two of them, alas it would be more expensive than going the mattebox route. Hence, a mattebox is what I'm getting.

-- peer

If you put on a matte box, you instantly receive a job promotion to "big movie guy", which for some of us is a promotion from our current job title and for some us, it becomes a huge nuisance. "Are you shooting a movie?" "What are you shooting?", etc.

I have the Cinevate mattebox and it is larger than the 5D MKII itself, with the french flags and wings, it is huge and would look really stupid walking around shooting hand held.

Dan

Even though it was my suggestion, I completely agree!
I have 3 matteboxes for various sizes and purposes, but won't use them for street shooting for exactly the reason you suggest. The best thing about the 5D2 is being invisible (ok ONE of the best things).

I do however carry some cheaper 4x4 filters in my backpack to hold up in front of the lens for one time shots.

You could get the Cinetactics MatteBlox which is much less eye grabbing than a conventional matte box. I have one of those as well.

What do people think about the quality of the Cokin filters? They use a system of an adaptor that screws onto the lens & then the filters (up to 3 I think) drop into a holder that clips onto the adaptor. You buy a specific sized adaptor for each different sized lens & then the filters & holder are common. It is much cheaper only getting one set of filters rather than a set of filters for each different size of lens. It's also cheaper as the filters are just glass & not in a threaded frame. It's sort of like a matte box except there is no matte & it's not a box:-)

COKIN Creative System - The Holder System - Standard Holder & Pro Holder - A/P/Z/X Series (http://www.cokin.com/ico15/ico15-haut.html)

I bought into the Cokin filter game and found it fairly useful. The filters were not glass and not coated, but for a one-off (and assuming you hooded the filter effectively) they worked well.

tom.

I own about 20 of the Cokin filters but have found myself drifting away from them lately as the system is not very well crafted. The filters have an undesirable brownish colored tint on grades that should be be pure grey (NDs and ND grads), the circular Pola does not fit into the P2 holder very well and overall, they are disposable, the resin scratches too easily. Okay for a beginner if you don't want to spend much but not really very good quality overall.

I have the Cokins and I also have the Formatt, B+W and Schneider 4x4 glass filters and a bunch of random circular filters. One thing I learned that I never knew, the Tiffens are the best circular ND grads to get, almost all of the others are actually plastic, even otherwise great brands like B+W, etc. So if you are buying circular ND grads, get Tiffens.

It all depends on how many lenses you have of which diameters but another good trick is to buy all of your circulars in 77mm. On smaller diameter lenses, just use step up rings an you will never have a vignetting on wide angles this way and you can use just one filter of each type, regardless of how many different size lenses you have. Yes, you can't use a hood but hoods are overrated anyway, when I see flare, I use my hand as a shade but I rarely see flares unless shooting almost straight into the sun.

Dan

Is tiffen's HT coating really worth it? I haven't seen any comparos online to be able to judge. I've been using tiffen regular uncoated 4x4 filters for quite some time, and unless shooting straight into the sun, I've never found reflections to be much of a problem. In any case, I firmly believe that shooting straight into the sun should be done with a naked clean lens to be of any use.

Are you asking if it's worth using coated as against uncoated filters Luis? You don't need to be pointing at the sun to get flare from uncoated glass in front of your lens. Try this. Put a white sheet of paper on a dark background in any light you choose. Frame this up in your v'finder so that the paper occupies the top left hand corner (say) of the frame. Now look around the dark background and remove / add the filter. You should easily see the flare generated.

tom.

I just bought an HT coated tiffen grad ND. I should probably do the test you mentioned with both a regular ND and the coated grad ND to check if flare looks different.