Ian Cresswell
lvl.4
Flight distance : 2448842 ft
United States
Offline
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There are 3 levels of quality for just about any filter type (UV, polarizer, ND, grad, specialty). Super cheapo like Amazon knock-offs, hoya, etc. Then there's budget-to-mid-level like tiffen and similar (with varying levels of "multi coatings" and whatnot). Then, there's the expensive filters. B&W and the like. Now, each person needs to decide their budget and what's important to them. Anybody that tells you there's no difference between cheap and expensive filters is entirely wrong. There are huge differences, for the discerning eye. Color cast, image clarity, flare, internal reflection, durability, weight, construction, IR cut, are the main factors.
Don't have much money, and aren't super concerned with image quality? Get the cheapos. They'll fulfill a basic function, but may add a color cast, may degrade clarity, made add flaring or internal reflection, etc. You decide if degraded clarity and a color cast is important to you. They'll probably also get scratched up super fast.
Mid level filters? Again, you may see some small image degradation. A bit of color cast, etc. They may have some better coatings for durability and flare reduction. But they'll likely still have some issues, albeit likely negligible for most people to notice. These will probably work fine for a lot of people. I recommend the Tiffen ND combo if this is what you go with. Link below
Want the best filters? Low amount of color cast, good clarity, high durability? Get the expensive ones and just realize that it makes complete sense to put nice, high quality filters on if you're running an Inspire 1 /X5R combo. Why would you put a crap $10 piece of glass in front of what amounts to a $6000 flying camera?
So, what to buy?
-Cheapos: Whatever you want. Good luck. I don't recommend this.
-Mid level: I suggest Tiffen or PolarPro.
-Great filters: In my opinion the absolute best ND filters for the X5 series cameras are the Formatt-Hitech Firecrest IRND filters. They have the added benefit of additional IR cut, which is nice to have if you're cutting a lot of light with something ND1.8 or above. The firecrest filters are about $90 a pop, and totally worth them. I've been shooting with the .6, 1.2, and 1.8 depending on the circumstances. .6 for overcast days, 1.2 is the workhorse sunny day filter, and the 1.8 when I'm osmo-ing and want to be wide open on the aperture.
So that's it.
1. Off-brand cheapos (doesn't really matter they're all gonna do a basic function, and all will be pretty bad)
2. Tiffen/PolarPro http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...l_Density.html
3. Firecrest: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...m_nd_plus.html (that's for the 1.2 and you can get to the other strengths from there) |
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