Any decent VND?

scorsesefan

scorsesefan

Veteran
From cheap K & F variable ND filters to expensive Peter McKinnon I’ve never owned a VND that didn’t vignette or X at higher strengths on the wide end. Does anyone know of one that doesn’t behave like this or is it just inherent in their design?
 
I own a NiSi Swift True Color Variable ND. It goes from 1-5 stops and then when you want to add additional stops you have to put a second 4 stop ND over the top of it for more range.

By separating things out into 2 different filters they supposedly get better performance across the full range.

It's good enough when I need a variable ND that screws on to the front of lenses. You can get deep into checking which filter shifts more green or magenta than the next one (and they all will to some degree) but the NiSi does the job for me.

If I want more reliable ND performance I'll use 4x5.65 filters in a matte box.
 
I use Tiffen VND's. Not stupidly expensive - especially if you can pick one up on Ebay - and work wonderfully.
I have used my 82mm Tiffen VND for test footage from subtle to extreme using Magic Lantern 14bit Raw on a 5D3 with a 16-35 L f4 (sharp lens!) and it was superb.
No observable distortion or softening, very little colour cast (consistent & easily handled). I've tried & seen others. Don't think twice - just get a Tiffen.
In my experience unbeatable.
If you're very constrained by budget - K&F.

Some 'vignette or X at higher strengths' - yep, pretty much part of the design.

By the way - get an 82mm or 77mm and adapters to fit your various lens sizes.
 
Last edited:
I strongly disagree about the Tiffen VNDs, they have very pronounced vignetting caused by cross polarization. Here's an old post with examples: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63271191

I haven't used some of the more recent VNDs, so there might be some really good ones I'm not aware of, but I would still recommend the SLR Magic Mark II VND. It has a slight warming effect, some cross polarization vignetting, and hard stops to prevent the X pattern.

The Aurora-Aperture Power XND Mark II is good, but still has the X pattern despite having hard stops.

The Genus VND/CPL has the X pattern at relatively low attenuation, and no hard stops.

You need to test for vignetting & X pattern with an UWA lens, and test sharpness with a telephoto lens.
 
I went with the 1-5 stop rotary then purchased a single 8 or 9 stop for heavy outdoor sun. Seemed like a better approach than asking one rotary to handle more than 5 stops.
 
It's just surprising that the Peter Mckinnon is such a POS (n) for an expensive filter. The color cast vignetting is terrible...
 
I agree. While the X pattern is not good, I was mainly interested in true color representation as some give this sort of sepia cast that is hard to correct out.
 
Depending on the type of VND that you have, rotating the entire VND (without adjusting the attenuation) can shift the hue and minimize color cast.

Philip Bloom did a comparison video explaining the various kinds of VNDs.

I remember someone on here had issues with the original Nisi VND, but I've only read good things about the True Color version, so I guess they've worked the bugs out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top