Buying a FS100, what is the best ND filter for it?

Ruben/Sheri

Ruben/Sheri

Well-known member
So we decided to buy an FS100 but am concerned we will not pick up the right ND filter for the kit lens, can some one point us in the right direction thanks =)
 
You should really buy after the size of the majority of your lenses... ie. apart from the kit lens (67mm), I have the 16mm (49mm), a Canon 24-70 (77mm), 70-200 (77mm) and 100 mm (67mm).
I made the mistake in a rush to buy an ND filter that fits the kit lens. But that didn't fit the others...

Luckily I found someone who wanted to buy that one and so I bought a 77mm variable ND filter from Heliopan. It's worth the price....

In short... buy for the biggest lens and then use step up rings for those lenses with small diameter. You can get the rings for cheap on Ebay or similar.
 
I just got Genus 77mm vari ND, looks good and it's not so expensive than Heliopan. Don't know about quality, haven't tested it yet :)
 
Faders are definitely the way to go for speed. I used to use a Tiffen ND 3, 6 and 9 and would also stack them accordingly to how much light needed to be cut down. But it would take several minutes each shot (bad for run and gun) and you with traditional NDs, you have to set the F-Stop to the ND (Which really sucks IMO). Faders take about 5 seconds switch, lighting fast and you set the ND to the F-Stop which is way better.

I've had several Fader NDs, one from Light Craft Workshop (the Mark 2) and one from Genus and they both are just OK. Basically, both get soft on lenses at / above 85mm. On 200mm, they're really soft. So I only use them on lenses 50mm and below

For longer lenses I just stack a circular and linear polarizer on top of each other. A DIY fader with no softness, but a pain to operate.

I've heard some better things about the Light Craft Workshop Digi-Pro HD (cuts down 9 or 10 stops I believe). I've read that it doesn't get soft and Philip Bloom uses it. It is over $300 so it's expensive. I've thought about the Heliopan, but it only cuts down 6 stop which might not be enough on a hot sunny day.

I've heard that Tiffen makes one, but no definitive reviews. But it might be good since it's Tiffen. The only problem with theirs is there is no thread on the front, so you can't use a lens hood if you needed to.

Moral of the story, Faders are extremely useful if you get one that isn't soft. I wish the FS700 did NOT include NDs, because I'd rather just have the camera lighter weight, and Faders are much more versatile since you can just set the F-Stop and set the Fader ND accordingly, not the other way around if you are using internal NDs or non-fader NDs where you have to set the F-Stop to the ND (not ideal IMO). I would rather have an internal mic, than internal NDs.

Like the above poster said, get the largest ND (probably 77mm) and use step up rings for all your lenses. That way you only need 1.

BTW, has anyone here tried the Light Craft Workshop Digi-Pro ND? I'm thinking about picking one up since it's suppose to be better than their past ones. But at $320, I'd love to hear some feedback before buying.
 
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Ruben/Sheri said:
So we decided to buy an FS100 but am concerned we will not pick up the right ND filter for the kit lens, can some one point us in the right direction thanks =)
Click to expand...

Heliopan variable ND 77mm with a step up ring is the best you can buy
and what I use.
Heliopan is the only filter manufacturer that exclusively only uses glass
from Schott (Zeiss).
 
nice! I thought about buying a 700 but not sure I would get more out of it than the 100? I rarely use super slow mo, but I do like the built in nd's, but not sure it's worth the 8k plus tax price for just nd's I don't need 4k right now so...
 
doesnt the heliopan affect the colour of the image though - looked that way when i tried a friends fs100 - could see a noticeable difference with the filter - is that really the best you can buy, is there not an nd filter that stays neutral as it should ?
 
ade4all said:
doesnt the heliopan affect the colour of the image though - looked that way when i tried a friends fs100 - could see a noticeable difference with the filter - is that really the best you can buy, is there not an nd filter that stays neutral as it should ?
Click to expand...

Well you must have done something wrong in your camera settings. I use this variable ND all the time and have never experianced what you are talking about. But you don't have to take my word for it, you can read what phillip Bloom had to
say about it.
http://philipbloom.net/2011/06/04/the-best-variable-nd-filter-i-have-used/
 
Variable ND filter

Variable ND filter

ade4all said:
doesnt the heliopan affect the colour of the image though - looked that way when i tried a friends fs100 - could see a noticeable difference with the filter - is that really the best you can buy, is there not an nd filter that stays neutral as it should ?
Click to expand...

This is probably the best variable ND filter you can get. I saw it at NAB. Not cheap.
http://broadcastengineering.com/products/schneider_77mm_variable_nd_filter_01062012/
 
Gary W said:
Well you must have done something wrong in your camera settings. I use this variable ND all the time and have never experianced what you are talking about. But you don't have to take my word for it, you can read what phillip Bloom had to
say about it.
http://philipbloom.net/2011/06/04/the-best-variable-nd-filter-i-have-used/
Click to expand...

nothing to do with camera settings, just by placing the heliopan filter over the lens you can see a slight shift in colour - its very very minor but its there - just thought the op should be aware of it
 
YUP it does shift it slightly green. Def not bad like the others do but its there. However with if yo manually WB under your different lighting scenarios (or at least every 20 mins of so out in the sun) off a grey card you should e fine.
 
thankyou jambredz, not just me then - not sure why you're so dismissive of other peoples experience gary w, i see its not just on this thread.....
 
The Heliopan is absolutely great. Not sure about the green cast you are referring to, I've got a
video up with and without the Heliopan here:

http://exposureroom.com/members/alaskacameradude/14d879d0c3924609974edd0388478689/

This video was mainly made to show the depth of field differences at different F-stops as the Heliopan
allows you to open up the iris. However, feel free to look at it and point out the green color cast
between the 'with the filter' shots and those without it. I don't see it, but I certainly am not
a color grader and don't have that good of an eye.
 
well i can just speak from my experience with the Heliopan. Dont get me wrong ...i love it and its WORRLDS apart from the lightcraft fader crap i had before. However mine does exibit a slight shift to green. Its not a big deal and its very slight but its there. Here is a comparison of my tiffens and the heliopan. I forgot to take a reference shot with no filter on though, but u can see the big difference between them. And this was just be putting on the filter on preset daylight white balance. If you manually white balance for your shots its not an issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6U14Ik_HE
 
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jambredz said:
well i can just speak from my experience with the Heliopan. Dont get me wrong ...i love it and its WORRLDS apart from the lightcraft fader crap i had before. However mine does exibit a slight shift to green. Its not a big deal and its very slight but its there. Here is a comparison of my tiffens and the heliopan. I forgot to take a reference shot with no filter on though, but u can see the big difference between them. And this was just be putting on the filter on preset daylight white balance. If you manually white balance for your shots its not an issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6U14Ik_HE
Click to expand...

Ah Ha, that explains a bit. I did NOT shoot with preset white balance. I white balanced on the piece of paper without the
filter, then white balanced on the piece of paper with the ND filter.....
 
Just wondering, but does the Heliopan Fader ND have threads on the front so you can attach a lens hood if you wanted to?
 
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