Good ND Filter/Lens Shade/accessories for 60D...

DavidBeier

DavidBeier

Veteran
Ok, so I got my basic 60D setup a week and a half ago with a body, 18-55mm zoom and a 55-250mm zoom. I also grabbed an extra battery and some SD cards.

Now that I've had a little time to fool around with the camera, I'm looking to get some accesories. Keep in mind I'm broke at the moment so I'm trying to find good bang for the buck (as super cheap **** isn't worthwhile).

First should be some kind of lens shade. I see a lot of different people walking around with them but am not sure what a good/affordable option is.

Next is some kind of ND filter (God I miss those built in ones from video cameras...). If there is an affordable variable ND (so I wont' have to keep swapping), that would be great.

Beyond that, I'm not sure. I can't justify buying a H4n right now as none of my upcoming gigs need a lot of sync sound (and when they do, I just bring my HVX200 as a B cam and plug my shotgun into that). How are the adapters that allow XLR to plug into the 60D and is there a big loss of quality?

I'd love to get a shoulder mount/follow focus but those also seem super pricey.
 
I bought a heliopan 77mm 10stop nd filter and a selection of Hoya pro nd filters for my 60D, but I got some great results from some cheap Kood nd filters with my hacked GH13. Be wary of the Lightcraft vari-nd filters - they just don't work with long lenses or wideangles. Their mkII version is ok with my canon 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8 (58mm thread).

Spiderbrace make a good cheapie shoulder mount. When you get some cash saved, I'd recommend the Jag35 follow focus and rails - imo best bang for buck out there. Their monitor-x is a great loupe as well.

For a mattebox, try pro-aim on ebay - cheap and not too badly made.
 
Last edited:
nigelbb said:
an extra 0.3 filter, an endorsement by Shane Hurlbut, a nifty padded pouch & over $200.
Click to expand...
That is what I thought too :), but then I had the doubt that the extra $200 could be justified by some extra IR (or other) coating making them more color neutral.
 
kostas said:
That is what I thought too :), but then I had the doubt that the extra $200 could be justified by some extra IR (or other) coating making them more color neutral.
Click to expand...
Tiffen have a good reputation for decent quality filters so there regular ND filters should be decent but it's difficult for them to promote these ones at 3X the price without dissing their own cheaper product. I am sure that these are nice but maybe not 3X as nice. Tiffen have also just released a variable ND filter at around $200 which again should be good quality. If these Water White ND filters really don't have a colour cast then they would be worth buying but every ND filter that I have seen is blue/green. It's not too much of a problem for stills photographers as it's easy to adjust the white balance of RAW files in post but not so easy for video.
 
nigelbb said:
but every ND filter that I have seen is blue/green
Click to expand...

I have experienced the magenta side of color cast. I am looking for a good filter with no color cast so that you can readily mix footage with filter on and off easily.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top