Help With Filters - ?

H

Homunculus

Carbonite Member
Hello everyone.

Can you please help me in the following ways regarding filters:

1. firstly please explain to me what exactly the difference is in terms of why I see ND filters for 6$ and some for 199$ from tiffen for the same ND.
I need glass 4x4 filters for my mattebox, are these just extra expensive due to being glass?

2. are there any mid level ones that don't cost that expensive??

3. does anyone know where I can buy a SET of ND filters in a given range and perhaps a set of graduated ones as well? I've looked all over, ebay, google, can't seem to find anything on this.

I know the difference between graduated, ND, polarizer etc, I'm just talking about what's the difference between a 199$ model and a 6$ or 50$ model. Why is the disparity so huge? Obviously there must be a difference in quality but are there any good mid level ones where the quality is still good, i.e. not 6$ but not at the high end either?

Thanks
 
anyone please can tell me? Still for some reason can't find any 4x4 filters. Cavision has no price lists on their website, tiffen is a tad expensive at 190$ per filter when I want to buy a few 4x4 glass ones to try out that aren't super high range ...

anyone know of any please?
 
thanks i did finally find that yesterday and was checking it out. seemed like the best bet BUT 90% of the filters products on their page says "we do not carry this in stock" and that it takes 1 or 2 months for them to have that ordered and shipped, which I can't wait that long. I need some filters asap.
i checked everything cavision, tiffen, lee, century optics. really hard to track down some filters as most of them don't even have prices on their site and you have to ask for quotes it seems (Cavision) and tiffen glass 4x4 is a bit too expensive for me at the moment (190$ each)
 
Always buy the best filter you can afford - especially if it is a standard size that will work across most cameras. If you take care of them, a good filter might remain in your tool kit for your working life and that investment pays back through better images.

A glass 4 x 4 solid ND is going to start at $50 and you can easily spend $200 for Schneider, Tiffen and Formatt.
 
thanks erik i do want to buy the best. i want to buy the 100$+ ones. the only problem is i don't want to buy a 180$ tiffen and get the wrong ND grade like .3 or .6 etc...i'm not sure what it is that I need i wish there was a way to tell which to order rather than buying blind. today i bought a cheap 20$ screw on polarizer just to test it out and see if that's what i want. if i like it i'll buy a glass 4x4 100$+ polarizer and sell this one, etc...i might do the same for ND
 
by the way anyone have any experience with cavision filters? I emailed them and requested their price list .doc and their filters seem like a perfect balnace between the cheap crap and the ultra expensive tiffens. anyone recommend Cavision 4x4 glass filters or no?
 
Why don't you save up and buy the Singh-Ray Vari ND filter? You can get the standard mount one for $340 straight from Singh-Ray or from B&H. I was going to buy separate ND filters also, but then I figured it would be a lot easier and space efficient to just buy the Vari ND filter which controls light up to 8 stops. Also, the good thing about using it is, if you have to use the darkest setting, then you rotate it to the lightest setting, focus your image, then rotate it to the darkest setting and you're ready to shoot. You can't do that with a static dark ND filter. That convenience alone is worth the price for me. Anyway, just a suggestion. I know when you're low on cash, a $340 ND filter seems like a luxury, not a necessity... until you end up spending that much anyway for a whole clunky set. :lipsrseal

By the way, I haven't bought it just yet. I'm waiting until I get a refund for the string lights I returned and then I'll put that money towards the purchase and buy one. One more thing, there's less chance of vignetting with the Singh-Ray Vari ND filter since you're getting 8 whole stops of light control with one skinny filter compared to having to stack a few for the same result. Just one more reason to go with the Vari ND. And, I've read on some posts on here that there is no image corruption whatsoever with the Vari ND! Okay, I'll stop advertising for them now. I'm finished.

Okay, I lied. One more thing. I've read on here that a lot of people that buy the Vari ND filter buy the 77mm or 82mm size so they can use it on all their different size lenses just by adding a step up ring. That way you only need one Vari ND filter for all your lenses and it won't vignette since you're using step UP rings. Okay, NOW I'm done.
 
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