Just talked to Heliopan about the variable ND filters - good news.

Searcher said:
I bought a Heliopan from a US distributer and it arrived with the case broken and dirty. The Heliopan was also faulty (The hard stops were incorrectly placed). I had to return it for a replacement. They should package the filters better... Both Heliopan and the distributors.
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Who did you get yours from?
 
I'm still waiting. Excellent communication from Sally at fotomayer, they sent a dhl tracking # ASAP, back on 12/16. It took a while to find the correct site to track it, but for those w/ a tracking # for shipments originating in Germany, use this site. http://www.dhl.de/en.html Mine appears to have stalled out in customs.
 
So I just placed an order for a 77mm Heliopan. I am guessing that fotomayer will send me an email where I can complete the transaction since at no point was I able to actually pay for the filter. When it asked for a carrier, I left it on the default of Deutsche Post AG, but the final order sheet read General Logistics Systems. I am not sure what that is about, but I am hoping everything will turn out fine. Does this Sally person everyone is talking about contact you in English?
 
In about a day you get an email, in English, with a link to pay via paypal. Sally's English is just fine.
 
Have any of the forum members used the Heliopan on longer zooms?

My previous experience with other vari ND's has been noticable loss of sharpness >100mm. I am looking for a filter to use on a Canon 7D with 100-400mm lens on for shooting surfing.

Appreciate your input. Would hate to drop a wad of $$$ and find out that my image quality is rubbish on the zoom.
 
Just got my 77mm from Fotomayer and it came packed nicely and in good condition. Anyone know a good source for step down rings? Looking for some 77 to 52 for my Nikon primes.


Millerslocal - I have a 80-200 2.8 I will be testing it on right away. Will let you know.
 
Millerslocal said:
Have any of the forum members used the Heliopan on longer zooms?

My previous experience with other vari ND's has been noticable loss of sharpness >100mm. I am looking for a filter to use on a Canon 7D with 100-400mm lens on for shooting surfing.

Appreciate your input. Would hate to drop a wad of $$$ and find out that my image quality is rubbish on the zoom.
Click to expand...

Never done it on a 400mm lens, but I have not only used it on a 200mm lens, but couldn't tell the difference in sharpness from having it
on the camera, to having it off. The video of this test is here:

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

The mailbox is sharp and in focus at 200mm, the background is 'blurred' because I was able to open the iris more for
more shallow depth of field. The heliopan is really, really good.
 
I just got an email from Sally to confirm my order. She said something interesting, though. I asked for the front threaded filter for putting a UV filter in front of it, but she said the technicians at her company thought a polarizing filter would be better. I understand that a UV filter may degrade the image. However, I don't understand why adding on an additional polarizing filter would not. Any ideas?
 
Finally got my filter. Fotomayer is great, but dhl is as awful as they were 20 years ago when I stopped using them.

I got my step up rings at b&h for a couple of dollars more than ebay, thought it was woth it if they needed to be returned.
 
Could someone please provide Sally at Heliopan's email address - think it would be easier just to email her directly to order instead of trying my hand at filling in an order form in German :-) These filters seem to be selling like hotcakes. Had an email notification set-up with B&H for them - received an email from them today to say they were available, and literally 45 minutes after the receipt of the email they were out of stock again!
 
I just received my Heliopan 77mm VND filter from fotomayr yesterday. Took about 2 weeks to deliver, so be patient. I haven't shot with it (still dark), but I know I'm going to like it. First thing I noticed is that the front threads are the same size as the back threads - yea! My center pinch lens hood works on it! Not so with my Genus VND, which has larger front threads than back.
 
Anyone has an idea when places such as Amazon or B&H will have them in? This thread is getting me interested in getting one for myself. Maybe I'll have to order it from that German site if it'll take a while. Usually buying stuff from Europe are a lot more than in the US.
 
I thought I would let everyone know that I have received my Heliopan filter as well. Fotomayr was great. Sally emailed me a tracking number, and I received the filter roughly two weeks after ordering it in pristine condition. There are some issues using this filter with the SAL 1650 lens that I will detail in another post. This is not a Fotomayr problem just something I found out. I would like to thank the people on this thread who made ordering from Fotomayr possible. I sure liked paying $297.00 for this filter instead of the $483 BH was charging.
 
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