One more DIY Fader ND question

G

Gene Sung

Veteran
Hi,

I love my Fader ND 72mm, but I would like a DIY Fader for my 77mm Tokina 11-16. Normally, I would just buy one, but I need it in 3 days which is too short to get one from Lightcraft Workshop

I know the DIY Fader ND has been covered a lot lately, but I just wanted to make sure I'm doing it right before I make the plunge.

1) I have a 77m Circular Polarizer. All I need is a 2nd Linear Polarizer which I just screw on top of the of the Circular Polarizer. And that's it? I don't need to take anything apart or rig anything up? Just simply screwing it on top?

2) To use it, I just rotate the Linear Polarizer at the top to get the desired ND setting? What about the additional rotation ring that's on the Linear Polarizer? Do I just tape that down or does it have additional use?

3) Are there any special steps or caveats when using the DIY Faders compared the the ones made by Lightcraft?

4) It's for my Tokina 11-16. I've heard that super wide angle lens have problems with the Fader NDs because you can get a "Cross" that appears over the image. What's your experience with that? Should the Fader NDs be avoided on Super Wide angle lenses?

5) I've never owned a Linear Polarizer. Is there anything specific I have to look for? Would something like this work? This is the one they sell at the store near my house

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/11287-REG/B_W_65_062141_77mm_Linear_Polarizer_Glass.html

Thanks a lot
 
Last edited:
gene_can_sing said:
Hi,

I love my Fader ND 72mm, but I would like a DIY Fader for my 77mm Tokina 11-16. Normally, I would just buy one, but I need it in 3 days which is too short to get one from Lightcraft Workshop

I know the DIY Fader ND has been covered a lot lately, but I just wanted to make sure I'm doing it right before I make the plunge.

1) I have a 77m Circular Polarizer. All I need is a 2nd Linear Polarizer which I just screw on top of the of the Circular Polarizer. And that's it? I don't need to take anything apart or rig anything up? Just simply screwing it on top?

2) To use it, I just rotate the Linear Polarizer at the top to get the desired ND setting? What about the additional rotation ring that's on the Linear Polarizer? Do I just tape that down or does it have additional use?

3) Are there any special steps or caveats when using the DIY Faders compared the the ones made by Lightcraft?

4) It's for my Tokina 11-16. I've heard that super wide angle lens have problems with the Fader NDs because you can get a "Cross" that appears over the image. What's your experience with that? Should the Fader NDs be avoided on Super Wide angle lenses?

5) I've never owned a Linear Polarizer. Is there anything specific I have to look for? Would something like this work? This is the one they sell at the store near my house

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/11287-REG/B_W_65_062141_77mm_Linear_Polarizer_Glass.html

Thanks a lot
Click to expand...
1) yes
2) yes. And just tape down the other
3) No
4) I have heard that but never ran into it yet
5) No, nothing specific. Any linear one should work
 
I should qualify that my widest lens is a 17mm so you may run into the varience ND problem on a wider lens like you have. You may want to play it safe and get a regular ND...or take your existing one and play with it in front of your Tokina and see if you see the cross
 
Ok, so I went out and managed to find the only 77mm Linear Polarizer in all of Los Angeles. They're hard to find, even in LA. I would've mail order it except I'm leaving on my film trip on Thursday, so no time.

The DIY method seems to produce an image just as good as the 72mm LCW Fader ND that I have.

The LCW had less vignetting for sure and was much easier to operate. I haven't taped the DIY Fader yet, because I actually think it's pretty awesome that you can use it as a Polarizer and a Fader ND at the same time by turning the 2 rings differently. I LOVE that you adjust the polarizer on the sky. Makes a nice difference in the effect you can create.

With that said, turning the 2 rings for the Pola/ND combo is easy on a Tripod, but handheld, it's pretty difficult and clumsy to do.

I know Singh-Ray makes a fader ND with a Pola, but they're products are so expensive. I'm actually surprised that anyone would pay $440, when you can make the DIY Fader ND/Pola for btw. $60 to $100 or so. Crazy.

I wish LCW would make an FaderND/Polarizer combo because it would probably be much cheaper and probably a lot less clumsy to use than the DIY FaderND/Pola.

I didn't get the Sky cross effect on my pics. The vignetting was pretty noticeable at 11mm on the Tokina 11-16. By 12 1/2mm, the vignetting was gone.

Still debating whether to tape the DIY fader together since the Polarizer portion is cool to use (even if it is a bit clumsy).
 
One question for the DIY Fader people. The Lightcraft Fader seems to be able to reach a little brighter. Maybe a stop higher than the DIY one. Am I just imagining this? Not sure why that would be.
 
you can always remove the tape, it's kind of hard to have both of those turning at the same time. The lightcraft may be brighter I don't know, I usually have the fader stopped down pretty far and don't use the lightest settings.
 
one more thing, if you get step up rings you can use your DIY on your other lenses so you can have the pola/nd on those if you need
 
gene_can_sing said:
I wish LCW would make an FaderND/Polarizer combo because it would probably be much cheaper and probably a lot less clumsy to use than the DIY FaderND/Pola.
Click to expand...
It would not be cheaper or less clumsy. A prefab version would still have two rings to rotate and the inherent clumsiness that comes with that. The only difference from the DIY version is that the DIY version can be taken apart. The prefab version would also be just as thick: Just look at the pictures of Singh-Ray's Vari-N-Duo.
 
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