Tiffen Variable ND Filter ANY TESTS?

R

Rayburn

Member
So I just ordered an FS100U from B&H. Whoopie! Now I have to figure out what variable ND filter to get. I have read reviews of the Genus, LCW, etc. and none of them have been overwhelmingly positive. The only ND filter that consistently gets praise is the Heliopan which is a whopping $441! I was looking into the Tiffen variable ND, but there is little to no information about it in terms of real world tests. Has anyone tried it out? Apparently, most of the cheaper ND filters have a problem with color shifting and sharpness at the longer focal lengths. I'm afraid that the Tiffen will suffer from the same thing.

On a side note, I heard that the Heliopan will soon have a version with front facing threads which would be great to put a UV filter over it. The thing costs as much as some lenses by itself, so I figured I'd want to protect it. Any word on if this is true or when it might be offered?
 
Doesn't look like it has hard stops which is annoying... The Heliopan has "stops" at either end of the density settings.

 
Yeah, I saw this video. Unfortunately, the guy does not go into detail about how sharp the image is or if there are any color shifting problems with the filter. I hope it is comparable to the heliopan since it is half the cost, but I know that is wishful thinking. You never know though. I thought a Tamron lens would be way inferior to a Nikon but was pleasantly surprised at the image quality I got from a $500 lens compared to a $1600 one.
 
I am totally satisfied from my Heliopan ND filter. And of course I would recommend it.
But from what I have seen, with 35mm to 50mm lenses results with cheaper variable NDs (Tiffen fixed ND, LCW etc.) are very satisfactory.
 
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