What's the current awesome Vari ND filter these days?

kidwoo

kidwoo

Well-known member
I'm using a first gen lightcraft workshops one and it does the job of setting exposure with a wide iris but it's not great. Image is a little soft and there's some definitely abberation going on. The variable settings are far too useful to just go straight filters with what I shoot. I'm outside a lot and don't want to be changing filters every time I rotate the camera a few degrees.

Any better options than what was availble about 3 years ago?
 
Philip Bloom swears by the Heliopan I think.
I don't have it, but I own a couple of other Heliopan filters and they are well made, good quality.
 
chrisso said:
Philip Bloom swears by the Heliopan I think.
I don't have it, but I own a couple of other Heliopan filters and they are well made, good quality.
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I didn't even know heliopan made one. Definitely a fan of the brand based on everything I've owned of theirs. Thanks!
 
I use a Genus ND 77mm which is quite acceptable, but if I were to do it again I'd get the Heliopan. The Genus doesn't have hard stops, the Heliopan does, and it also has markings to allow you to return to specific spots more easily.
 
I need some help from you guys who have gotten a heliopan filter. I ordered one from fotomayr (thanks for the heads up guys!) I got the harder to find 82mm version and it's either messed up or I misunderstood what people meant by 'hard stops'. There's a set screw on one of the rings that stops the filter rotation, but only at each end of the range.......not the intermitent settings. Is this correct or do settings 1,2,3,4...etc also have hard stops so that they are also repeatable?

Thanks!
 
I don't think you'd want hard stops at each intermediate setting.

BTW, the rotation on my Heliopan 77mm VND is decidedly loose. Not loose in the sense of poor tolerances, but there seems to be little or no friction on the ring - to the point that it's easy to accidentally rotate at the slightest touch. Anyone else have this "problem"? I'm tempted to get some damping grease to add some friction to it.
 
it was the same with my LCW fader ND mk2 (I mean: it would rotate easily; it didn't even have hard stops at the ends)
 
Hmm. My Genus VND is much, much stiffer. I like it better for that, but not as much as the Heliopan in other respects (no hard stops, no front threads, can't use my lens hood with it on).
 
I don't think you'd want hard stops at each intermediate setting.
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Oh I definitely want hard stops on the intermediates. It's one of the big reasons why I bought the thing to be honest.

Here's why: There's little toy out there for shooting timelapses called the Bramper or "B Ramper". It adjusts exposure times in miniscule increments in the bulb mode to adjust for changing light conditions. It's pretty awesome. One of the features on it is that you can set stops of exposure for switching ISO settings mid shoot. Meaning with a filter, you can yank the filter, fire one of these steps, and you'll get a predetermined about of exposure ramping so that the transition is seamless. Having hard stops on an ND filter would enable you to keep the same filter on, and move in set increments that you can have preprogrammed on the Bramper. The range of starting/stopping light conditions could be huge. It can still be done with a normal heavy filter but a hard stop ND would be GREAT for this.

I just wish I wasn't an idiot and had read enough to have known that the heliopan doesn't do that. Thanks for the verification though guys, good to know there's nothing wrong with mine.

I'm still glad I bought it for straight video purposes......that lightcraft one I have is garbage so I'm still pleased with the purchase. My heliopan is very loose/free feeling too btw. I notice there's another tapped hole on the bottom of the outside ring. If I can find the right thread pitch it seems like a good thumb screw should go there to keep it from rotating unintentionally.

Thanks for the help guys!
 
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