Simco123

Andrew, I think you are the Piers Morgan of camera bloggers? Can see why they avoid you now. I would'nt though because all publicity is good even bad ones.

Even marketing people would have known most of the blogging sites including vocal ones like EOSHD. Writing to them sounds like a begging letter and make you look small.

They are not gonna go to Manchester or may even have turned down the invite, unlike Andrew who is in Manchester.

That "Bubble Gum" girl look like my sister.

LUTS and lens are all part of creating image quality. LUTS are processing baked into an image to provide it with a look. If you use a lens that is flat and low in contrast would you not use a LUT that has more punch? Likewise a contrasty lens would look too clinical with a LUT that is already has a lot of contrast dialled in. My reference to Deakins choosing sharp clean lens comes from the man himself. Deakins avoid using vintage lens because he got the look from lightings. Vintage lens are flawed lens that help mask harsh lightings. There has been a number or articles out recently showing how "relevent" vintage glass from 100 years ago can look when mated with a RED Monstro, the result is it look like it was shot with any modern lens. This does not come as any surprise as it is a modern digital sensor and the LUTs are digital process. Likewise if you mate a modern Zeiss Milvus or Otus lens with a film camera from 60 years ago you get a vintage looking images. Just because you use a vintage lens over a digital sensor does not give a you a vintage look.

You may find the greatest DoP in the world Roger Deakins won't agree with you. Those who are against the "clinical look" tend to look for excuse of not able to light their scenes properly and pick a soft or vintage lens to diffuse the image. Some people are fooled by the look of some LUTs into believing that the image is too clinical when paired with a sharp problem free lens when the problem is the LUT itself. A good sharp clean lens is as good as it get in what is being captured through the glass. How it looks after it is saved in your memory card and loaded onto your computer are interpreted by design.

I like single fixed Firecrest NDs while shooting in wide angle lens but when I shoot in telephoto I was shocked to see how much it softened the image. I sent them back to Hitech and got them to send me a new set that was checked over but the softness is still there. The sharpness are not near as good as the SLR Magic MkII and Hoya Solas VND but better than the GenusTech Eclipse. I will try with a Hoya fixed ND to compare but I seem to have misplaced it.

I use VND with Hoya UV & IR Cut. Did some more test this morning. Actually the SLR Magic is equally as sharp as the Solas but it back focus slightly while the Solas has no such issue. This suggest the glass on the SLR Magic is not as even as the Solas. The Solas VND has higher filtration to 8.7 stops while the SLR Magic MkII is 6 stops. The Solas has no hard stop but that does not bother me and it has a minimum and maximum markings.

Had a quick test with the Hoya Solas VND. It is exactly what it claims, there is almost no polarization or colour shift. It also maintains the sharpness as if there is no filter. It is better than the SLR Magic MkII in every way.

My Hoya Solas VND has arrived. Wil be doing some test soon.

Not the one with polarizer. I have the normal Genustech Eclipse VND but not very impress. I have SLR Magic mk2 VND which allows you to change the orientation of polarization but does not rid polarization globally. It is one of the better VND that retains sharpness even better than some fixed ND such as Firecrest when using long lens but do colour shift slightly to warm at higher density.

Variable NDs especially the more expensive ones are getting better. I always consider fixed ND because they don't polarize but I was shocked to discover that some fixed NDs reduces contrast and colour shifts compare to some varable NDs. I'm hoping this Solar Variable NDX not only convenient but also perform in the IQ department.

Do you mean people using varaible ND are hobbyist who prefer convenience over IQ vs professionals who use fixed NDs who needs the IQ?

Has anyone used the Hoya Solar Variable NDX? It came out a few months ago but not seen many reviews yet. http://solasndx.hoyafilterusa.com

John Brawley comes from Australia, the land of Crocodile Dundee, Castlemaine XXXX. Argueably one of the lesser PC country on this planet. Regardless the word 'sissy" does not exclusively apply to genderbase. We all know Jonpais did not meant to imply sexism but those who are soft living when he used the word "sissy" but somehow Mr Brawley wanted to out him as some kind of enemy of the #MeToo movement . It was pretentous and immature.