Variable ND filter with acceptable quality for video. Not a expensive one.

[Gesmi]

Hi!

I'm searching for a variable ND filter with acceptable quality. Not one of the cheap ones but one that doesn't cost a fortune either.

It's for video, so i'm not sure if one of nd2-nd32 will be enough for sunny days. Maybe an nd8-nd128?. I think that there are no nd2-nd400s at an affordable price with acceptable quality. Would it be better to buy 2 units nd2-nd32 and combine them?.

I also look for it to have defined stops and not rotate infinitely.

Is there any model that can be compatible with a lens hood?.

Thanks in advance.

[Walter H]

That's a big range of questions about a heavily covered topic (like, for years and years).

When you have search similar topics or the web in general, what have you learned? For example, what are issues that come up when you stack filters? 

ND32 might be plenty for a sunny day or not at all. What ISO and apertures are you shooting at? 

What do the terms "cheap" "a fortune" "acceptable" mean to you? 

I'm punting back to you to do some research to these questions and refine them. People here will be glad to support refined questions but what you are asking currently would require a long, instructional reply about a lot of basics before even getting to what might actually be useful to you.

[Tim Sewell]

K&F Concept are pretty good at a lowish price. For a bit more, SLR Magic certainly used to have some nice ones.

[Gesmi]

OK I understand.

I apologize in advance, because i published this post before looking for other posts that deal with this topic. I should have answered one of them.

My current camera is a Panasonic GX80. I would prefer to avoid having to raise the ISO above 800 and, most of the time, work at base ISO. The maximum opening would be 1.7.

What i learned from other posts is that they all have color casting, so that takes getting used to. I'm not too worried.

Regarding the loss of sharpness, in all models there will be a small loss of sharpness. Another thing that i have to get used to, because it doesn't seem very problematic either.

What else did i learn?. Avoid €5 models at all costs. The ones around €20 - €40 have decent image quality, but may have poor construction. I know people who purchased Amazon Basics models and had dust leak inside them, causing noise when the filter ring rotates.

My price to pay would be €50 - €100. I want to avoid the extremely cheap ones. I like the Freewell and Polar Pro models, but they cost a lot.

From what i searched on the internet, i have not seen anyone comment on any model that is compatible with a lens hood. I guess it doesn't exist. Something I also have to get used to, although this bothers me, since it shouldn't be difficult to solve.

I said before that color casting doesn't worry me, but only to a certain extent. I want a filter with consistent color casting throughout the entire stop path, not one that is a little green at nd2 and blue at nd32.

In this video, i saw 2 Neewer models. The cheap one has more vignetting, but the tint it has is consistent throughout. The expensive model has less vignetting, but the more raised hard stop, the more blued turns the image.

This video.

Anyway, i am obsessed with not making a mistake with the purchase. I would buy the cheap Neewer model (the 82mm diameter version) and the necessary step up rings for my selected lenses. It has more vignetting, but I imagine that with an 82mm diameter model it will be less noticeable. I like this one better because it is consistent with the tint of the image. I don't understand why the cheaper model offers better colors than the expensive one, which is supposed to be a "true color" labeled model. And the expensive model still has a lot of vignetting.

If someone on the forum has experience and recommends a model with similar features but with less vignetting, i would like to buy it.

Thanks in advance.

[Gesmi]

21 minutes ago, Tim Sewell said:

K&F Concept are pretty good at a lowish price. For a bit more, SLR Magic certainly used to have some nice ones.

 

I read about the K&F ones that are not accurate with hard stops. I don't think it's worrying, as long as they have stops and don't rotate infinitely. But if there is a model from another brand for the same price but with better features, I would like to know.

There are many videos on YouTube that speak highly of K&F, but many of those videos are sponsored content. I've been looking at the nd2-400 model, but I'm going to take a look at the 5-stops model because I haven't paid enough attention to this one.

I haven't looked at the SLR Magic models, I'm going to investigate them.

[bjohn]

I've also heard good things about K&F; I have the SLR Magic one that has a little locking tab for precise repeatability.

The K&F and SLR Magic ones both seem to be able to successfully avoid the dreaded X vignette at higher strengths, but I know some users have complained of colour casts on the SLR Magic. I haven't especially noticed it on my OG BMPCC but the ProRes footage on the OG BMPCC tends to have a slight greenish colour cast to begin with; I'd have to test using raw but I rarely shoot CDNG raw on that camera as there's no need; ProRes HQ is very flexible in terms of adjusting white balance, exposure, etc. in post.

With VNDs, the main concern is colour casts; the cheaper ones can do the X vignette although they should be okay at weaker strengths.

[dgbarar]

Hi Gems:

Skip the variable ND filters as they are basically polarizing filters.  It won't matter how much you pay, they will always end up looking bad.  If your clip is static and using a longer lens then you might be OK.  However, if you are using a wider lens and you pan, then the sky will vary in darkness as you pan--it looks awful.  In fact, you might even see the darkened band of polarized light running across the sky even if you don't pan with a wider lens.

To the fairest,

Eris

[eatstoomuchjam]

The "X" vignette is basically inherent to variable ND filters - those that don't have it just have a hard stop before it becomes visible.

I'd also say that in the real world, having accurate full stop measurements is not that important if you're shooting digital.  You have plenty of tools available to dial in your exposure.  Plus, in the real world, light rarely perfectly aligns to full stops anyway.

[Tim Sewell]

1 hour ago, dgbarar said:

Hi Gems:

Skip the variable ND filters as they are basically polarizing filters.  It won't matter how much you pay, they will always end up looking bad.  If your clip is static and using a longer lens then you might be OK.  However, if you are using a wider lens and you pan, then the sky will vary in darkness as you pan--it looks awful.  In fact, you might even see the darkened band of polarized light running across the sky even if you don't pan with a wider lens.

To the fairest,

Eris

Absolutely. They have a place though as not everybody can justify having a bunch of single density NDs and the trade-off (if you're not doing absolutely colour-critical work) is worth it. But definitely one has to be careful when using them to avoid the issues you mention.

[Tim Sewell]

26 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

The "X" vignette is basically inherent to variable ND filters - those that don't have it just have a hard stop before it becomes visible.

I'd also say that in the real world, having accurate full stop measurements is not that important if you're shooting digital.  You have plenty of tools available to dial in your exposure.  Plus, in the real world, light rarely perfectly aligns to full stops anyway.

On my FS7 I set a ND filter that is reasonably correct then ride the aperture to fine-tune. A stop either way in aperture isn't going to significantly affect one's artistic intent.

[Gesmi]

Thank you all for your advice and your time.

I'm going to decide between the K&F Concept Nano-X Filter 82mm ND8-128 and the Neewer 82mm ND8-128.