Gear Talk > Lens Talk

A New Kind of Quality Lens Filter and How I Use Them

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Michael Erlewine:
I have a whole box of older filters, variable, fixed, CPL, etc. Over the last year I discovered a new breed of ND and CPL filter from a company called Breakthrough Photography. These filters are really transparent and the best I have ever used, by far.

Their rings are made of brass, with a tread on the outside that makes the ring easy to grip. The brass rings are electroplated in matte black, engraved with laser-etched filter type and even a serial number

The glass is made from Schott B270 ultra-wide glass. The glass then has a hydrophobic nano-coating (beads up with water), eight layers deep on each side, which means 16 layers of coating. The 16-layer coating is harder than the filter glass and even resists fingerprints.

As for color tinting, there is little to none, no significant color cast, remarkable compared to all my older ones.

Each filter comes in a solid plastic box, with opposing finger holes to grab and replace the filter, a big help.
They come with exquisite packaging, not that that is important to me, and even include a micro-fiber cloth with each filter.

I have their 3-stop and 6-stop X4 Neutral Density filter in the 77mm size. I also have their X4 CPL (Circular Polarizer) in both 77mm and 95mm size.

In addition, they make a superb Universal Arca Plate in the business for $12 and the very best step-up rings I have found, built with the same quality and craftsmanship as their ND filters.

Here is my setup:
I have a lot lenses, so I settled on the main filter sizes that I most use, which are 52mm, 58mm, and 62mm. I purchased step-up rings for each of these filter sizes to fit 77mm, so I have 52mm-77mm. 58mm-77mm, and 62mm-77mm, all using the BreakthroughPhotography step-up rings.

That way I can use 77MM filters for those sizes and for my 77mm lenses. In addition I have a step-up ring from 77mm to 95mm, in case I want to use the larger 95mm filters on the smaller lenses.

If you want to read more, here is a link:
http://breakthrough.photography/

One More Thing:

To make things even easier I use XUME magnetic adapters on all my filters (or most of them). What XUME adapters do is allow me to snap-on filters to all of these lenses. I install an XUME lens ring on each step-up ring (three in all for my work). And I put a magnetic matching ring on each ND and CPL filter.

When I shoot, I take with me the step-up ring with the XUME lens ring attached. I screw this into the lens I am using. Then I can just slap on a CPL or various ND filter as needed in a flash, and take it off just as easily.
This really works out well in cases where otherwise I might be too lazy to go through the trouble to screw in all the filters, etc.

If you want to read more, here is a link:
http://www.xumeadapters.com/

Photograph of the Breakthrough ND filter, and the second image is the XUME lens ring and matching magnetic filter ring.

Dr Klaus Schmitt:
Thanks for sharing! I use the Xume adapters since years for my photography,
as I need to change filters often and quickly!

Roland Vink:
Always good to know about new products, thanks.

I have tried a number of quality multi-coated polarizers (Nikon, B&W, Zeiss, Hoya HD). In spite of the coating they all flare badly when shooting into the light. Even when the filter is well shaded and not pointing into strong light they often cause a strange loss of contrast that I never noticed when shooting film. Has anyone else had similar results?  I now use polarizers less than I used to.

I suspect the flare is caused by reflections from the polarizing foil sandwiched between the glass, no amount of coating on the outer glass-air surfaces will help that. I believe Singh-Ray filters (another high-end filter US filter manufacturer) does not multi-coat their polarizers because it doesn't make much difference, and the surface is easier to clean without the need for special water repellent coatings.

Bjørn Rørslett:
I too have observed loss of contrast using polarisers on digital cameras and accordingly hardly use these filters any more.

Could there be some kind of backscatter or -reflections from the polarising foil to the camera sensor?

I had hot spots caused by L37C on a long Nikkor (1200/11 ED-IF) with my D3/D3X and it was obvious the filter reflected light back onto the sensor. Removal of the filter cured the hot spot immediately.

Hermann:

--- Quote from: Roland Vink on April 10, 2016, 22:04:16 ---I have tried a number of quality multi-coated polarizers (Nikon, B&W, Zeiss, Hoya HD). In spite of the coating they all flare badly when shooting into the light. Even when the filter is well shaded and not pointing into strong light they often cause a strange loss of contrast that I never noticed when shooting film. Has anyone else had similar results?  I now use polarizers less than I used to.
--- End quote ---

So I'm not the only one ... I had the same experience with my polarizers, and now only use them in exceptional circumstances, i.e. if I can't get the picture I want without a polarizer. Most days I don't even carry my polarizers anymore.

Hermann

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