A budget ND1000 filter review - 10 stopper!

Columbo

Columbo

Columbo

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So summer is upon us (not that weather tells us that!) so I though I'd look to replace my B&W 77mm ND110 that went for a swim last year. The obvious choice was to just splash another £120+ on another one as I already knew how good it was but I though I'd do a little research and write up this little review to pass my initial thoughts on to anyone also considering a 10 stopper.

I came across a 77mm Camdiox ND1000 for £24.99 and although being extremely skeptical as we all know what cheap filters respresent I took the plunge anyway and bought it.

Well it arrived this morning and 1st impressions were poor and I feared the worst.

Standard white box no fancy packaging like you get with the B&W.
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However once opened my optimism grew, build quality, feel and looks are all on a par with the B&W. It has a very re-assuring metal filter thread and surround with some descriptive text printed.
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Fitting to the Tokina 11-16mm was a doddle, no issues what so ever.
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Now the issues with cheap ND's is colour cast and this is what I feared. So I've done some quick dirty and totally unscientific tests and the results are very promising.

Back garden no filter. 11mm, f8, ISO50, 1/200th
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Back garden with filter. 11mm, f8, ISO50, 4 secs.
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Note the slight vignetting, but no colour cast and sharpness seems unaffected.

Now for boring long exposure test as colour cast seem to get worse as the exposure gets longer. Put the camera on the floor in my hall as it goes from dark to light very quickly which gives the metering system some work to do.

11mm, f4, ISO50, 30 secs exposure.
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Impressively not a hint of colour degradation or alteration so all in all very happy and I'm looking forward to getting it beyond my back garden tomorrow.
Hopefully this will be of use to someone and I'll share some actual shots once I get out with it. :)

Now I'd better get back to work! :D
 
interesting - that's a cheap filter!
My personal recommendation has always been the LCW ND500 (about 1 stop less of course) in preference to the B&W 110 (both have a cast but I found the B&W has a stronger cast, B&W on the warm side and LCW on the cold side).
You could buy two and a half of these for the same price as the LCW though...
 
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I'm very impressed. I've thought about a 10 stop for a while and you hear so many bad things about cheap ones and the colour cast, but those look great.

More test images would be nice :)

Also, were these JPG from the camera or RAW that you've corrected?

Those look close and at 9 2/3 stops apart the filter is closer than some big stoppers I've seen reviewed to the advertised number.
 
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ShortWarning said:
Can I ask where you purchased this from?
Click to expand...

From here but it looks like they've sold out of the 77mm. Plenty of other sizes though.

DBT85 said:
I'm very impressed. I've thought about a 10 stop for a while and you hear so many bad things about cheap ones and the colour cast, but those look great.

More test images would be nice :)

Also, were these JPG from the camera or RAW that you've corrected?

Those look close and at 9 2/3 stops apart the filter is closer than some big stoppers I've seen reviewed to the advertised number.
Click to expand...

All RAW but no correction applied, all I've done is export open then export them straight from Lightroom.
 
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Two test shots I took today. Tried yesterday and forgot to cover the viewfinder!

Forgot about the white balance so had to change it in Lightroom for the long exposure as it tried to work it out in camera with no light lol.

Not perfectly matching, but certainly no problem. These are 9 & 1/3 stops apart.

1/80, f/11, ISO 100, 24mm
DBT85-BLOG-10-Stop-002.jpg


8 sec, f/11, ISO 100, 24mm
DBT85-BLOG-10-Stop-001.jpg
 
Does it make much difference covering the view finder?

Mine in post 15 was taken without doing so and I got 25 seconds in bright sunshine. Could have easily done longer.
 
Steve M said:
Does it make much difference covering the view finder?

Mine in post 15 was taken without doing so and I got 25 seconds in bright sunshine. Could have easily done longer.
Click to expand...

I think it all depends if the camera is in shade or if the sun is shining into the viewfinder etc. The ones I took yesterday without it were all washed out and had some flaring on them. I just held a lens cap a few mm from the VF for the duration. I think a lot of cameras come with little black inserts to put in place too.
 
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