Soldato
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.
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.
Fitting to the Tokina 11-16mm was a doddle, no issues what so ever.
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
Back garden with filter. 11mm, f8, ISO50, 4 secs.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Fitting to the Tokina 11-16mm was a doddle, no issues what so ever.
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
Back garden with filter. 11mm, f8, ISO50, 4 secs.
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.
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!
