Breakthrough -- Magnetic filter system

[ahsanford]

Breakthrough are huge fans of putting the CPL behind your square/rectangular landscape filters.

Here's their latest move with that:

https://petapixel.com/2018/07/26/breakthrough-photographys-magnetic-filters-attach-and-detach-in-a-snap/

I see this as straight up DOA for some non-landscape applications as it would preclude the use of lens hoods. The ring is quite large. So if you use a hood, this isn't for you. But for landscape work with non wide angles, it's a plausible idea.

Does peeling filters out require you to touch the glass parts of the filter? That would really surprise me if it didn't. Their quest to kill off light leaks seems to have prevented them from putting in a cut out for your finger. Also: the promo video shows the filter going on seven times by my count, but not one instance of it coming off... :

Curious to see the reviews on this, but only non-sponsored ones. The Breakthrough chief has come to CR many times to answer questions (which I do appreciate) but he has been known to oversell aspects of his systems or make some bold claims/promises. Let's see what general shutterbugs say about it.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Second video I found:

(Still doesn't show filter removal. )

- A

 

[ethanz]

May be a dumb question, but would having magnets close the lens cause any damage or impair any mechanisms inside to effect image quality?

 

[ahsanford]

Finally, some useful stuff here:

Peeling is at 3:20. Didn't look terribly difficult -- why the hell didn't Breakthrough show this in their promo?

Vignetting on a 16mm FF with just the CPL + CPL holder? None, he says. This is not a guarantee, just what this guy has seen on that particular Nikon lens. If you were using a stepdown ring -- which would push the whole stack forward a small amount -- vignetting would be increased.

But still, this is better info. Still wouldn't use this for general CPL use as it will fight with a hood, but for dedicated tripod work it could come in handy.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

However, take a look at their ring that holds the CPL:



See the surface with the 'X100 Magnetic Adapter Ring' text? That's proud of the threads, so whatever thickness of metal that text is sitting on is added thickness to your stack, i.e. it is pushing everything that little bit further from the lens front element. It's probably A-OK for just CPL use, but as I said before, you wouldn't use this idea just for CPL use -- you'd use this as the base of your 4x4 / 4x6 holder. So any added thickness is undesirable.

Lee Filters attempts to defeat this with WA adaptor rings where a step/cutout around the threads accounts for the thread height, thus bringing the entire holder apparatus closer to the front element.

So -- as always -- I'm curious to see the vignetting performance with the slot-in holder on wider FF lenses. So even if the CPL may/may not be secretly oversized for the lens filter diameter, it still may make things in front of all of this a shade more problematic.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

And if you have no intention of using this with a slot-in system -- if you just want to use this as a speedy filter change for general use -- there's another question that comes up.

See the mag CPL filter itself. They have to keep the filter 'slim' for vignetting and (I'm assuming the bigger deal here) keeping things thin for their slot-in holder. I don't see any threads on the front of these filters.

So if you want to leave this thing on your camera, how do you stow this in a camera bag? How do lens caps work with this idea?

If hoods and lens caps are a no go with this, I would double down on my statement that this idea (however slick) is not going to get any mileage for general (non-landscape) shooting.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Oh, and then there's this:



The filters that are mandatory for this system have no threads at all. This filter will apparently not work on lenses without this holder in place.

So this is indeed an all-in for the Breakthrough system sort of purchase. If you want a hood, you still need a diameter-specific threaded filter independently of this idea.

That's not terrible per se for landscape work -- Lee Filters would have you buy a pricey 105mm CPL to put in front of your holder stack, too -- but this in my mind officially makes it DOA for general shooting.

Also: does this picture mean a CPL is not a traditional ring twist CPL (i.e. variable CPL)? I don't see two rings on this filter. Looks like this is like the old-school 4x4 polarizers that have polarization simply 'on' and your only choice is rotation vs. the sun. Again, not a terrible call if it makes the filter slimmer like this.

- A

 

[Maximilian]

...
I see this as straight up DOA for some non-landscape applications as it would preclude the use of lens hoods. The ring is quite large. So if you use a hood, this isn't for you. But for landscape work with non wide angles, it's a plausible idea.
...
Curious to see the reviews on this, but only non-sponsored ones. The Breakthrough chief has come to CR many times to answer questions (which I do appreciate) but he has been known to oversell aspects of his systems or make some bold claims/promises. Let's see what general shutterbugs say about it.

+1 same opinion here. I am a lens hood guy so nothing for me.
I have some of their filters, I like them, I never had bad contact, as some others reported.
But I also understand, that some replies here ("Trust me!") weren't quite pleasing, because prove is always better.