Another slot-in ND Filter product in development

[ahsanford]

Hey all,

I caught this story doing the rounds on PetaPixel and SLR lounge:
http://www.slrlounge.com/lightswitch-tries-change-nd-filter-game/

Watch the video. Besides being a wretched sales pitch (zero details on filter size or reasons why this is better than anything else), this idea appears to be an alternative for the Lee SW150 holder, which is made for non-front-threaded lenses like the Nikon 14-24. It has the added upside of automagically not needing any threading or assembly -- it's a pretty simple one-piece push-on usage.

Commenters on the stories are calling BS over a $265 asking price for just the holder, but upon further review, the Lee SW150 holder is a solid $400 in comparison (I had no idea!).

I'm a happy Lee 100mm (standard/foundation) user and am invested in that setup. So this new product certainly isn't for me. But I was curious what I'm missing with this idea -- what (besides the push-on use, which I am not convinced is a net positive thing) is the point of this system, and what might it offer over the Lee SW150 or Wonderpana setups?

- A

 

[Khnnielsen]

I don't get it either. It's basicly a clip-on mattebox without barndoors/flags. It's also made out of what seem to be some kind of nylon-like materiel, which make the $265 price seem a litte excessive.

Genustech make one for $180, which does the same except it only got one rotatable filter tray - but then you could actually use it as a mattebox.

 

[MARKOE PHOTOE]

I saw this too on Kickstarter or Indiegogo and wondered why this expensive set up is any better than others.

If you need to impress the market, start at an affordable level. The holders, from what I can tell, appear to be a 3D printed project that can be produced for pennies per piece after the 3D program is designed. That said, there were no real details in the video to substantiate such a cost and why his system was a better ND system than the competition.

And, oh great, another bag to sling over the shoulder. Portability is not an asset with this system.

Sorry, this is not for me either but I do appreciate his effort.

Wishing him the best of luck.

 

[Halfrack]

The issue is that it's one holder per lens, so the lack of portability between lenses is holding it back. 150mm filters are horribly expensive, and the options are limited. So why invest in a system that doesn't offer you an advantage over 100mm systems?

The SW150 system also can be adapted to use the 100mm rings, so you can also use it with any lens. Get 1 set of ND filters and it doesn't matter what lens or camera system you are using.

 

[privatebydesign]

I'm very happy with the Wonderpana solution for my 17TS-E, and looking at the prices of this and the Lee setup it is a crazy good deal too.

 

[ahsanford]

The SW150 system also can be adapted to use the 100mm rings, so you can also use it with any lens. Get 1 set of ND filters and it doesn't matter what lens or camera system you are using.

Good future-proofing, but the only pull through with the Lee 100 system is the rings -- you'd still need large and expensive 150mm filters, right? And I need independent CPL rotation to my ND grads, so I think I'm out of luck with the SW150.

After a great deal of scrutiny of all these systems, I think the vignetting, size and practicality of a slot-in system gets radioactive when you try to get wider than FF 16mm or so, so I've stopped chasing larger options. I'm vested in the Lee 100 setup and it covers all my needs on my 16-35 f/4L IS. I can stack two NDs and use a 105 CPL in front down to 20mm without vignetting, and if I pull the CPL I'm clean all the way down to 16mm. Plus, my entire holder/ring/filters/CPL setup fits into a very small package I can take with me.

But I do find the design problem a fascinating one to read about. No lens manufacturer seems to have embraced slot-in filter use to the point of putting features in expressly to make their use easier or simpler (as it fights with lens hood real estate, I guess). I do give Canon some credit for apparently doing something to keep the filter ring "height" off of the 16-35 F/4L IS front element relatively low to minimize the 'you're stuck with this' distance from the lens designer that doesn't care about slot-in use on UWA lenses. 16mm + 2 stacked NDs without vignetting (but still in a 100mm system) was beyond many people's expectations.

- A

 

[Halfrack]

Check out the WonderPana system - it has a CPL and isn't extremely expensive. The thing is that the WonderPana also has the adapter rings to get down to 77/82mm.

I'm also invested in the Lee 100mm stuff, and I think my general point is this kickstarter doesn't do a good job of telling me why I want their product.

 

[ahsanford]

Check out the WonderPana system - it has a CPL and isn't extremely expensive. The thing is that the WonderPana also has the adapter rings to get down to 77/82mm.

I'm also invested in the Lee 100mm stuff, and I think my general point is this kickstarter doesn't do a good job of telling me why I want their product.

This new idea is wretched on a boatload of fronts -- there's no value proposition and no details, so we are left to speculate. Best I can tell, it's a price-undercut of the $400 SW150 holder with a push-on functionality (and I had to guess that from the video). I have no need for this.

The very next day, this link surfaced and broadly blew my original link's idea out of the water:

http://petapixel.com/2014/11/17/cheaper-filter-holder-nikon-14-24mm-f2-8-created-3d-printing/

It's another SW150 killer (price-wise), but clearly further along in the design and at a much more manageable cost.

- A