Enough with the Z 8. How about magnetic filters and step up rings?

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RichF

RichF

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Does anyone use Magnetic filters? Either where the filters designed to be magnetic or when you attach a magnetic ring to your filter and lens?

Do you have problems with the filter falling off the lens if you hit it the wrong way?

Also do anyone use step up rings? Permanently attached your lens, in which case do you use a large lens cap? or to you attached the step up ring when you attach the filter? With magnetic stepup rings this might be easy?

Thanks
 
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OK -- I own just about every different type and size holder and stepping rings etc..

99% comes down to what are you trying to achieve.

Magnetic filters are prone to falling off if they are hit from the side or the camera is moved too quickly -- however they are very convenient -- I use Kaes wolverine, Freewell and IRIX

Circular screw in filters are more robust, less prone to falling off. BUT - do not attach other heavy things to the outside of a CPL or variable ND filter -- they can break apart.

LARGE (very large) rectangular or plate filters and filter holders or Matt Boxes are the best way to add graduated effects and some allow to split or rotate filters in more than one directions. GOOD solutions allow CPLs to be used and rotated. I used LEE and now use NiSi - you get what you pay for and NiSI IR treated ND filters are the best but fragile.

I am very firmly of the view that a wide angle lens or zoom needs to use a VERY large filter -- my Z14-24/2.8 is used with a 112mm diameter filter OR the much larger 150mm/6" x 6 or 8" plate filters. Wider/shorter FL need even larger plates or curved solutions since the light passes through these filters on an increasingly diagonal path the closer the light is to the edge of the lens vignetting and softening increases.

Every filter must have equivalent coatings/treatment to the lens they are attached to otherwise there will be optical losses of quality AND additional effects -- most often flaring.

Lens hoods are more and more essential with each additional filter added -- see flaring etc.

AND when using magnetic filters they are essential to reduce the risk of sideways impact.

The Aluminium Nisi lense hood for the Nikkor 14-24/2.8 S - is tremendous investment - it protects the filters, acts as a shade, has a 112mm filter thread AND can be used on other top S-line lenses as well. In addition the nikon supplied hoods do not have good light control (they leak badly) -- whereas the NiSi is blacked out

Other than protectors I currently only use 112mm filters so I have stepping rings for this that allow me to use these magnetic filters on lenses with smaller diameter filter rings. BUT there is no lens hood solution that is easy to combine with this other than the Nisi.

I have 3 other types of filter:
  1. drop-in filters for my super teles -- currently 46mm CPL and ND options in a Kase solution
  2. front element protector/us for my 400/2.8TC -- also made by Kase -- we will see how I go on the Solent on a range of vessel shooting racing
  3. so called rear filters -- be these attached to the lens or in front of the sensor -- I bought one for use with the 14-24, used it a few times and now it lives in a crate of stuff I might sell sometime. It is a REALLY BAD idea to be messing about with an open sensor and cold hands in rough weather.
Be very careful about the impact of your filters on the colour of your images. Some ND filters have a definite colour and never pleasant.

You can buy filters with IR suppression - so called CUT filters -- these help in dusty humid conditions -but have a green tinge I used these a fair bit

As a rule modern Digital cameras and their lenses need no UV protection BUT using armoured/tempered glass protectors is both reassuring AND a way to reduce any sea water and other stuff hitting the front element and is far easier to clean

AND I could go on for hours and hours.
 
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I also use the Kase Wolverine magnetic filters that @Andy Miller Photo UK mentioned. I went with the 112mm size so that they can be used on my 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, and use them with the NiSi lens hood (as a replacement to the OEM Nikon HB-97 hood), which fits the 112mm filters and allows them to be used on multiple lenses (include the f/2.8 Holy Trinity).

I use step up rings for any smaller diameter lenses where the NiSi hood won't work.

I find the magnetic grip of the filters to be quite strong, and I have never had one come off by itself, or while I am repositioning positions in the field. I've even had to regrip a filter on occasion when trying to remove it (especially when using the NiSi hood, as it provides a little additional protection along the perimeter of the filter).

However, I agree that the filters could be susceptible to getting knocked off if they are struck from the side. You just have to be careful with them, like with all camera gear.

I would definitely recommend magnetic filters to others. I like them for their convenience, speed of employment/removal, stackability and not needing to carry a separate filter mounting bracket (other than the NiSi 14-24mm lens hood).
 
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For those who step up rings, do you keep them attached all the time or just when using a filter? Right now I have a set of filters from Break Through Photography but they are screw in. I was hoping (they said but recanted) that there would be an upgrade path to magnetic filters so I am revisiting my filter choices. If I want to go w/ magnetic filters I can buy new, perhaps use step up rings, or get some sort adapter that converts screw in filters to magentic. I think XUME use to make these.
 
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I also use Kase Wolvetine. They’re recommended in one of Hudson Henry’s videos and Nigel Dansen. They’re really good. Very high quality. I have tne step up ring, but leave it off. I have two sets to cover the two lenses I use most, one of which is the z14-24 with 112mm filters….in fact the filter hood also fits the z70-200, z24-70 f2.8 and a couple of others,.very useful
 
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I have and use Kase like several others have. I don't typically walk around with my filters on so I haven't worried about that. Magnetic filters are so easy to add and remove that it doesn't bother me if I couldn't walk around with them on the lens (at least for my use). I will be honest if I had to purchase a new filter set today I would look at the Maven (https://mavenfilters.com). From my understanding their magnets are stronger than Kase's and I really like the fact that they color code and have tactile indicators of what filter they are to make them easy to find. Owner seemed to have put a lot of thought into their filters which I appreciate as well. I have step up rings but rarely use them. Another great thing about magnetic filters is if the filter matches the lens size you can use your lens cap and hood with no issue at all. All of my landscape lens are 82mm so it works well for me.
 
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RichF said:
Does anyone use Magnetic filters? Either where the filters designed to be magnetic or when you attach a magnetic ring to your filter and lens?

Do you have problems with the filter falling off the lens if you hit it the wrong way?

Also do anyone use step up rings? Permanently attached your lens, in which case do you use a large lens cap? or to you attached the step up ring when you attach the filter? With magnetic stepup rings this might be easy?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I have them…and the step up rings mean you don’t need two or more sets…but TBH I don’t use any of them all that much. To answer your specific question…the Kase ones (the old version, not the new whatever they call it)…are plenty sticky and don’t fall off…I like to shoot waterfalls with flowing water…and there are diffraction issues with f22 or more so the ND ones are nice to have
 
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Hopefully it is ok to ask a question in this thread. I am looking at my first filter set and I like the idea of the magnetic filters but I do have one question in regards to graduated filters. I don't believe that Kase has a hard GND in the magnetic wolverine lineup and others don't even have GNDs, soft or hard. Is this just an accepted shortcoming of current round magnetic filters or have I missed the mark completely?
 
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I used to carry graduated ND filters in the past (mostly medium transition, but some soft), as part of my regular set of gear, but I decided to stop bringing them along around four years ago, or so. Mostly because I felt I didn't necessarily need them (as much) in order to capture a particular scene in one shot, due to the large dynamic ranges of these modern cameras. If I had any doubts about capturing the entire dynamic range of a scene, I would go ahead and use exposure bracketing.

When I moved over to the Kase magnetic (circular) filter system from the NiSi rectangular ones, I didn't even consider checking whether Kase offered GNDs (which I believe they do).

There have only been a few rare occasions where I have thought that I truly needed a GND to capture a particular shot in one exposure. So those circumstances do exist, but they occur so infrequently that I don't bother carrying GND filters with me anymore.
 
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