Review: B+W ND110 10 stop vs Formatt Hitech ND PRO 10 stop

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awhyu

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Well Formatt filters have launched their new 10 stop filter which replaces their old one which did suffer from a magenta colour cast, the old one was reviewed @ http://blog.robertstrachan.com/archives/844/lee-big-stopper-hitech-10-stop-nd-filter-review/

Getting hold of the Lee "Big Stopper" seems to be quite hard and short in supply and I wanted to invest in a slot in filter because I spent alot of time fiddling with the B+W screw in filter and when the light conditions started to fail, using live view to try and "burn" through the 10 stop was next to impossible.

After reading Robert Stratchan's blog, I decided to go for it and purchase the 10 stop Lee fitting filter from Formatt filters (I have to say, the lady at Formatt was very friendly and helpful) at a cost of £60 + VAT + a small charge for delivery.

This morning I decided to take it for a trial run in an overcast Manchester area with a few spots of rain at the same time.

First impressions of this 10 stop, well, it comes with a pouch, paper wrap, an exposure chart for calculating shutter speeds and the actual filter itself which is made out of resin, but unlike its predecessor, this 10 stop comes with a rubber gasket which should prevent light leakage.

After comparing it to my current B+W 10 stop, the colour cast is no longer magenta but blue which I find is easier to remove in post processing, ( I just bump up the WB Kelvin and add a tint of red where required )

It appears the Lee Big Stopper suffers from blue colour casting as well from the other reviews on the net.

Overall, I am happy with this purchase, it certainly doesn't break the bank and it has made my life easier.
 
Wow! The colour casts on both of those are way worse than I experienced with my B&W ND110 (now sadly defunct) and my old Hitech. I used Auto WB when I tested, what did you use for WB?
 
i used auto wb
 
I've had a big stopper on preorder for months now, but I'm going on holiday on Friday, so wanted a 10 stopper by Friday, how long did Formatt take to deliver?
 
came in 2 days
 
Wow, that's quite a difference. Didn't realise the B+W gives such a cast, and it's one of the most recommended! I might invest in one soon, funds permitted. Have you tested any others that you can compare to, for IQ and colour cast?
 
Nope I haven't tested any others, but I know Strax on this board aka Robert Strachan is in the process of testing Lee Big stopper vs the new Hitech ND Pro.

Check out his blog on:

http://blog.robertstrachan.com/blog/


Ta,

Andy

Yep my B+W always gave a magenta cast.

As for RAWS, it means sticking them somewhere for you guys to download

andy
 
awhyu said:
i used auto wb
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The test needs to be done with a fixed white balance - eg sun, cloudy, shade setting.

My B+W was nowhere near that bad, but bad enough for me to swap to a LightCraftWorkshop 500ND which is the most neutral I've tried (fractionally bluish, very similar to the Lee Big Stopper).

Edit: these very dark NDs are never perfectly neutral, and they vary slighty in both tint and density batch to batch.
 
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I have managed to finish the review now that the rain has halted for a wee while. The results were quite good. The Hitech filter was just as good as the Big stopper on most shots. The full review can be read here.
 
strax said:
I have managed to finish the review now that the rain has halted for a wee while. The results were quite good. The Hitech filter was just as good as the Big stopper on most shots. The full review can be read here.
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How is it shooting into a strong light i.e. into the sun? Does it ghost a lot?
 
Hmm.

I'm not impressed.

The colour cast is unacceptable!

I'm not getting anything like this with B&W filters either.
 
daugirdas said:
How is it shooting into a strong light i.e. into the sun? Does it ghost a lot?
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It's uncoated resin/acrylic, so there's bound to be a bit of both flare and ghosting, ie same as similar grads etc.

Happy_medium said:
Hmm.

I'm not impressed.

The colour cast is unacceptable!

I'm not getting anything like this with B&W filters either.
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It's hard to tell - the review doesn't actually compare shots with/without, and white balance set the same in both.

Be nice to know what the actual density checked out at too.
 
HoppyUK said:
It's hard to tell - the review doesn't actually compare shots with/without, and white balance set the same in both.

Be nice to know what the actual density checked out at too.
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What would you like me to compare and I can add it to the review.

It's hard to tell the density. If you take it the Lee is 10 stops, then I reckon the pro stop is 9.5 and the original hitech is 9.

This could be off though as my second big stopper was different from my first one in both colour and density
 
strax said:
What would you like me to compare and I can add it to the review.

It's hard to tell the density. If you take it the Lee is 10 stops, then I reckon the pro stop is 9.5 and the original hitech is 9.

This could be off though as my second big stopper was different from my first one in both colour and density
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They do vary a bit. Lee told me so, and their Big Stopper I tried was 10.5 stops and only a little bit blue - hardly worth correcting really. My LCW ND500 is similarly slightly bluish, and 8.3 stops compared to the claimed 9. That's a good filter, especially for the price, but others are quite likely to be fractionally different, batch to batch. I also had a B+W ten stops, and that was 10.5 stops, and really too warm to use uncorrected.

It would be nice to see shots without the filter and white balance fixed - either custom, or daylight or whatever, but fixed. Then with the Lee and the Hitech, exposure adjusted to match the density of the unfiltered shot.

That way we could see the colour, and check the density by comparing exposure times, which would be brilliant (y)
 
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Reckon the Lee big stopper be better than these two but saying that you can corext the colour cast with the wb settings
 
Happy_medium said:
Hmm.

I'm not impressed.

The colour cast is unacceptable!

I'm not getting anything like this with B&W filters either.
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Shooting in raw and setting a white balance in post processing gets rid of the cast very easily.


HoppyUK said:
It would be nice to see shots without the filter and white balance fixed - either custom, or daylight or whatever, but fixed. Then with the Lee and the Hitech, exposure adjusted to match the density of the unfiltered shot.

That way we could see the colour, and check the density by comparing exposure times, which would be brilliant (y)
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OK, how would you want me to adjust the density and how would you measure it?

By the Blue channel in the histogram which is the channel furthest to the right or trying to match by eye even though the blue cast makes it difficult.

I dont really get the need for the white balance to be fixed though. I used the white balance that the camera chose as the comparison. Then a custom white balance using something approaching mid grey in the image would get it pretty accurate on both filters.

I know not everyone shoots raw but if you are going to buy one of these filters then it is nearly a must if you want to get rid of the blue cast completely.
 
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strax said:
Shooting in raw and setting a white balance in post processing gets rid of the cast very easily.





OK, how would you want me to adjust the density and how would you measure it?

By the Blue channel in the histogram which is the channel furthest to the right or trying to match by eye even though the blue cast makes it difficult.

I dont really get the need for the white balance to be fixed though. I used the white balance that the camera chose as the comparison. Then a custom white balance using something approaching mid grey in the image would get it pretty accurate on both filters.

I know not everyone shoots raw but if you are going to buy one of these filters then it is nearly a must if you want to get rid of the blue cast completely.
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Just a rough visual idea would be fine. Is the density ten stops or nearer to nine or eleven?

On the colour, sure if you want to get it dead right then a custom jobbie, but it would be nice to know how close it is to start with. You can't tell that from your tests as they stand as you've changed WB between shots. The main problem with the old Hitech version was the colour, so how close is the new one?

Just basic questions really. It's supposed to be a neutral density filter, so how neutral and what's the density :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Just a rough visual idea would be fine. Is the density ten stops or nearer to nine or eleven?

On the colour, sure if you want to get it dead right then a custom jobbie, but it would be nice to know how close it is to start with. You can't tell that from your tests as they stand as you've changed WB between shots. The main problem with the old Hitech version was the colour, so how close is the new one?

Just basic questions really. It's supposed to be a neutral density filter, so how neutral and what's the density :)
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No both filters are not neutral and its blue and wont be usable (to me anyway) without setting a custom white balance. It's not as blue as my Big Stopper though. I dont really see this as a big issue though as long as the cast is easily removed thats all I care about. Both 10 stoppers do an admirable job once a custom WB is set.

I can upload 3 individual images all set to daylight white balance (probably tomorrow night now) , all it will show is that both 10 stoppers are blue though:)

So to answer your question it's not neutral and its about 9.5 stops.(y)

Another thing though, I have the old Hitech and my one wasn't too bad with colour balance on most things apart from foliage with loads of IR in it. Terrible light leakage though:naughty:
 
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^^^ That's good enough for me. Thanks :)
 
Am I right to assume that the new Formatt filter is compatible with Lee filter holders?

Inspired by this thread I thought I’d do a quick test of my B+W filters as I knew I didn’t have casts as extreme as others B+W filters.

I took an unfiltered photo to use as a reference then added my filters.

I’d previously tested my 10 stop and I think it is around a 10.66 filter so I adjusted my timings for that, also looking at these photos I think my 6 stop is probably a little less maybe 5.66 stop?

These photos are taken straight from adobe raw all that has been done is they have all had their exposure adjusted by -.5 stop and then cropped.

As you can see my 10 stop has a blue cast and the 6 stop is very slightly warmer than the original but to be honest I’m pretty happy with the result, these casts are very easy to correct.


irxDG.jpg



kxGM8.jpg



xko8m.jpg

​
 
stormcrow said:
Am I right to assume that the new Formatt filter is compatible with Lee filter holders?

Inspired by this thread I thought I’d do a quick test of my B+W filters as I knew I didn’t have casts as extreme as others B+W filters.

I took an unfiltered photo to use as a reference then added my filters.

I’d previously tested my 10 stop and I think it is around a 10.66 filter so I adjusted my timings for that, also looking at these photos I think my 6 stop is probably a little less maybe 5.66 stop?

These photos are taken straight from adobe raw all that has been done is they have all had their exposure adjusted by -.5 stop and then cropped.

As you can see my 10 stop has a blue cast and the 6 stop is very slightly warmer than the original but to be honest I’m pretty happy with the result, these casts are very easy to correct.

<snip>
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Interesting tests Dale :)

Have you done anything to the colour? How was it set in shooting/processing? The standard B+W is notoriously warm, as mine was, but yours has gone the other way. Which filter is it exactly? Is it the new (very expensive) multi-coated version?
 
HoppyUK said:
Interesting tests Dale :)

Have you done anything to the colour? How was it set in shooting/processing? The standard B+W is notoriously warm, as mine was, but yours has gone the other way. Which filter is it exactly? Is it the new (very expensive) multi-coated version?
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I've done nothing at all to the colour, all I did was open in camera raw and apply -.5 stop exposure to them all.
The lighting was side lit from a window with a white reflector on the left with +1 stop of exposure compensation.
The 10 stop is the new multi coated version the 6 stop is the normal uncoated version.
 
stormcrow said:
I've done nothing at all to the colour, all I did was open in camera raw and apply -.5 stop exposure to them all.
The lighting was side lit from a window with a white reflector on the left with +1 stop of exposure compensation.
The 10 stop is the new multi coated version the 6 stop is the normal uncoated version.
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Aha! That's interesting. Then that's probably the most neutral ten stopper on the market, and with B+W's excellent multi-coating (y)

It's listed at $369 in 77mm :eek: Can I ask what you paid and where you got it from?

Many thanks :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Aha! That's interesting. Then that's probably the most neutral ten stopper on the market, and with B+W's excellent multi-coating (y)

It's listed at $369 in 77mm :eek: Can I ask what you paid and where you got it from?

Many thanks :)
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I bought it from Amazon for £117 I've just checked and it is now £113 but out of stock though.
I must admit I was more than happy with my previous B+W 10 stop as it did not have much of a cast either.
As long as you know how to remove the cast and it isn't too extreem there is no real problem with most 10 stopers. I was talking to my brother about this and he actually likes the cast on his so he rarely tries to remove it

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multi-Coated-Neutral-Density-Filter/dp/B00485ZJB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1306956138&sr=8-1
 
I normally re-adjust WB of each shot to best suit the scene, so colour casts are hardly an issue, as long as they are not over the top. My hoya 9 stop is very slightly blue but I quite like it. The trouble is the time it takes to put it on and then off, particularly at the dusk.
 
was thinking of trying the hitech pro myself rather than pay through the nose on fleabay or waiting 20 weeks with lee
i sent hitech an email regarding the right one for lee holder . as the advert states 1.5mm for lee holder then goes on to say 3mm for lee holder. but i had no reply yet
colour casts aside, is there any drop in pic quality ie: sharpness / softness using the hitech over the lee one
 
stormcrow said:
I bought it from Amazon for £117 I've just checked and it is now £113 but out of stock though.
I must admit I was more than happy with my previous B+W 10 stop as it did not have much of a cast either.
As long as you know how to remove the cast and it isn't too extreem there is no real problem with most 10 stopers. I was talking to my brother about this and he actually likes the cast on his so he rarely tries to remove it

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multi-Coated-Neutral-Density-Filter/dp/B00485ZJB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1306956138&sr=8-1
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Thanks for that. Nice filter (y)
 
marky.b said:
was thinking of trying the hitech pro myself rather than pay through the nose on fleabay or waiting 20 weeks with lee
i sent hitech an email regarding the right one for lee holder . as the advert states 1.5mm for lee holder then goes on to say 3mm for lee holder. but i had no reply yet
colour casts aside, is there any drop in pic quality ie: sharpness / softness using the hitech over the lee one
Click to expand...

You need the 1.5mm version for the Lee holder.

I didn't see any drop in sharpness or any softness when using the hitech over the Lee.
 
strax said:
You need the 1.5mm version for the Lee holder.

I didn't see any drop in sharpness or any softness when using the hitech over the Lee.
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thanks i may try one
there is a brand new lee one on ebay at the moment £200
thats double the normal cost. as good as lee are, lets hope this hitech pro gives them a run for there money,
 
I got my b+w 10 stopper from fotosense and paid £71 (shipped), the price has gone up now, it's not the multiple coated version but it works well for me as long as I remember to shoot in RAW.
 
Well the Hitech 10 stop arrived this morning so I've done a quick test.

There is an obvious blue cast to it compared to my B+W but as you can see from the images once they have all had a single click of the w/b tool in ACR there is little to seperate them. I do think that the B+W handles the colour better though as the Hitech colour seems to be slightly less saturated.

The hitech appears to be around the 9.5 stops mark whilst my B+W is around 10.5 stops.

All in all I'm happy with the Hitech as I did not want the hassle of trying to get a Lee plus it means I can now use some of my Lee filters with a 10 stop filter.

0BQ43.jpg


X4KX0.jpg


ps when I tested my B+W the other day it appeared to have a cooler cast than today I am not aware of doing anything differently so would that be down to the general lighting conditions changing the cast?
 
My big stopper finally came today, so I'll see which out of the Hitech and Lee suits me best and put the other for sale!
 
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