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- Name
- Adrian
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Benro are well known for their tripods but have recently ventured into the field of top end filters. Having reviewed various tripod/heads for them, they wondered if I'd be interested in their new range of filters.
Almost biting their hand off, I compiled a wish list and it has now arrived from their UK and Netherland's warehouses.
They make a range of filters, expensive glass ones and less expensive resin ones and they are squarely aimed at rivals like the once totally dominant Lee Filters and Nisi, Kase and the like.
Having had bad experiences with Lee Filters in the past resulting in expensive equipment easily damaging, I have more recently used simple screw in filters and manipulation in Lightroom and Photoshop. The Lee filters I had were resin and very easily scratched, easily chipped and not cheap. All in all, I found the whole system a lot of effort and very frustrating.
I still have some scratched and chipped Lee Filters buried somewhere but haven't used them for ages. The Benro filters appeal a lot because they are glass and thus tougher to scratch. Now, glass may sound vulnerable to damage, chipping or shattering but Benro use German Schott optical glass which is meant to be fairly robust. Also it has a waterproof multi layered nano coating which is scratch resistant and repels dirt and water and makes for an easy to clean surface.
Benro's glass filters are meant to be colour neutral unlike some expensive glass filters.
The actual filter holder looks like a well designed and built product. It is metal and looks bombproof unlike some plastic holders. A circular polariser can be screwed into it and revolved using a control on the side. Another innovation is that the graduated filters can be accurately positioned using a knob to raise or lower them. This seems like a really good idea and the precision control of this system appeals to me especially after having adopted the Benro geared head as my go to option. The downside is that the filters have to be fitted into separate frames to mesh with the raising system. I think I'll like the system but until I've had some field experience the jury is out.
Benro kindly supplied Neutral Graduated filters in 0.6. 0.9 and 1.2 strengths. More intriguing is a 0.9 reverse grad filter which is a novelty for me but looks ideal for taming burnt out areas caused by, for example, a sunset but with out un naturally darkening the top of the frame.
A circular polariser and solid Neutral Density Filters in two strengths (ND64 and ND1000) which can be used to create "milky water" or blurred clouds which people either love or hate.
This whole system is very new and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to review it. Really looking forward to putting it through it's paces and hoping for some great light and great photos. Happy to answer any questions and will be doing a proper review after I've had some serious field use of the filters and can make some meaningful comments.
Incidentally if anyone is coming to Skye then feel free to pop in for a look and a play.
#benro #benrouk #benroletsgo
