Cheap Filter Sets

Mat0tam

Mat0tam

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Name
Matt
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Morning all,

A little Amazon browsing today brought me onto Filter Sets...
Originally I looked at the Colkin brand as I had heard it was good for those starting out and much cheaper than Lee.

Then I noticed some really cheap sets... (£12.99- and £21.99) how good or bad are these actually likely to be?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XCSOURCE-Co...F8&qid=1456217138&sr=1-10&keywords=filter+set
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Comp...TF8&qid=1456217138&sr=1-9&keywords=filter+set

About me: Fuji XT1 probably using my Samyang 12mm or the 16-55mm. Taking pictures for fun - entirely amateur. Hopefully lots of Ladnscapes shots over the coming months in the Lake District.

Ta - Matt
 
The weird thing about filters is that some very cheap ones are obviously superior in performance to some very expensive ones. And of course, as one would expect, it's mostly vice versa. My impression is that there are several manufacturers who compete to sell complete filters to the brand names, who charge a lot for their name. Some of those factories try selling cheap unbranded versions of the same thing, or selling them to the cheap good brand names who specialise is cheap stuff. Sometimes these ventures come unstuck and a factory is left with excess stock it wants to get rid of at any price. In other words there's often really good bargains to be found if you're prepared to spend the time doing the research in reviews, customer reports etc..

It's a good idea to do at least some research, because while every expensive top brand produces some really top quality filters, some of them sometimes produce a rather mediocre filter and still charge a top price for it.

I get the impression your Fuji has quite good dynamic range, around 13 stops. Whereas a paper print has a dynamic range of around 7 stops in a good light. So if you're prepared to process from RAW and do some tone mapping you may well be able to get the effect of using a filter, but rather more flexibly than the straight lines that graduated filters impose.
 
chris malcolm said:
The weird thing about filters is that some very cheap ones are obviously superior in performance to some very expensive ones. And of course, as one would expect, it's mostly vice versa. My impression is that there are several manufacturers who compete to sell complete filters to the brand names, who charge a lot for their name. Some of those factories try selling cheap unbranded versions of the same thing, or selling them to the cheap good brand names who specialise is cheap stuff. Sometimes these ventures come unstuck and a factory is left with excess stock it wants to get rid of at any price. In other words there's often really good bargains to be found if you're prepared to spend the time doing the research in reviews, customer reports etc..

It's a good idea to do at least some research, because while every expensive top brand produces some really top quality filters, some of them sometimes produce a rather mediocre filter and still charge a top price for it.

I get the impression your Fuji has quite good dynamic range, around 13 stops. Whereas a paper print has a dynamic range of around 7 stops in a good light. So if you're prepared to process from RAW and do some tone mapping you may well be able to get the effect of using a filter, but rather more flexibly than the straight lines that graduated filters impose.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed reply Chris. Will definitely bear in mind what you have said about the filter quality for each company. I think its likely the build quality of the bracket and adapters that suffers with the cheaper methods.

Will try a couple more bracketing shots with the Fuji using LR/PS to stitch. Didn't have massive success last week unfortunately :(.
 
•

After all the good cash you spent on your gear, you
are really thinking of putting these over your lens?

Of course, you are aware of the unpredictable results
in terms of casts and optical costs…
 
Both those sets are basically the same, the XCsource one is much better value and comes with an extra wide angle holder for a single filter, which I find very useful. The filters themselves are OK, they have a magenta cast which is common on most of the lower end filters. Using a single filter, you wont notice much of a cast, but double them up and it gets worse, three together and it becomes very noticeable.
To get started, these sets are ideal, worth it for the holders and fittings alone, but treat the filters themselves as temporary.
I would suggest replacing them gradually with something like Kood, Hitech or Nisi.
As for Cokin, they have a well known name, but the quality is no better than these, maybe slightly worse.
 
Last edited:
Kodiak Qc said:
•

After all the good cash you spent on your gear, you
are really thinking of putting these over your lens?

Of course, you are aware of the unpredictable results
in terms of casts and optical costs…
Click to expand...

Its more that Id like to understand just how much negative effect they will have, if its hardly noticeable then for me making £0 from my images and still learning it seems like a better investment.
I've headed to youtube for some reviews :)
 
•

I do not pretend that your thinking is wrong but
just making sure you are aware that there might
be some difficulties down the line.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
•

I do not pretend that your thinking is wrong but
just making sure you are aware that there might
be some difficulties down the line.
Click to expand...

Thankyou :) - I think combing your advise with @Steve B's means...
I'l buy them, try them, work out which I use most. Then invest in some better quality filters as replacements.
 
I must admit i wish i had bought the lee filters long before i actually did, i started off with the cokin set as many do and eventually upgraded after getting very tired of the colour cast i got when stacking. The frustrating thing for me now is i look back on a number of my shots from the cokin days and still really like the shot but hate the colour cast and wish i had the lee filters at the time. If you can afford them then go for better filters from the word go whether it be the lee's, high end hitechs or A N Other, but if you do buy cheap you may well buy twice and regret the decision later on.
 
keeweeman said:
but if you do buy cheap you may well buy twice and regret the decision later on.
Click to expand...

To keep things in perspective though, the cost of this set of filters is less than a mount ring for the Lee/Hitech system :)

Personally if I was starting out with top end gear, the only reason I can think of to go for Lee, is the poor availability of the Hitech Firecrest range.
Hopefully that will improve soon with their tie up with Kenko.
 
Oh i don't dispute the cost and my attitude was very similar to the OP in terms of why i got the cokins to begine wiht (to learn to use them properly and improve the setup i already had) so i completely get where he is coming from regarding the expense, but i look back now at some of the shots i took with the cokins and get really miffed because they are shots that i doubt i will get the opportunity to redo due to where they were location wise etc and i can't help but feel some regret as a result. As for the lee/hitech debate i got my lee filters before the firecrests had emerged as genuine market contenders with the lees so i am happy enough with what i have on that score although when i do come to look at higher stop NDs i can see me going hitech after some of the reviews i read recently.
 
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