Which 10 stopper??

nickjohnwatson

nickjohnwatson

Messages
3,307
Name
Nick
Edit My Images
Yes
Just wondering what peoples thought are on this.....

I've just sold my B&W screw in 10 stopper as I want to try a slot in gasket type instead as jus got a lee holder.

The question is, do I go for the LEE big stopper or the new Hitech Firecrest 10 stop?

The firecrest 13 and 16 stop folters have very good feedback so their 10 stop looks to be a great buy, but the LEE is around the same price so I'm torn between them?

I had a look at the Hitech IRND pro stop 10 as well which i know is very good but the firecrest ones are supposed to be even better....

Anyone have any input?

Ta :)

Nick
 
Nick

I don't know anything about the Hi Tech but I have the Lee Big Stopper and it is excellent in terms of quality and also colour cast. In comparison to the Hi Tech 10 stop that I had before it, it is a 'notch above' in the colour cast and also the Lee feels more robust?
 
I was unaware of the firecrest range today until I stumbled across a review of the 16 stopper. Everything I since read suggests that they've managed to set a new benchmark for the neutrality of ND filters. I have some of Formatt Hitech's early NDs and the IR pollution makes B&W conversion the only option, so I might have to add some firecrest filters to the wishlist.
 
Have a look at the Lee Little Stopper whilst your checkin this out for yourself, I think it's a 6 stops darker instead of 10 regards the Big Stopper. Depends what suits your photographic style and photographic shooting ?


I've also got the Lee 100mm system and not sure which Lee stopper to aim for personally.........Little Stopper or Big Stopper ??
 
The reviews I've ready have all commented that, the firecrests do come with a foam gasket but loose and it must be stuck to the filter yourself.
 
Thanks Paul! I quite fancy giving the firecrests a go. Unfortunately my right hand is knackered so would not fancy trying to fit a foam gasket myself!
 
I've went for the firecrest one, and emailed them to ask if they'll fit the gasket for me, I don't fancy making a hash of it especially for best part of £100.00

Everything I've read about them says they are amazing, with no colour cast at all. I'm hoping it's as good as people say! I'll report back once it's arrived (1-2 weeks) and let everyone know what it's like!

I used some of hitechs older grads and the first pro stop 10 and they all had a noticeable cast, the IRND pro stop seemed to solve the issues but the new ones are supposed to be the benchmark and blow everything else away. Time will tell!
 
As long as you order the 2mm thick photography filters and not the 4mm cinema filters!
 
This is pretty interesting, I'm thinking of upgrading my 10 stop hitech filter and these newer filters look good. Anyone used the firecrest nd series yet particularly the 10 stop and 16 stop? Do they fit lee filter holders? I remember I had to purchase the thinner 2mm gasket type hitech 10 stop filter to fit the lee holder.
 
Hiya Folks.
So my firecrest 10 stopper arrived and although i've only taken 1 test shot with it so far it seems excellent.
This is taken with white balance set to auto, its not particularly exciting but i wanted to try it on just a normal bland day so see what it was like.
Processing is just lowered highlights and lifted shadows, bit of sharpening and NR.

Taking it to Glencoe on tuesday so hopefully give it a proper workout there, as long as its not chucking it down!

 
nickjohnwatson said:
Hiya Folks.
So my firecrest 10 stopper arrived and although i've only taken 1 test shot with it so far it seems excellent.
This is taken with white balance set to auto, its not particularly exciting but i wanted to try it on just a normal bland day so see what it was like.
Processing is just lowered highlights and lifted shadows, bit of sharpening and NR.

Taking it to Glencoe on tuesday so hopefully give it a proper workout there, as long as its not chucking it down!

Click to expand...

Looks like colour cast is minimal which is something I've struggled with 10 stop filters.

nickjohnwatson said:
AND!! If you use the code xmas2014 it works out at 87.00 delivered for the 100 x 100 nd3.0 (10 stopper) :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the code, it was just what I needed to push me towards changing. Now to decide whether the 16 stop could be useful too.
 
I have the lee system. But on another forum I visit one person just bought and says this XC source 10 stop filters from Ebay that everyone's raving about. I'm really impressed with the results I got this morning! Excellent details and no colour cast at all! Best £10.96 I've ever spent and it even comes with a free pouch and cloth
he posted a pic ad it looks fantastic for the price here the ebay link
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/77mm-ND10...es_CameraLensesFilters_JN&hash=item3ce8fca66d incase anyone wants to try them out
 
Yeah they make from 1 to 10 stops plus a 13 and 16 stopper. I'm way too impatient for anything over a 10 stopper though lol. I went to the lakes on tuesday overnight and spent the day there on Wednesday, unfortunately the weather was pretty dull bit I did manage to get the 10 stopper out and stand covering my camera with my coat, I got absolutely battered by the wind and rain but managed this .....



172 seconds @ f8 - iso400 17mm.
This is the firecrest stacked with a LEE 0.9SE Grad and a Kood ND4 hard grad. There's no cast at all which is ideal :)
 
nickjohnwatson said:
Yeah they make from 1 to 10 stops plus a 13 and 16 stopper. I'm way too impatient for anything over a 10 stopper though lol. I went to the lakes on tuesday overnight and spent the day there on Wednesday, unfortunately the weather was pretty dull bit I did manage to get the 10 stopper out and stand covering my camera with my coat, I got absolutely battered by the wind and rain but managed this .....



172 seconds @ f8 - iso400 17mm.
This is the firecrest stacked with a LEE 0.9SE Grad and a Kood ND4 hard grad. There's no cast at all which is ideal :)
Click to expand...

Looks good, I'm waiting on a 6 and 10 stop firecrest to turn up. I remember that jetty too.
 
Last edited:
nickjohnwatson said:
Yeah they make from 1 to 10 stops plus a 13 and 16 stopper. I'm way too impatient for anything over a 10 stopper though lol. I went to the lakes on tuesday overnight and spent the day there on Wednesday, unfortunately the weather was pretty dull bit I did manage to get the 10 stopper out and stand covering my camera with my coat, I got absolutely battered by the wind and rain but managed this .....



172 seconds @ f8 - iso400 17mm.
This is the firecrest stacked with a LEE 0.9SE Grad and a Kood ND4 hard grad. There's no cast at all which is ideal :)
Click to expand...


Nick;

This image looks the mutts nutts, very clean, I really fancy ordering the Firecrest 10 stopper. So does it slot into your Lee 100 system fine without any hassle ?

Thanks for posting the above image, very nice!

Regards;
Pete
 
rob-nikon said:
Looks good, I'm waiting on a 6 and 10 stop firecrest to turn up.
Click to expand...

A quick update, the 6 stop and 10 stop firecrest filters both arrived but unfortunately without the gaskets so I had the contact Hitech customer who sent out two gaskets. The first went on ok but I tore the second gasket whilst putting it on. Back to customer services to get another. This time fitted without any problems. I did ask why they were not fitted and got the answer 'some customers didn't want them fitted so we dont fit them'. I'm sure there are plenty of customers who do want them fitted so it's a strange argument and something that may stop people buying the firecrest if they don't feel confident fitting the gaskets. Hitech customer service were excellent but something I feel wasn't a necessary hassle to go through. I was told the gasket should be supplied with the filter so perhaps I was very unlucky to get a 6 stop and a 10 stop filter without any gaskets included.

Back to the filter, colour cast is excellent, practically none. I've previously struggled with rectifying colour cast of the older hitech filter I had (was great in B&W though) so the new firecrest was fantastic and quick to edit. I would recommend them if you had the older hitech filters but perhaps not worth changing if you have the lee big/little stoppers (although I've not had a chance to compare them). Definitely going to get out more to try these now I don't need to spend so long trying process the colour cast in editing.

Gasket wise it is a similar thickness to the gasket that is on my previous 10 stop hitech filter that was designed for the lee holder. It fits nicely into a lee filter holder without any problems. The firecrest filters are made of glass and looks like they a similar thickness to the lee 3 stop pro glass ND filter.

I've had a quick play at my local church before a trip to the Peak District on Sunday. It was a shame there were no clouds on Sunday so I didn't get to try them out in the Peak District. The edited/processed image below was taken with the 6 stop firecrest filter about 10-15 minutes after the sun had set, the settings were 30 sec, f8, iso 200. The clouds were quite flat hence no good cloud movement and anything beyond 30 seconds was gave washed out clouds.

St Owen Church after Sunset by Rob'81, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
I've been out again today as the clouds were right for long exposures. 10 stop firecrest filter was only giving 10-20 sec so I decided to try stack the 6 stop and 10 stop hitech firecrest filters, have to say I was very impressed. I need to get home to put it on the mac but it looks great on the back of the camera.

You can see a in camera image that I twitted in the link below.

https://mobile.BANNED/NatureRob/status/572798415643545600
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top