Singh-Ray Filters

[neuroanatomist]

I haven't used the Vari-ND, but I'd think it would be convenient.


I've been quite happy with the combination of a B+W 103 (3-stop ND) and 110 (10-stop ND). For 'routine' uses (e.g. waterfalls/fountains, light trails at night, or wide-aperture outdoor portraits), I've found 3 stops to be sufficient, even with theEF 85mm f/1.2<span style="color: red;"]LII, although shutter speeds are often &lt;1/2000 (it's nice that the hood can be mounted over a 77mm filter with a 72&rarr;77mm step-up ring). With a 3-stop ND, AF and metering perform just fine. When I want a really long exposure for creative effects, the 10-stop is perfect (pre-focusing and manual exposure are needed).


I have been considering the B+W Redhancer for the fall foliage this year. But then I start wondering how that will compare to Canon's Autumn Hues custom picture style, especially since the latter can be downloaded for free... In general, I think most optical filter effects can be achieved digitally (polarization and ND effects on exposures in terms of DoF/motion blur being the exceptions).


The Singh-Ray graduated NDs do look quite nice. That's one area where you want to stay away from the standard B+W offerings, since a round grad ND filter is a bad idea. Schneider Optics (B+W's parent company) does make rectangular and square grad NDs, available as special orders from B&amp;H. They are ground/polished glass filters, meaning they are more homogeneous and planar than the optical resin versions like the Singh-Ray ND grads. The Schneider glass filters also cost about twice as much as the Singh-Ray resin filters.


Keep the widths of the rectangular filters and the size of the holder in mind - a 100mm/4" wide filter in a holder (e.g. Lee or Cokin Z-Pro) will work fine with a 17mm lens (on a 1.6x crop body), but will likely be visible with a UWA lens like the EF-S 10-22mm. For those, you'd need the Cokin X-Pro series.


Personally, I don't think I'm ready to go down the grad ND road yet. I'm reluctant to use 'ok' filters (Cokin, etc.). Good quality filters (Singh-Ray) are expensive, and rectangular filters in general are unwieldy. So far, for situations where I'd be inclined to use a grad ND, I've been quite pleased with the results of bracketed exposures and exposure fusion ('natural-looking' HDR). In some ways, that has advantages (e.g., with trees jutting above the horizon line); the disadvantages (especially ghosting due to wind, etc.) are somewhat mitigated by shooting at 8 fps.

I thought I was near done for awhile

Don't worry, you'll never be done... [:P]

[ddt0725]

But then I start wondering how that will compare to Canon's Autumn Hues custom picture style, especially since the latter can be downloaded for free

Thanks for reminding me of this...I am going to download this a give it a try!

Don't worry, you'll never be done... [img]/emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img]

Oh, I'm finding this out...believe me! I still have my eye on that 85L, it may take me alittle while but it will be in my bag some day! Maybe I should get started on my Dear Santa letter early!

Denise

[Iguide]

Question:


Does anyone have experience with Sing-Ray Filters vrs B+W filters? When reading and viewing each's respective descriptions on their own sites Sing-Ray comes off as the best thing since sliced bread. Are they or is it marketing?


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[neuroanatomist]

Does anyone have experience with Sing-Ray Filters vrs B+W filters? When reading and viewing each's respective descriptions on their own sites Sing-Ray comes off as the best thing since sliced bread. Are they or is it marketing?

For the most part, their product lines (at least, the more popular ones) are non-overlapping. As I stated elsewhere,B+W is excellent for round/threaded filters, but they are not the place to go for rectangular filters. If you want a graduated ND filter, B+W's circular ones are not a good solution (the quality is excellent, but for creative purposes you almost never want the graduation in the middle of the image). B+W also doesn't make anything like the Vari-ND filters offered by Singh-Ray. Singh-Ray does make excellent resin graduated ND filters, and their variable ND filters are also nice.


But, I do think there's definitely a big element of marketing hype in Singh-Ray's products. Here are a some reasons that I feel that's the case:


There's a statement in Singh-Ray's FAQ, "<span>Q6) Are your filters multi-coated? A:No. We have carefully evaluated multi-coating of filters, and in our opinion, the benefits are negligible, and outweighed by several disadvantages." Personally, I'd like to know what those purported disadvantages are in Singh-Ray's opinion, and how they were 'carefully evaluated'. To me, that sure sounds like a marketing statement. It's pretty generally held that multicoated filters result in less reflection and ghosting/flare/glare than single-coated or uncoated filters. In fact, although Singh-Ray states that their filters are not multicoated, they don't state whether they are single-coated or uncoated. I like to know what I'm buying. Maybe it's ok if their filters are uncoated, though - their RayVu cleaning solution, "...applies a crystal-clear coating to resist fogging, dust, and finger prints [and] ...tends to slightly increase light transmission and color saturation."Personally, I like my filters to be (multi)coated and my cleaning solutions not to leave a residue behind. But, that's me.


Another reason is transmission curves, which provide a quantitative way to evaluate filter performance. B+W publishes their data, both separately and at the back of their filter handbook. Hoya's data are at the back of their catalog. Where are Singh-Ray's? Apparently, they don't make them available.

[Ryan Marko]

If you can afford it, get the sing-ray filters. I just bought the vari-n-trio (580$ for the slim version) and it is absolutely fantastic. It

[seacritter]

I have the Daryl Benson 3 stop reverse grad. It is an amazing filter. I also have the Hitech SS and HS grad series as well. As to my polarizers, I

[Ryan Marko]

The Singh-Ray blog is great. Checkout the home page, I