X-A1 ND Filters question

Hello, I'm eager to receive my X-A1, that should be delivered by Jan 22nd. Meanwhile i am looking to buy some accessories and filters (ND).

I see many 58mm filters for sale on ebay but i am not sure what their quality is. What good quality non-fuji filters would you recommend(if any)? I don't want to spend ~$70 on a filter

You want a decent filter but you don't want to spend much. Unfortunately the two don't go together well. I wouldn't skimp too much.

I tend to use a filter kit for grads and ND's (Lee) but when I wanted a screw-in filter for a particular lens I did some research and bought one of these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/B-W-58mm-1-8-ND-106-Neutral-Density-Filter-For-Fujifilm-FinePix-X-E1-XF-18-55mm-/331223152243?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN&hash=item4d1e703673

..... and I would happily recommend it.

Thanks for the reply.

As a not professional photographer i just wanted to know if there are any good quality filters, that don't cost as much as the whole camera I am pretty sure that the original fuji lens are better than the 2$ ones on ebay.

So to specify - do you think filters like these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/58-mm-UV-FLD-CPL-Polarizing-ND4-Neutral-Density-Lens-Filter-Kit-Hood-For-Canon/221601274406?_trksid=p2050601.c100103.m2451&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211150826%26meid%3Df10382f25d224c57ad016520fc373493%26pid%3D100103%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D281331528850%26clkid%3D3402181867650666239&_qi=RTM2010736 will do the job or should i just stop looking at such cheap ones?

Thanks Ryan!
Yup, i've bought lots of things from ebay so i know what you are talking about.
As for the filters topic - you've fully explained all i needed to know! Thanks!
Cheers!

Teodor87 wrote:

Hello, I'm eager to receive my X-A1, that should be delivered by Jan 22nd. Meanwhile i am looking to buy some accessories and filters (ND).

I see many 58mm filters for sale on ebay but i am not sure what their quality is. What good quality non-fuji filters would you recommend(if any)? I don't want to spend ~$70 on a filter

Cheap generic ND filters are ok if you're just starting out and not sure if you're going to be using them much. They will let you experiment and see if you're into that style of photography. I think ryan2007 has mentioned going for multicoating which is good advice but the biggest problem with cheap ND filters is not light scattering but colour cast. Here are some examples....

NB i bought 3 ND filters (ND2, ND4 and ND8) which equate to a 1, 2 and 3 stop reduction in light and the set cost about $8-$10 on ebay (free delivery)

The following is an extreme example where I stacked 2 of the cheap filters together to get the slow shutter speed that I needed to affect how the fountain and flags looked.

ND8 plus ND4 stacked together to get 5stop reduction in shutter speed

You can see the terrible pink/purple colour cast. Normally it's not that bad but a combination of stacking two filters and long exposure has exacerbated the problem. The same shot with quick conversion to black and white looks as follows.

I've been playing with these cheap ND filters for about a year now and I found that if you don't stack them, keep the exposure short or convert to black and white then you can get some reasonable shots. Note that they do slightly affect the sharpness of images so you'll need to do extra post processing on top of dealing with colour cast.

PS. I've really enjoyed the long exposure style (5-60 second exposures) and can only achieve this with 5 or more stop reduction in light so I've splurged on a set of 3 Haida filters (ND8, ND64 and ND1000) that equate to 3, 6 and 10 stop reduction in light. The set cost me $150 and from the quick test with the ND1000 (60 sec exposure of crap on my desk) I can't see much of a colour cast so that's good for me. Looking forward to using them out "in the field"

I have found Hoya to provide an excellent filter at a very good price.

Optically I can't find any difference between the Hoya HD or HMC models and say B+W.

They are well made, have multi-coated glass, no color cast, reasonable pricing.

B+W have brass threads - which are wonderful, but they are super expensive

Hoya, is my personal choice for ND.

I wouldn't go cheap - as they tend to degrade the IQ and/or be poorly manufactured.

I just won an ebay auction for Hoya ND8 filter. That was a good deal I will update the topic with the results as soon as i receive my X-A1 and the ND filter. Thanks again guys!

Cheers