Haida ND4.5, 32000x 15 Stop Independent Filter Review by...

Grant McIntyre | www.2stopimages.com

Haida ND4.5, 32000x 15 Stop Independent Filter Review by Grant McIntyre

www.2stopimages.com

In this review, I`ll be looking at the new Haida ND4.5, 32000x filter, which is a 15 stop ND filter.

Haida is a Chinese company which has been making a name for itself over the past couple of years for manufacturing high quality coated glass photographic filters.

I will be testing the filter on the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 VC lens, so will be using the filter in the 150x150mm format. I`ll be shooting images in varying conditions and will look at things such as, Vignetting, Colour shift, Sharpness and the overall build quality.

I received a parcel from Haida yesterday and I must say that the filter and filter holder were extremely well packaged. The filter comes in a very sturdy metal box which is foam padded inside so should be well protected when receiving in the post, as well as when you are out in the field.

First Impressions

As soon as I opened the package I was impressed. The filter comes protected in a well constructed brushed metal case, which has a moulded foam pad inside, so the filter is very well protected.

The filter itself looks as good a quality than any other of the top brands I have seen. The only

difference at first glance is the absence of a rubber gasket to seal from light leakage, though the gasket is located on the filter holder. One thing that impressed me was the addition of several rubber gaskets to allow use with other brands of holders.

The 150x150mm holder is of sturdy aluminium construction and comes with spare brass thumb screws for the rotation lock and spare filter slots to stack up to 3 filters. It supports a number of adapter rings for a range of popular lens choices and you can also purchase conventional threaded adapter rings. The filter holder feels like premium quality and would stand up to years of use in the field.


Image Tests

When I received this filter I couldn’t wait to get out and do some test images, but the weather was far less than favourable, with high winds and no cloud. Today the clouds rolled in so I grabbed my gear and headed to my local beach, as I wanted to illustrate the effect the filter has on both water and cloud. Being a 15 stop ND filter I also wanted to illustrate how you can achieve long exposures in the middle of the day in bright conditions without the need to stack multiple filters.

Note; All of the following images were captured with a Nikon D800 and Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 DI VC USD lens.

The first image I took (image1) was without the Haida ND filter and as you can see, both the water and clouds have been frozen with the fast shutter speed and appear very sharp.

In the middle of a bright day with the Haida filter now attached with the same ISO and Fstop settings, I achieved a shutter speed of 82 seconds, which I could have lengthened to many minutes by lowering my ISO and closing the aperture further. My first impression was one of wow. The image had virtually zero colour cast, was sharp, but did have some vignetting, which is pretty much impossible to get no vignetting with a very wide angle lens and 15 stop ND filter, though this was easily removed in post processing. Both clouds and water are now silky smooth thanks to the much longer shutter speed.

Before (without filter) Image1

After (with filter) Image2

ISO 100, f8, 1/200sec, 15mm

ISO 100, f8, 82sec, 15mm




ISO 200, f8, 1/125sec, 15mm

ISO 200, f8, 240sec, 15mm




ISO 200, f8, 1/60sec, 15mm

ISO 200, f8, 480sec, 15mm


Colour Cast

The point I was most impressed with with this filter was the virtual zero colour cast it had on all the images I shot. I have used several of the more well known filter brands and they all had a horrible blue blue colour cast straight out of camera. Even though a colour cast is easily removed in post processing, I like to look at a great looking image straight on my cameras LCD screen as soon as I take the shot and the Haida ND4.5 is great for this reason. Below is a comparison with the Lee Super Stopper ND 4.5.

Image7 Haida ND 4.5 Lee SS ND4.5

Image8 Without filter With filter

Sharpness and Chromatic Aberration

Image quality from the Haida ND4.5 was exceptional, as good as the more expensive brands, with zero degradation of sharpness and zero chromatic aberration.


Because I was shooting with the super sharp Tamron 15-30mm lens, I was sure I was going

to notice some degradation in sharpness by placing a 15 stop ND filter in front of it, but I

have to say I was once again impressed. As you can see in image8 sharpness remains

extremely consistent with good detail throughout.

Conclusion

I have no trouble recommending this filter, as it produces excellent image quality with low colour cast and has no real flaws at all. I have found every ND filter I have used from 10 stops and beyond all have a vignetting problem ant extremely wide angles. This is because a wide angle lens is seeing straight in the centre of the filter and at an angle on the edges of the filter which is why you get that dark vignette at the edges. Its not a biggy, as it is easily fixed in post.

This filter has made a welcome addition to my filter case. Highly recommended.

Pros

Extremely well made and durable.

Affordable

Optical glass

Available in several formats

Excellent image quality

Cons

Vignetting at wide angles (though this is normal)

Did not come with an exposure chart

Haida ND4.5, 32000x 15 Stop Independent Filter Review by...

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