Vari ND?

[Mike Brent]

Are the Singh-Ray ($350) the only Vari ND or are there other cheaper brands? Is there something cheaper out there that does the job as good as these?

Thanks

 

[Dan Hudgins]

crossed polarizer

crossed polarizer

If you cross two polarizer filters and turn one you get a vari-ND of sorts, except at the darkest point where it tends to go violet.

Schneider polarizer may work better they may be higher quality.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

There are three other options that I know about:

1. http://www.faderfilters.com/products.html

2. http://www.genustech.tv/filters/genus-nd-fader-filter-77mm.html

And my personal recommendation:

3. http://www.lightcraftworkshop-shop.com/product-list/2

 

[Mike Brent]

Thanks Andrew... you are always helpful.

 

[Rick Burnett]

I have the FaderND and I like it. Works pretty well.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

The fader nds are not quite as good as dedicated nd filters but for a low cost, you can get a full set of nd filters in one filter which is very appealing. Unfortunately, there are no fader nd filters large enough for red pro primes but they are prefect for stills glass and the mimiprimes (if they are threaded in the front, still trying to figure out if they are).

 

[Rick Burnett]

That is a good point. I use them on stills glass. Looking forward to the built in ND filters on the Scarlet Fixed if I read correctly

 

[Reinhold R.]

There was an fxguidetv episode a while back where they tested various variable ND filters.

http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv.html | episode #74

Good to see for you self how well they perform in terms of color rendition.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

I cannot recommend the Light Craft Workshop FaderND enough. For the cost, it is a crime not to pick one up, I use it for but stills and motion. The only problem is that they seem to be out of stack a lot if you have not picked one up already. When I get my Scarlet with miniprimes, I will look at one of their smaller filters.

 

[Mike Brent]

These are out of stock for weeks already. So much equipment is back ordered... half of the things I want to buy not available.

 

[Dominik Muench]

I ordered the Genus one 4 weeks ago. still on backorder :/