Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

Both times I ordered this Variable Gray ND Filter by Heliopan, the packaging was beaten up, and even a part chipped off on the second shipment. I ordered it twice because I thought the first time I was receiving used goods, by the look of the package. The second one arrived in packaging of similar poor condition. The condition of the packaging caused me to question the quality of the filter inside.The filter, though of hefty weight, is not the most quality-controlled piece of equipment I have come across. There are different tensions experienced when spinning the filter lenses to adjust the filter power. For instance the filter loosely turns at the lightest ranged of power on my filter--the two lenses actually rattle a bit against each other!--but as I get to the darkest end of the light filtering power, the tension between the lenses, on turning them, becomes so high as to be able to unscrew the entire filter from the end of my camera lens. These findings are disappointing given the over [$]price of the filter.My use of the product: I use the filter to enable my aperture to remain open so that I can retain a shallow depth of field without having to increase the shutter speed. This is important in my use of my 5DMIII as a video camera (keeping the shutter speed at 50 for that attempted "filmic" look).

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I love the ability to control exposure time with just a turn of the filter ring given I already choose the f-stop to control DOF. Excellent build quality provides a smooth turning operation and given the brass ring easy on/off of the lens.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

Very well build high quality ND 0.3-1.8/2.0 1-6/6.6 stops nd filters. The ND degree is well marked with smooth transition full stop at the min/max points.There are two versions for this filter 0.3-1.8 6 stops and 0.3-2.0 6.6 stops. Still waiting for B&H response for sending me the 0.3-1.8 version when my order was for the 0.3-2.0 one.Combined with 58-77mm and 67-77mm step-up rings (also by Heliopan) I'm covered for all my lenses and a wide ND range.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I was hoping this filter would be a valuable asset as the convenience would be superb. I need a filter to allow use of fast lenses in bright conditions, depending on the ambient light the amount of neutral density varies from 1-4 stops. The convenience was great but the negative aspects of this filter were too great. Firstly the filter arrived in filthy condition, dust on the glass surfaces but more importantly there was haze on the inner surfaces of the two polarizers. An impossible situation to remedy unless I could disassemble the filter, clean it and reassemble to original correct alignment. This is exactly what I did as Heliopan doesn't appear to lock their retaining rings very well, it was screwed down loosely and could be removed without any damage to the rings or polarizers. Reassembling required proper placement of the polarizers but this was not difficult. Once cleaned and aligned I was able to evaluate the images and found too much image degradation for my taste. I called the distributor and asked some questions about the filter and was told the individual polarizers are not multicoated. I would think it would be a better product if multicoating was present, four glass surfaces, internal reflections etc. might be contributing to the image degradation. With a little help from the internet I was able to learn that this setup is a circular polarizer in the rear and a linear polarizer in front. I was then able to construct my own variable nd filter from polarizers I already owned. Although suposedly inferior filters my setup resulted in the same degradation of image quality as the heliopan, no better but no worse. I ultimately returned the filter fearing it would fall apart in use and poor image quality, and I ordered the 4 stop Heliopan ND. I consider Heliopan filters the best available but not this one. Purchase this for convenience but realize image quality will suffer.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I bought this to use with my Canon 100-400 L telephoto lens, using it for motorsports photography to be able to get the f-stop down while using slow shutter speeds on a bright sunny day.

I tested it out at 400mm and the image was ok, but there a slight bit of softness being introduced. For me this was not what I was expecting for a $450 variable filter, thinking this was the best you could get.

I started out with the Light Craft II and that was atrocious with this setup (like putting Vaseline on the front of the lens) so that went back. Now I am sending this one back as well and going for a single ND 1 and 2 Stop filters from B+W hoping this will improve image quality.

It did allow me to open up the aperture, placing the background out of focus (shallow dof) while panning on slow shutter speeds of 1/30th to 1/500 and up. Just not up to snuff based on the price tag.

On lower focal lengths I think this filter would be great, but for longer telephoto lenses the IQ loss is visible, specially if you do a before and after.

If the two .3 and .6 ND filters work out this will be about half the price of this filter and the quality will be better IMO. There is just a lot this filter has to do in order to get it to be variable, so the less glass there is between your lens the better.

The front end of the filter is very narrow so you can't mount the lens cap on it as well leaving this very pricy filter exposed. And if you plan on using it with a hood, it makes changing the ND stop difficult.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I have a LCW Fader ND II I use for video. I found it was softer than I liked.

After all the glowing reviews of the Heliopan Vario I decided to purchase the 77mm version. I also purchased a 77mm lens hood to attach to the front of the Heliopan.

Upon arrival I was surprised to see the Heliopan has no front thread so I cannot attach a hood. What gives?

I made the decision to buy the Heliopan and hood rather than a matte box and 4x4 filters. Now I'm back to the drawing board.

The Heliopan is going and I will buy a matte box and 4x4 filters. Considering the price of the Heliopan I'm extremely annoyed!!

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I have the Fader ND Mark II Filter and there are no comparison possible in sharpness, Heliopan is the best Variable ND filter.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

Pictures were taken with and without the 77mm Vario Neutral Density Filter by Heliopan. The pictures with filter were jaw dropping beautiful! The colors were deeper, brighter and clearer!

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I use this filter for multimedia work so I only have to carry one ND filter and can simply rotate the front to change the density. My favorite part is the built in stops. I've used other fader / variable ND filters that just spin and spin like a normal polarizer filter. With this filter you know when the filter is maxed out on either end. Perhaps the person in the previous review with the x-photograph had a faulty filter without proper stops. I also like that this filter has the same front threads allowing me to use the same lens cap. That's not the case with some filters, such as the Genus, which has a larger front. This also means you can't use your lens hoods (at least on the Canon 24-70 and 70-200 L lenses) with the Genus, but you can with the Heliopan. The ability to use my lens hood is invaluable, as I often work in harsh conditions, blocking not only the sun, but also dirt from motocross tracks, paintballs, etc. from my lens.
I compared the Heliopan, Singh-Ray, and the Genus Filters for both sharpness and flare blocking ability. Photographing a test target (tripod, shutter release, mirror lockup) I found the Heliopan to be the sharpest, with the Sing-Ray being very close. Both easily out-performed the Genus. The Sing-Ray did the best job at blocking flare, with Heliopan in second, and Genus in last.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

I was really disappointed with the this product. As I increased the ND effect an obvious cross-pattern artifact appeared on the images. So much that the filter was only usable to about 3-4 stop of ND effect. I returned the product to B&H without a problem and they were fantastic.

Comments about Heliopan 77mm Variable Gray ND Filter:

perfect for on the go filming...not as nice as having regular nd but if you don't have time to switch a filter on and off this is great