Singh-Ray Vari ND Filter

For those of you who are outdoor shooters, weddings, nature etc.
Have a look at this, http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html

Now, you will need a few $$$ but, it sure looks like a very nice tool for the tool box.

santa's list
#1 Vari-ND 77mm

Mike

Nice for my 70-200mm VR  and future 28-70mm f/2.8

For now, just dreaming.

Mike

Why not bu step down rings for it, but the largest size you need and then buy a step down ring i.e 77 to 62 that way you can still use it

Cool!
I'm in the market for an ND filter and I want something that will drop the exposure a lot.
8stops on this bad boy?? Sweet!
But the price is too high for something I know I will drop out of the side of a canoe or in the rapids.
I know Cokin doesn't come close to the quality of Singh-Ray but I've been looking at getting a 2stop and 3stop (#153 and #154)
Any other suggestions?
Any ideas on one that might fit my Cokin P holder?

That filter is a masterpiece in optical engineering.  I use it all the time when I a shooting brides by window light and I want to include a beautiful window and view in the composition, not only as an off camera light source.  I like the 77mm size because you can always use a step-down ring for smaller diameter lenses.  It is better, however to use the square filters with the adapter intended for that configuration.  This enables you to slide the filter vertically or laterally to apply the neutral density exactly where it is needed- you can previewed this placement with the depth of field preview control on your camera stopped down to your working aperture.

The reason I like the Sing-Ray products is that the effects are seamless and the optical quality is excellent.  When the indoor to outdoor ratio is high, theses filters save the day- same with hot skies. 

The price is rather high but theses filters have saved me many hours of burning in on the old enlarger and with digital, as we all know, blown out areas are nasty business.  These filters also help me when I need to make transparencies where there are no corrections available.

Ed Shapiro

Hi Leen-  When I saw the term- Vari-  I assumed that we were talking about the graduated filters- those are the ones I refer to in my post.   As far as a single density ND filter there are others on the market that will do the job.  I do however, prefer the Sing-Ray and the B+W filters and some of the other high end brands because of their optical quality.  I always though that if one invests in top of the line lenses, there is no use buying filters of a lesser quality and end up degrading the image quality because of poor optical performance of the filter. 

Whenever you add a more air to glass surfaces to an optical system there is a greater chance of some quality loss due to some shortcoming in the manufacture of the filter.  I like "dyed in the glass" filters because the don't de-laminate as do the ones with a colored optical plastic or gel sandwiched between to elements of glass.  I have Zeiss (Hasselblad) filters for over 30 years that are still in fine shape. 

I have invested in some pretty expensive polarizers as well- I need them for my architectural, commercial , and art reproduction.  Theses to have given me years of service and have never introduced any optical distortion or loss of sharpness.

I don't consider myself an equipment freak by any means and I improvise when I can- especially for odd jobs that I don't get all the time but when it comes to things that I place between the sublet and the front element of my lenses, I am very discriminating.

I am sorry that I want on about a filter that was not mentioned in the original post but I hope this information is useful to someone out there.

Best regards,   Ed Shapiro