Did anyone see the new Benro electronic variable ND filter that’s coming out? What are your thoughts and will you buy one? I’m thinking I’ll take the gamble on it because this would be perfect with the matte box for outdoors, and it should have perfect, unaltered colors across the whole image.
If it does what they claim, it fixes any complaints about traditional VND’s. No X pattern, no color shift, no vignetting, no turning, no polarization, and it has known ND stops. Pretty amazing, and the price is reasonable as well.
The concept is great. Sony has offered e-ND filters in cinema cameras for a while. It's too bad the size options on the Benro device are so limited. If they make a larger one that would work with 100mm filter holders I'd be interested.
There seems like a lot of hype. I'd want to see a 3D plot of the wavelength and absorbance at different ND levels. And I agree you'd want at least some larger sizes, like 100mm to cover the popular lens 95mm filter diameters.
When will this be a for sale item through legit retailers?
That's not interesting for photography. It only goes up to ND64, and I have filters up to ND1000 with me. During the day, I like to do 5-minute exposures and combine different ND filters to get more than ND 1000. You can also combine this with a polarising filter. I would miss this variety here.
Stefan Official wrote:
That's not interesting for photography. It only goes up to ND64, and I have filters up to ND1000 with me. During the day, I like to do 5-minute exposures and combine different ND filters to get more than ND 1000. You can also combine this with a polarising filter. I would miss this variety here.
They do have another ND filter that clips on and allows you to go to ND1000. For photography, fixed ND filters would most likely still outperform this. But this would be awesome for video
What's the point of the electronic VND filter if I have to add ND 1000 manually? That doesn't make any sense in photography.
And what if I want to use AF, then I remove the ND1000 filter again, just as I am already doing manually?
Because it extends the ND range the same way that Polar Pro Recon and NiSi VND kits work. If you have a 2-6 stop variable ND and add a solid 4 stop ND, now you have a 6-10 stop variable ND. So you have a 2-10 stop range with only a VND plus a 4 stop ND that you stack on it.
Stefan Official wrote:
What's the point of the electronic VND filter if I have to add ND 1000 manually? That doesn't make any sense in photography.
And what if I want to use AF, then I remove the ND1000 filter again, just as I am already doing manually?
I really don’t see the value of this electronic ND filter: I regularly stack ND filters for multi-minute exposures and know my filter combinations. To control AF, the viewfinder, or the framing, I still have to remove the filters anyway – especially when I’ve stacked several, e.g., ND8 + ND64 + ND1000, to get roughly 40 minutes of exposure time.
Even ND64 + ND1000 alone gives about 5 minutes of exposure in bright daylight – the viewfinder is practically black. So to adjust AF, composition, or the framing, I have to remove the filters again. That’s why I don’t want a rear filter, even though someone in another thread recently said they were very happy with it. ND64 alone is only enough for a few subjects during the day – the electronic filter cannot do more. With magnetic filters, mounting and removing is super fast.
I don’t need finer steps beyond ND8, ND64, ND1000, CPL, or combinations of these. I can’t think of anything I couldn’t photograph with these. Aperture and ISO adjustments allow for fine-tuning if needed.
For everyday photography, I really don’t see any benefit.
Stefan Official wrote:
I really don’t see the value of this electronic ND filter: I regularly stack ND filters for multi-minute exposures and know my filter combinations. To control AF, the viewfinder, or the framing, I still have to remove the filters anyway – especially when I’ve stacked several, e.g., ND8 + ND64 + ND1000, to get roughly 40 minutes of exposure time.
Even ND64 + ND1000 alone gives about 5 minutes of exposure in bright daylight – the viewfinder is practically black. So to adjust AF, composition, or the framing, I have to remove the filters again. ND64 alone is only enough for a few subjects during the day – the electronic filter cannot do more. With magnetic filters, mounting and removing is super fast.
I don’t need finer steps beyond ND8, ND64, ND1000, CPL, or combinations of these. I can’t think of anything I couldn’t photograph with these. Aperture and ISO adjustments allow for fine-tuning if needed.
For everyday photography, I really don’t see any benefit....Show more →
Correct, I understand what you’re saying and I don’t think it’s going to be marketed towards people that use ND filters the way you do. Just like how a gimbal would serve no purpose for everyday photography either
