Formatt-Hitech Firecrest Filters
Overview
I've been looking into purchasing neutral density and graduated neutral density filters for my landscape photography work for a while now. There are many options to choose from, but the most prominent choices for me were either Formatt-Hitech or Lee Filters. When Formatt-Hitech announced their new Firecrest line of filters I was keenly interested to see if they would live up to their hype. I can now say that, minus a few drawbacks of their mounting system, the filters perform exceptionally well.
Unpacking and Inspection
I ordered the Ken Kaminesky kit from Hitech because the kit included both grad-ND filters, ND filters of various densities and a polarizing filter. The kit arrived nicely packed, with each filter individually wrapped in tissue paper and a booklet from the artist in the box.
Performance
I was very pleased with the performance of the filters. I won't post side by side comparison photos of an unfiltered scene vs. filtered because it is unnecessary. These filters truly have no color caste. I can't even tell which images I shot with filters after reviewing my last trip. The only way to tell is by memory, knowing that I used the filters for a given shot. The filters are truly outstanding. I've included finished shots using the filters in this post. They required no color correction for the filters and I was able to achieve amazing results. The images speak for themselves.
Issues
Although the filters themselves perform outstandingly well, the mounting kit for the filters (100mm mount, largest available other than oversized for bulbous lenses) could use improvement. When mounting multiple filters, there is a small gap between filters that permits light leakage. This was not an issue for me as my exposures were relatively short (no longer than several seconds). However at a longer exposure time (think 30 seconds to several minutes) light leakage will be an issue. Formatt-Hitech provides foam spacers that are intended to fill this gap, but fail to fully block out all light.
Another issue is the mounting system for the polarizing filter ring. The polarizer must be mounted on top of all other filters that you would like to use for a given shot. However if you use other filters, this places the polarizer far from the lens and creates vignetting on wide angle lenses. The vignetting did not disappear until close to 24mm on a full frame camera.
To fix this issue the polarizer must be flush to the lens, fixing the vignetting even on my 16-35mm Nikon at 16mm. The issue here is that in quickly changing light conditions, a given composition might demand the polarizer while another might demand ND filters. It is time consuming to unscrew the filter system and replace the polarizer or ND mounts, meaning that if you are losing time to swap these you can miss a shot altogether. Also irritating is the fact that during a swap you can drop the small brass nuts, losing further time to retrieve them when your hands are full.
Solutions
If Formatt-Hitech could provide a faster method of swapping these components the system would be much easier to use. I ended up not using the polarizer in many situations to avoid having to change out the mounts.
Another workaround would be to purchase a polarizing filter that is a glass plate like the other filters and use this instead of the polarizer provided with the kit.
Also if Formatt-Hitech could provide additional foam spacers (they tear easily) that are thick enough to fix the spacing issues then they could eliminate light leakage.
Key Takeaways
If I had to rate this system, it would be 4/5 stars. It is an excellent system with superb filters that provides the best filtration I have had the opportunity to use. With a few fixes, namely the foam spacers and a better way to swap out the polarizing filter mount, this system would be perfect. All in all I am very pleased with the system and the results I was able to achieve with the hyper neutral Firecrest filters. After breaking a grad-ND, I will be purchasing another Firecrest to replace it because of the excellent quality. I highly recommend these filters and the Ken Kaminesky kit. Although expensive the filters are worth it.
If you are interested in purchasing this kit, I got mine here:
Formatt-Hitech 100mm Firecrest Master Filter Kit Ken Kaminesky Signature Edition (For 77mm Lens Thread)
