Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsfilter is OK
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2013
I got this filter and got really annoyed with the fact that it had black bars across the screen at the higher setting. I went to the reviews on the same filter, larger 77mm size and found that a customer there complained of same thing. And so I returned the filter thinking that it was defective or just bogus merchandise. AND then I talked to a photography friend who told me that when they make variable ND filters, they use two filters..."What you are seeing is not a defect but an effect of how the product is constructed. This type of filter is constructed of two Linear Polarizers. When the filter is turned all the way in one direction the two Polarizers will cross over each other and will see an "X" in your image. To correct just turn the ring back in the other direction." Wooops!! And so PROMASTER offers the HGX Variable ND Filter. This filter has block inside which keep the Polarizers from crossing over and thus avoiding the 'bars'...not sure if Marumi makes one...but I mean gee whiz, dont ya think that they would tell you about this before you bought it. I was taking pics and having a grand old time and then suddenly the "BLACK BARS"...at first I thought something had gone wrong with my camera!!! And so exactly 15 minutes after I returned the filter to the Post office to get my money back from Amazon, my friend tells me all of this. At any rate, I hope you read this as a word of encouragement. HOWEVER, that being said, my research following this incident also led me to an understanding that if you want really good outcomes, you need to get good glass...and for ND filters, either you pay an arm and a leg for a variable Singh Ray or get the increasingly harder to get Lee Big Stopper, or you just get a really good B+W German made 1-10 stop filter, non variable...these are made with excellent glass, get the multi coated version, easier to clean and only a few bucks more. Being able to stop down and take pics of streams and water in general is amazing, worth the bucks for sure!!! But then I saw a youtube about variable ND filters and the Singh Ray and Heliopans, for the money are not so much worth the bucks. Tiffen or Marumi are less expensive and do the job without losing the sharpness of your $10,000 Leica lens. And so I got a B+W non variable 10 stop filter but it is a bugger to have to screw it on and off before and after each shot...I will buy another Marumi I guess.
