Over the last year I have been using different filter systems. Honestly I have not been able to use them very often. I was using the Tiffen system of ND filters which included 4 stop and 10 stop glass filters. They are well built and the holder is top notch. The problem is that the 10 stop added a horrible green cast to my files. Not good. So I then turned to Breakthrough Photography. An American company with a stellar reputation. That being said I was shocked when I received my filters, holder, and magnetic adapter ring as the 82mm adapter ring would not turn. So I very quickly got in touch with them and a new one was on the way and the bogus one was on it's way back to them.

I purchased a 6 stop dark cpl filter which includes a circular polarizer with the 6 stop all in one filter. I did this with three magnetic adapter rings, a 62, 77, and an 82mm. This was to fit my Canon and Sony lenses. I also purchased a 100mm square filter holder and a 100x150mm 3 stop soft GND (graduated neutral density) filter. More to come on this later.

So I went out this morning to shoot with some moving water and learned quite a bit along the way. This new system works quite well. I removed my B+W filter from the front of my 70-200 and attached the magnetic 77mm filter adapter which the 6 stop dark cpl slips into. The magnetic filter attaches to the adapter easily and it stays put. Since this filter is a cpl I use the knurled ring on the adapter to adjust the strength of the cpl. Nice touch but still a little wonky as it does not move very well and is quite thin.

The exposures on these wave photos were at 400 ISO @ 0.6 sec at f14. I like to work in the same way every time I go out. A repeatable system or process is essential when trying to make sure every thing you do can be repeated every time. I forgot that this time out and almost lost my 77mm filter adapter. After I removed my B+W filter from my lens and was trying to attach the adapter I lost control of it and it bounced down the rocks and into a pool of sea water. Bummer! It works fine but when I got home I soaked it in fresh water to try and get rid of the salt water. No damage so it will be fine. Normally with the water so close to my car I would attach everything in the car but this time I forgot, uggh.

At six stops of ND I did not expect any color change and their was non. Superb results but there was not much color involved so i converted these images to B&W in silver Efex Pro 2.

The ease of use of the system works fine. It can be a little nerve wracking getting the filter out of the mag adapter ring but with a little practice it work out easily.

Next I will shoot some color images and some GND work with the rest of the system. so far so good.