New Red Diamond Series Part 3

               --clear night filter and more

Offer: Kai Hornung

Multi Coating

What I really, really like about the red diamond and the Nano Pro MC filters and do not want to miss anymore is how durable and easy to clean the multi coated filters are.

always with me: a set of filters. Here on location at Passo Giau, Italy

On the cheaper Pro MC II circular ND filters I made sure to use only microfiber to dry and clean when getting spray of the sea on it. It took a couple of swipes with that micro fiber or even the Zeiss swipes (which are an excellent choice for gear cleaning). By time I noticed small scratches on those circular filters. Although not visible on my images I surely felt that the filters were vulnerable there. When trying the NanoPro multi coated filters I was very curious if the good things I heard about them were true. Very much so: in fact I just wiped with my t-shirt to get rid of some spray while shooting seascapes (watch the short video I recorded at the beach of Scheveningen, Netherlands, for my Instagram story). I love photographing moving water. And in 95% of the times when I do shoot moving water such as waves or waterfalls I do use filters to get my shutter speed at around 1/5th to 0,5 seconds – my sweetspot for nice looking streaks (depending on the speed of water, of course). This being said; it is a given there will be splashes when I get close to the water. Those little drops ruin your images when sitting on your lens or filter. That is why I love the water proof coating. The drops peel of. In this video I show you how easy it is to just wipe away those little drops with just your shirt (no fancy fabrics needed). It is done fast and you are good to go with the next exposure until the next splash let´s you repeat the procedure. 

This feature has even been improved on the red diamond series and cannot be praised enough. Because in the heat of the action when the sun rises or sets and I photograph incoming waves the last I want to have to care about is fiddling with my gear or be very protective of it. The NanoPro multi coated filters and the red diamond filters enable me to just focus on shooting. And this is how it should be.

Bottom line

the beauty of Lofoten, Norway. I used a 3.0 ND filter on this image to photograph with a 30 second shutter speed. The soft clouds and smooth water enhance the peaceful appearance of the image.

So to sum things up: I am relying on my filters to work in the field. And those Haida filters deliver. Every time. Using filters to photograph creatively is a lot of fun and to me a fundamental basic in landscape photography. I have used different kinds of Haida filters and they have never failed on me. In fact they are what I need: gear that does its job and does not distract me from my creative work.

I would not have opted to work as a Haida brand ambassador if I had felt the gear was just mediocre. In many circumstances I only get this one golden moment and this one image. I need everything to fall in its place. And those filters are gear I can always rely on. So I can happily recommend those filters.

If you like to start out with filters I do suggest you go with:
1. a polarizer
2. a 10-stop (3.0) ND-Filter
3. a 3-stop (0.9) ND-Filter

This trio does give you a good starting point for photography with filters. As always I suggest to not go with the most expensive gear right from the beginning. So you could start with circular filters. Get yourself the right size of filters for your lens with the widest diameter and then add step up (or in this case actually step down) rings that enable you to use the filter on your smaller lenses, too. And then just have fun using the filters and shoot long exposures. It opens up an entire new world of photography for you and you will be able to achieve beautiful results fast as long as you learn and understand when or when not to use filters.

If you are an experienced photographer and want the best quality for your images I highly recommend going with the red diamond filters. Especially for the ambitious photographer who is in the field often and does use its gear in sometimes challenging conditions I do recommend going with them. It is high quality gear that is amazingly durable and lets you capture your images without color cast. What else would you want from your filters?

Note: as stated I am an official Haida brand ambassador. Haida has provided me with the filters as named to test and review. The review expresses my personal opinions and experiences. The links are placed for your convenience to find the products. When linked to Amazon an affiliate link is used. This does not come with any cost or disadvantage for you. But if you order something from there I will I get a small percentage from Amazon which helps support my work.