Haida Filters in Depth Review

 –by Aharon Amram

As a landscape photographer, one of my dreams was to travel to the Lofoten islands in northern Norway that are known as a heaven of landscape photography.

Places like Skagsanden and Uttakleiv Beach and the fascinating villages of Reine and Hamnoy were part of the sites I visited.

Since I use high-quality filters for long exposure landscape shots, I decided to try and test the new HAIDA NANO filters.

I tested the 6 stops and 10 stops 150X150 NANO ND filters that I got from the local HAIDA distributor - Blumar.

The gear that I used:

   Nikon D850 body

   Nikkor 14-24/2.8

The filters are attached to the lens with a very robust metal Haida holder that is specifically designed for the Nikon wide angle lens.

And now for the test:

The parameters that were tested are:

  -Sharpness

  -Vignetting

  -Color cast

I will present the results for each filter side by side with the image without the filter.

HAIDA NANO 6 stops 150x150  ND 

HAIDA NANO 10 stops 150x150  ND

Sharpness:

The images below are 150% zoom.

HAIDA NANO 6 stops 150x150  ND 

Original:

With Filter:

HAIDA NANO 10 stops ND 150x150  

Original:

With Filter:

The results look sharp as much as the originals.

Vignetting:

HAIDA NANO 6 stops ND 150x150  

HAIDA NANO 10 stops ND 150x150 

There is no vignetting. 

Color Cast:

The results showed a slightly warm color cast.

I must say that in some cases I don't even correct the color cast at all, because I like the warm tones and the images look very natural.

Summary:

      1. In terms of sharpness and vignetting, I see no difference between the original image and the images with the filters. 

      2. The color cast is very minimal and the result looks very natural and can be easily fixed.

      3. Nano coat - this is a great innovation comparing to the previous version. It gives resistance to dirt and scratches.

As a landscaper, I often tend to shoot at the beach where there are water drops and thanks to the Nano coat it's very easy to clean the filter just with a towel.

In Conclusion:

I was very impressed by the quality of the filters and from now on it's a part of my toolbox in the field.