Let’s face it. Screwing on and off filters is an unpleasant task. However, now they have come up with magnetic filters which just pop on and off.
Breakthrough has a great reputation but their filter system looks bulkier than the one by Kase. I am interested in how Kase measures up in terms of glass quality and lack of color. I want to see through the filter as it appears in real life. No color cast.
Please let me know your thoughts and experiences. I will be shooting with the CPL or the CPL and ND stacked.
Igor, have you seen Alister Benn’s recent video on the Kase filters? He’s sponsored by them, so there’s that, but he presents a good review of their systems. Tim Parkin of On Landscape magazine did a big filter review awhile back, also. The On Landscape articles require a subscription.
I’ve never heard of this type of filter. I always thought magnets and electronics were not a good combination. They must be low strength magnets or something that don’t create issues.
Sounds like a good solution though. I once had a polarizing filter that stuck on a lens, and the Canon repair center charged me $200 to get it off after I gave up trying to do it myself.
I ordered the new stackable filters from Breakthtrough about a year and a half ago. Apparently, they still do not have them available. They said if I bought filters at the time, they would exchange them when the new magnetic ones were available. I’m going to hold them to it. I think the magnetic filters would be great. My hands have a hard time screwing on the regular filters.
I know what you mean. I had a B&H CPL filter that I could not get off my Tamron lens no matter how hard I tried. It was so frustrating. But I was to cheap to send it out to a shop. Then finally one day the damn thing just fell off during a shoot. I think the tightness was more due to the lens than the filter.
@Chris_Baird, I would like to get the Breakthrough Magnetic filters too, but it looks like they’re taking their sweet time rolling them out. I have their screw in ND filters, and they really are the most color neutral I’ve seen.
I have a set of the Kase filters. I really just use the CPL and the magnetic lens caps for convenience. I have the 6 stop ND but don’t often use it, so I can’t speak to the ND’s cast or lack thereof. I’ve been super impressed with the quality of the CPL. I’ve dropped it on rocky ground probably half a dozen times with no I’ll effects. I can’t say that the magnets are very strong. I frequently pull off the lens cap when I remove the lens it’s on from my bag. It doesn’t take much to unseat the magnets. I’ve wondered if Breakthrough’s would stay put better. I was going to go with their magnetic system but could never get my hands on them.
So, are you saying you’re not entirely happy with them? Hmmm. None of the online reviewers have mentioned weak magnets so that’s helpful. I wonder how strong you really want them to be because you have to take them on and off. Perhaps that’s an issue inherent with magnetic filters in general. Screw on filters should definitely be more secure.
I use Kase’s magnetic CPL because I could not get my hands on Breakthrough. I haven’t had much problems with it and there is very little color cast to it. But I don’t use it that often other than in the forest (and even then not all the time). I haven’t had any problems with the magnet like Adam mentioned above. It seemed to be quite sturdy when I use it during shooting and I do not carry my camera (on tripod) with the filter on.
To clarify, I’ve not had any problems with the CPL falling off when using the camera. It’s been the lens cap coming off when taking the lens out of the bag. The dropping of the CPL has been when handling it, cleaning it, etc. I try not to leave the CPL on I mostly wanted to point that out to underscore the durability which I’ve been really impressed with. The lens cap is the weakest part which is probably no big deal
I’m starting to leave my polarizer on all the time, unless a very low light situation. Seems to be working well. My ISO may be up a tad at times, but not a big deal to me.
Interesting discussion. I use a pair of B+W filters and sometimes they do get stuck on the lens or to each other and so I broke down and got an inexpensive filter wrench set. Works perfectly. It mostly happens in winter when temperature changes cause the metal in them to expand and contract. Plus the threading is very precise and tight. Germans! Lol.
