Photography News Issue 57

Photography News | Issue 57 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

just sliding a rather stiff spring- loaded plate to one side, locating the holder onto the adapter ring and then locking the holder in position. It is simple enough and secure, but a larger locking knob and smoother action retaining plate would be easier for cold or gloved fingers. Using the grad drive knob is easy enoughand just takes a littlepractice to remember to pull the drive cog out of the slot before sliding a filter into position, then locating the drive cog to the right slot when you want to adjust filter height. It allows precise grad positioning from behind the camera and with minimal effort. Of course, you can just manually adjust the filter but the cog drive system is slick to use and takes minimal effort. The full-time polarizer control is interesting too. The FH100M2 holder has a free-running, integral plate and this accepts the system’s 82mm circular polariser (a 95mm fit option is available). The clever thing is that you can rotate the polarizer using the serrated edge ring on the rear of the holder without having to remove any filters in front of the polariser – with the basic holder any front mounted filters have to be removed to allow polariser rotation.

There’s so much you can do in image- editing software but there is something special about getting it right in-camera

Above left Benro’s Master grads are optically straight out of the top drawer. Above right Shot with Benro’s 10EV ND on a Nikon D850 set to AWB. The out of the camera result is pleasantly warm. this with the camera sitting out in full sun and tightly covered with a light tight film changing bag so only the lens and filter holder were in the light. Any light streaking would then be from the lens/filter holder end of things. As it happens, I had no light scatter problems with a six-minute exposure with the 10EV ND and polarizer combined. As for the Master grad filters, they delivered excellent quality with no flare in strong sidelighting and there seemed no degradation of the lens’s optical skills. WC

An extra benefit of an internally mounted polariser like this is that you don’t need an extra large diameter (and expensive) polarizer that sits in front of the other filters. The polariser has to be fully screwed home on this plate so not to foul any filter used in the slot closest to the lens. You can of course use the next slot out but you don’t want to do that with extreme NDs where light bouncing round can ruin your shots. The idea is a good one but I found unscrewing the polariser can be tricky, especially with cold fingers. Benro is working on a gadget to deal with this situation. Speaking of filters, I tried a 10EV extreme ND and a Master grad – the Master grads are glass and cost £120. Resin versions cost £45 each. To use the filters in the Benro holder you need to fit the filters into frames – you get one 100x100mm

and 100x150mm with the kit and extras cost £11 and £12 respectively. There’s no option here and ideally you need a frame for each filter you own. Having a number of filters and only one frame means you will need to swap filters over which takes time and there’s the risk of dropping a filter, so given the low cost of frames it is not worth the hassle, time or risk. The downside is that Benro do not supply any free carrying wallet with the frames. You do get a lovely solid box with the filters but this is not large enough to hold a filter- fitted frame so remember to budget for a pouch or two. I used a 10EV ND in the 100x100mmframe. This slides fully home in the holder which is good for positioning but there is no foam gasket on the frame to help prevent light seepage during extremely exposures. That said, I tested for

Verdict

Pros Filter quality, polariser concept, no light seepage during extreme exposures Cons No supplied case/pouch for framed filters, some aspects of handling minor issues in the broader scheme of things. Optical quality is first rate and features like the graduate drive cog and full-time polariser control are well worth having and practical. The Benro filter systemhas interesting innovations and the designers deserve all the plaudits they get. I really enjoyed using it and although I would have preferred a large holder locking knob, and a protective pouch with each filter frame would be nice, these are

The filter in position. The frame does make handling easier and helps to keep filters free of fingerprints. Annoyingly, no bag/case/pouch is supplied to carry framed filters.

The filter holder loaded and ready to go (shown off camera for clarity). Loading the holder mounted on the lens is no problem. Access to the polarizer adjustment ring is at, roughly, 4 and 10 o’clock.

The loaded ensemble on the lens. The FH100M2 holder has three filter slots. No flare issues were found with long exposures using this system.

Locating the drive cog in the right slot is easy to do and lets you very accurately and smoothly adjust the graduate filter’s height.

The FH100M2 holder allows you to rotate the polariser without having to remove any of the front mounted filters. It’s easy to use with bare fingers and okay with thin gloves too.