Photography News | Issue 63 | photographynews.co.uk
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First tests
Imaging kit First tests We get our hands on the latest kit and share our first impressions – so you know whether to add it to your wish list
Reviews by Will Cheung and AdamDuckworth
Kase K8 filter kit £110
Specs
Kase is a young Chinese company that first launched filters for its local market in 2011 and in the few short years since has established an international following. In this test, we take a look at the K8 kit and a few of its filters, including an extreme ND and grads. The K8 kit is a good way to get into the system, because £110 buys you the slimline holder, magnetic adapter rings, step rings and a circular polariser. That is a flying start and thenyou can add grads andNDs to suit your specific needs. However, money-saving kit options are worth a look. The Entry Level kit, the High End kit and the Master kit are priced at £350, £485 and £730 respectively and offer savings with included grads and NDs. Kase has gone for standard 100mm and 150mm filter sizes, which means its filters will happily fit equivalent holders from rival brands, including Benro, B+W, H&Y, Lee and Marumi, among others. So there’s the opportunity to use Kase filters in, for example a Lee holder, but it is worth looking at what the Kase holder system offers in its own right. It joins the growing number of filter holders that enable you to place and adjust a polariser behind
Price K8 kit £110
Comprises: K-100 slim 100mm filter holder, magnetic slim86mmX CPL circular polariser, gearedmagnetic adapter rings 77-86mm, 82-86mm and 67-82mm, 72-82mm step rings We also triedWolverine 100x150mm0.9 soft grad £137 (0.6, 1.2, 1.5 also available); Wolverine 100x150mm0.9 reverse grad £143 (1.2 also available); Wolverine 100x150mm 1000x ND £132 (also available in ND8, ND64); 100mm filter leather case £30 and K8/K6 adapter ring red plastic cap £6.99 Also available KaseWolverine Series Entry Level Kit £350. As the K8 kit above plus Wolverine 100x150mm0.9 soft grad, Wolverine 100x150mmND64 and K100 square filter bag High End and Master Kits are available at £485 and £730 respectively Wolverine 100x150mmhard grads £143, available in 0.6, 0.9, medium0.9, centre grad; Wolverine 100x100mmNDs with attachable gaskets for non-Kase holders £132, available in ND8, ND64, ND1000, ND64,000 (£137 16EV) Contact kasefilters.com
any filters used in the front slots. A difference here, though, compared with its rivals, is that the polariser is held in place by magnetism, not the usual screw thread. We’ll get on to this in more depth soon. The K8 slimline holder is machined from a single block of aviation aluminium alloy and finished in matt anodised black. To this, the supplied three 2mm slots (1.1mm slots are available) are attached by screws. How you get the holder on to your lens is interesting. The kit comes with geared 77-86mm and 82-86mm magnetic adapter rings, so these go straight on to the lens. If, however, your lens is 67mm or 72mm thread that is fine, because 67-82mm and 72- 82mm step rings are supplied to take the 82-86mmmagnetic adapter ring. If your lenses have a 62mm and smaller thread, you will need to buy a suitable ring but these are cheap and readily available online. With a magnetic adapter in position, you’re ready to use filters and the polariser can be fitted now before
putting the holder in place. The holder just slips on and locks into position using the large red locking knob. If you prefer, the polariser can be added with the holder in place. Either way, magnetism does its thing to hold the filter firmly in position and its thin mount means other filters can be used in any of the slots without catching it. Also, the polariser’s orientation can be fine-tuned without having to take off any filter using the red drive cog on the holder, which is easily accessible and fine to use even with gloves on. One problem I have encountered with rival systems that use screw-in rear placed polarisers is unscrewing the polariser from the adapter ring. It is a fiddle at best and with cold fingers can be impossible. The beauty of Kase’s magnetic approach is that removing the polariser is much easier, although it is true you can’t do it with the holder on because the polariser lies flush with the holder, so you have to remove it first. This is a quick process and then the polariser can be prised off the
Magnetismdoes its thing to hold the filter firmly in position
Above The coated Kase filters give a very good performance when shooting directly into the light
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