Kit reviews
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NiSi Filter System from£65
SPECS
PRICES 100mm filter holder £65, adaptor ring £18, ND8 £85, ND64 £90, ND3.0 £95, ND0.9 soft-edged £90, ND0.9 hard-edged £95, 100mm square circular polariser £90, 150mm filter holder £95 CONTACT www.ukphotodistro. co.uk
Manfrotto NanoPole and SnapTilthead £92 The NanoPole Stand can be used as a lighting stand or a lighting pole. As a pole, it has four sections and extends to 184cm, and is topped with a standard lighting spigot. Lighting poles are available, so the NanoPole is not unique in that regard, but it can be fitted into a three-legged base giving a perfectly capable lighting stand with a twist. One of the legs has an extension so that if you need the flash to be leaning forward, the extension gives a lean of a couple of inches. The pole becomes a stand by sliding it into position and clicking it into place, and it’s marked to indicate maximum stability. There is also a ballast hook for a weight to aid stability. You get ultimate flexibility with the Snap Tilthead, and this can be used on any standard lighting stand with a spigot. It just pushes into position and it clicks onto the retaining spigot automatically so the flash won’t fall off. Locking the head into position to stop it rotating is done by pressing the thumb catch. The head itself has a standard cold shoe and it is sprung so its default position is straight up. Should you want to alter the angle of the head – it flexes down to 90° – use the big locking knob to securely hold it in position. The head itself is finished with a The aluminium holder is very well machined from aviation grade aluminium and nicely finished in matte black. It has two slots, and in the box are components to add a third. The supplied 77mm adaptor ring is made from copper with black nickel coating. The holder is held in place by two lugs towards its base and a spring-loaded retaining pin. The GND 0.9 is a 2mm optical glass filter, measuring 100x150mm. Obviously, as it’s glass there is one immediate worry: dropping it. The filter has a nano coating and claims low colour cast, high definition and ultra-low reflections. It’s certainly a quality product – you can see the nano coating when viewing it at an angle, and holding it obliquely, only minimal distortion is visible. The ND1000 is also made from glass, with a foam gasket on one side to prevent light leakage during A new kid on the UK block, Chinese brand NiSi has been around since 2007, and has now arrived on our shores courtesy of UKphotodistro. NiSi makes high-quality screw-in and slot-in filters, and it’s the latter I’m looking at here. The system is based around a slotted filter holder, which attaches to an adaptor ring that in turn screws into the lens’s filter thread. I tried the 100x100mm system, with the ND1000 (an extreme long exposure filter, 1000x or 10EV) and a GND 0.9 (a soft-edged neutral density graduate filter).
long exposures, and it measures 100x100mm. The asymmetric foam gasket means there’s a wrong way and a right way to use it; if you’re having trouble slotting it into the holder, rotate it and try again. It features a waterproof coating and the same optical qualities as the grad. I tested the long exposure filter on a Nikon D800, first shooting using AWB and then using the camera’s manual Kelvin settings to determine which value gave the most neutral results. AWB did a capable job, if a little warm. To avoid the warmth, I suggest 5500K as a starting point. I also tested its filter factor, which was just about spot on at 10EV.
The verdict
Quality is high – I was certainly impressed optically. My one concern is not dropping them! And the extreme long exposure filter produced fine results, even using AWB, and its filter factor is pretty much spot on.
PROS
Build quality, optical quality, coated filters
CONS
Limited filter range currently, expensive glass ND grads
SPECS
PRICES MKSTRO1 NanoPole Stand and Snap Tilthead kit £92; MS0490A NanoPole stand £64; MLH1HS Snap Tilthead £33 CONTACT www.manfrotto.co.uk NANOPOLE Maximum extension 184mm; minimum length 50cm; weight 517g NANOPOLE STAND Maximum height (at max stability setting) 194cm; minimum height (at max stability setting) 60cm; folded length 51cm; weight 1052g SNAP TILTHEAD Weight 193g
The verdict
Simple. If you enjoy strobism, the NanoPole Stand and Snap Tilthead combination is a definite must- have and a bargain at the £92 kit price. The pair provide a degree of flexibility that will make your life easier whether you’re shooting with or without an assistant. There are plenty of flashgun to lighting stand adaptors around but I can’t think of any that are as good as the Snap Tilthead in use. It is so solid, resonates of Manfrotto build quality and the locking mechanism is excellent. Both come highly recommended.
hold and locking screw to take a brolly stem. The cold shoe does not have a ‘stop’ so a flashgun can be attached from either side. The potential downside is that the flashgun’s own locking mechanism might not be secure enough to keep the unit in place. But there is a twist lock to ensure the flashgun can’t go anywhere once secured. I tried the heaviest hotshoe gun I have, a Lencarta Atom 360 with a brolly, and the locking mechanism provided completely secure. It’s a really simple idea but very effective too. In use, the set-up is a delight and the option of two functions of the NanoPole Stand is brilliant. Add the Tilthead and you have tremendous versatility too.
PROS
Very versatile, good stability, extension length, well made, great handling
CONS
Nothing
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Issue 9 | Photography News
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