GROUP TEST
COKIN Z-PRO L TRAVELLER KIT & ADAPTER RING £479/$410 www.cokin.com
The polariser mounts in the first bay and has broad grooves letting you turn it from above or below the holder, but this is tricky in gloves, or when a square filter is fitted in front. It turns smoothly though, and the included resin filters, a three-stop full ND and two-stop hard grad slot in and out very easily, as do other 2mm glass filters. The filter showed no vignetting even at 16mm. Cokin square filters start at around £25/$44 for resin. PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 8/10 Good value for a complete kit Pros: Great price for extra filters Cons: No gasket to stop light leaks
The Z-Pro L can be bought alone for around £75, or as part of kits like this Traveller version (£449/$375); you get the holder, a screw-in polariser, two square filters and a decent semi-rigid case with lots of storage, but you’ll need to buy adapter rings separately, covering 52-105mm at around £30/$35. The holder comes with three bays taking 2mm filters as standard. There’s no tool needed for modification; instead there’s a knurled nut on one end which can be operated by hand. It’s an advantage in usability, but the nuts sit proud and can catch when removing the filter from its case.
KASE K8 100MM KIT £110/$146 www.kasefilters.com
made, with no flex. The holder takes up to three 100mm filters, plus the polariser, and showed no vignetting at 16mm. The removeable bays are for 2mm filters and the Kase filters inserted smoothly, if a little stiffly. Though not supplied, 1.1m bays can also be fitted. Kase’s filters start at about £140/$186 and are made of toughened glass. The range isn’t the most extensive but has everything you’re likely to need – except a case... PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 8/10 Fitsmost lenses out of the box Pros: No vignetting, robust filters Cons: Limited choice of filters
Kase’s K8 100mm kit comprises a K100-Slim holder, an 86mm magnetic circular polarising filter, two geared adapter rings (77mm and 82mm) to work with the polariser and two stepping rings (67-82mm and 72-82mm). The 77mm adapter screwed in smoothly and the polariser magnetises to it, which makes adding and removing it easier. The holder’s screw needs to be slackened to turn the array, then re-tightened to secure it. The grooved screw worked fine in gloves, as did the ring which turns the polariser; the latter moves smoothly and accurately with no slip, and overall the lightweight aluminium holder feels very well
THE VERDICT
style: if you want to avoid complexity, the Formatt-HiTech’s holder might not suit. The Cokin is light, effective and doesn’t need tools. The Tiffen Pro100 is great but takes 4mm fits, so could be a restrictive, whereas there’s a commonality to the others. Function wise, H&Y’s magnetic adapters are a curveball, but work well and are affordable.
The Kase and Formatt-HiTech kits seem a bargain, both coming with a polariser. The Cokin holder also comes with a polariser but it can be fiddly to use compared to geared versions; adding a polariser to the Lee system leads to vignetting, but it’s still superb. Each of the kits felt solid and all functioned well, so it’s a case of finding which suits your
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AUTUMN 2018 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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