- It feels like I've been waiting an entire lifetime
to be able to tell you all about this.
I'm so happy, I can't believe it's finally here.
I promised I wouldn't cry.
(upbeat music)
In today's video, we're gonna do two different things.
First, we're gonna talk about filters,
some of the different kinds,
what they do, why you might wanna use them.
For those of you who are new to the world of camera filters,
this should be a nice primer for you.
And for everyone else, hopefully, it's a good refresher.
And the second thing we're gonna talk about,
the thing that I'm so excited about
is the brand new magnetic 7-in-1 variable ND system
from the sponsor of this video, Freewell.
Freewell sent me out
one of the original prototypes for this
almost a year ago now, and the final version is even better
and more exciting than that one was.
And I loved that one when I got it.
This is the most versatile and convenient filter system
that I've ever used.
And between you and me, I'm pretty sure I found about nine,
maybe even more functions with this
even though they called it a 7-in-1.
But before I get ahead of myself,
let's take a look at some of the different filter types
that we can use.
(upbeat music)
First type of filter on our list
is called a circular polarizer or CPL.
A circular polarizer is a filter that goes
in front of your lens that you can rotate
to cut out specific reflections.
This can really help for a number of things.
If you're shooting something with glass,
like a building or the windshield of a car,
this can be used to cut the reflection so that you can see
through the glass or at least get rid of some of the glare.
All you have to do is put the circular polarizer
on your lens, and then turn it until you cut out
the amount of glare that you want.
The polarizer can also be handy for cutting
the glare off water or any kind of like wet rocks
or plants that you might be shooting.
But beyond the more obvious reflections,
polarizers can be used to reduce haze and get a deeper color
in the sky when shooting at 90 degrees from the sun.
You need to be careful of your angle here
because a CPL may cause a strange gradient in the sky,
depending on where specifically you're pointed
and how wide of a lens you're using.
If you're using a super wide lens,
you're gonna get part of the sky that the CPL works well on,
the 90 degrees from the sun part,
and then also get some of the other parts of the sky too.
That's where that gradient comes from.
The next type of filter is called a neutral density filter
or ND filter.
An ND filter decreases the amount of light coming
into the lens by a certain amount.
And because of that,
you'll often hear them called sunglasses for your camera.
This can be really handy for a number of things,
but in general, it allows you to keep
your camera shutter speed, aperture, and ISO
where you want them instead of having to sacrifice
one or more of your settings to get the correct exposure.
ND filters come in various strengths that you can use
based on what you need in that specific situation.
The markings can vary and can be a little bit complicated
to explain, so I'm gonna leave a little guide down
in the description that you can download.
But in general, the bigger the number,
the more light is being cut.
So let's say for example,
it's a bright day outside and you wanna shoot a photo
with a slower shutter speed to get some motion blur.
Unfortunately, a slow shutter speed is going to make
for a super bright image.
And I might not be able to turn down my ISO anymore
or stop down my aperture.
Not to mention, maybe I want a more open aperture
for the photo anyway to get that shallow depth of field.
This is where I can apply an ND filter,
and it will allow me to adjust the settings
that I actually want for the photo.
Also, for videos, we typically want a shutter speed
that's double our frame rate
for the most pleasing motion blur.
So if I'm shooting at 24 frames per second,
I want my shutter speed as close to 1/48 of a second
as I can get.
Unfortunately, on a bright day with a wide open aperture,
this isn't gonna work very well.
But if we toss an ND filter in front of the lens,
we can get our settings how we want them
without having to compromise.
Now, if you're out shooting and you need to be changing
the strength of your ND often,
which is pretty common for video shooters especially,
something called a variable ND is super handy.
A variable ND is a combination of an ND filter
and a circular polarizer that when you twist it,
it changes the amount of neutral density on the fly.
Obviously, this is handy
because you don't have to keep changing filters
over and over, but also because you can dial in
the exact amount of neutral density that you need
at any given time instead of being stuck
with just the specific filters that you have.
So I can dial it into 2.724 stops
if that's what I need, rather than being stuck
with just 2 stops or 3 stops.
Variable ND filters are often split into certain ranges
to stop some of the cross polarization issues
that can happen with filters with too wide of a range.
For example, the Freewells that we're gonna talk about have
2-5 stop and 6-9 stop.
And I haven't run into any cross polarization issues
with them at either end.
And the third type of filter we're gonna look at today
is called the diffusion filter
or commonly referred to as a mist filter.
These filters add a tiny speckled pattern on the filter
that creates a hazy dreamlike look to your images.
Specifically, in the highlight areas,
you'll notice it something called halation,
which is a soft bloom around the light.
And depending on the type of mist filter,
you can also get kind of a filmic looking lifted black.
It reduces the contrast of the shot,
and it can look really cool if that's what you're going for.
You can also get diffusion filters
in several different strengths, depending on what you need
for the shot.
So that covers three of the different types of filters
that you might run into,
but Freewell has done something really cool
with this new system and taken a lot of the guesswork
out of knowing which filters you might wanna get.
And on top of that, they've used everybody's favorite thing,
magnets, to make a more versatile
and more convenient filter system than I've ever seen.
Let me show you.
(upbeat music)
Typically, when you use a filter on your lens,
you have to screw it onto the filter thread.
And if you wanna change that filter,
you gotta screw it off and screw another one on.
Freewell are specifically known for their magnetic filters,
where you put a magnetic base piece on the lens
and then the filters just snap to that,
making it much easier to switch between filters.
That being said, there were some limitations
to what they could do with magnets
and variable NDs until now.
This new system is similar in that there is a main base ring
that you screw onto your lens,
and then we have four other pieces that come with it.
And depending on the combination that you use,
you get different filter effects.
And again, they're claiming 7-in-1,
but I think we can find more than that.
(upbeat music)
By placing the variable ND base filter inside
the main piece, and lining up the Freewell logo,
you're already getting a 1 stop ND filter.
So if you just need that little bit of light cut,
this might be enough.
Then if you combine that VND base with the 2-5 stop filter
by making sure that the 2-5 stop label is facing outwards,
and with the A and the arrow lined up
with the corresponding A and Freewell logo,
you now have a 2-5 stop variable ND filter
with hard stops at either end of the range.
The same process goes for the 6-9 stop variable ND as well,
just make sure it says 6-9 stop on the front and line it up.
But if we take off the filters and take out the VND base,
which has nice little grooves on it to make it easy
to take out, you can replace that with the VND mist base,
which actually gives you 1 stop of ND plus diffusion.
Then you can combine that in the same way
with the 2-5 stop variable ND to get
a variable ND mist filter,
which have become very popular lately.
And of course, you can do the same thing
with the 6-9 stop filter for a heavier misted variable ND.
But let's take off our filter and take out that mist base.
If we grab our 2-5 stop filter and flip it around,
we'll see that it says CPL.
Toss this on the main piece with the CPL facing forward
and no VND base in there,
and you'll get a good old circular polarizer.
Then if you grab the 6-9 stop filter,
flip it around, you'll see that it says ND32 CPL.
So if we put that on there,
we get a 5 stop ND and circular polarizer combination.
Now on top of all that,
which is all the filters that you get inside the package,
you can also combine
with the original Freewell magnetic filters too.
So let's say you already have some glow mist filters
from Freewell, you can use those.
Or maybe you want something a little heavier
than the 9 stop you get from the variable ND,
you can pick up an ND1000 filter from Freewell,
and use it in the same sys.
For me, there are certain situations where a variable ND
is great, but others, I prefer to have a couple of choices
of solid NDs.
So I always keep a couple in the case
that the whole system comes with.
And the best part is that they're super thin and magnetic,
so they barely take up any space.
So that's the new system I'm so excited to finally get
to share with you all,
but there are just a couple more things
that you might wanna know.
When you pick up the new system like I mentioned before,
it does come with a case,
but they've let me know that they've updated the case
since the one that I got and made it even better.
So that's exciting.
You can also pick up matching magnetic front
and back lens caps so that you can carry the 2-5 and 6-9
without a case, just by sandwiching between the front
and back caps.
This makes the whole thing even more convenient
because you can just toss it in your pocket
and have a super quick access
to the two different variable ND ranges
without having to worry about getting fingerprints
all over them.
And you'll also be able to buy the base ring
so that you can outfit multiple lenses to be ready
to accept the filters.
Again, even more convenient if you decide to go that route.
So I'm sure you can see why I'm so excited about this.
It's made using filters so much more convenient for me,
and I've been thoroughly impressed with the quality as well,
which is really no surprise if you've seen
any of my other videos about Freewell's filters.
If you're looking for more information
or maybe you wanna pick one up,
there's a link down in the description
that you can check out.
And as always, I wanna hear from you.
Leave a comment down below
and let me know how much you love magnets
because they're just like magic,
or just comment whatever you want.
And on your way down there, make sure to hit that like
and subscribe button.
Hit the bell notification so you don't miss out
on future videos.
Thank you so much for watching.
Thank you to Freewell for sponsoring this video.
And I'll see you next time.
I'm so happy, I can't believe it's finally here.
I promised I wouldn't cry.
This is ridiculous.
(upbeat music)