there are three filters you will eventually get for your camera an
nd filter a polarizer and a diffusion filter individually they can cost you north of 600
for good ones or you can get the freewell magnetic seven in one filter kit let's see if it's worth it
i'm raphael and welcome to the channel where our goal is to always fix it in camera and then
finish it and post and i always appreciate the early thumbs up because good filters
are the epitome of fixiting camera this is not a sponsored video but free will did send me this to
check out and to be honest i didn't really want to review another filter but the more i looked
into it the more i would have loved to have an option like this when i was getting started
so i wanted to see if it lived up to their claims there are innate problems with individual filters
variable nd filters are great for controlling the light but usually have some color shift
and some intense vignetting at higher stuff polarizers are great for reducing reflections off
of surfaces like water and glass but are so rarely needed in my workflow that i forget to bring them
in the fusion filters are great for softening harsh digital sharpness of modern cameras
they add halation and they soften the skin and highlight roll-off but are not always needed
or the bloom is too heavy in daylight unless paired with nd filters so juggling these three
aspects usually becomes an unnecessary step to the creative process especially in run and gun
scenarios when you only have a few moments to decide what you want to capture and what best
filter to help you achieve it and stacking these individual filters becomes a pain on top of that
freewell solution is to make all these filters as one magnetic kit and just by changing the
stack configuration you get all the benefits of the filters but easily switch from one setup
to another once you have the base screw on you have many options you need a diffusion with nd
simple with the base filters in you have about one stop nd and the mist filter has a nice subtle
diffusion it's closer to a soft diffusion filter and not a black mist filter so keep that in mind
for my test it does reduce the contrast a little don't need the diffusion
take out the base mist and add the v and d base you have two options for variable strength nd
two to five or six to nine nd with no vignettes and i like that it has hard stops and is numbered
so if you have to make notes on your setups you have all that info need a polarizer flip the two
to five nd filter need stronger nd with polarizer flip the six to nine filter and you have 32 nd
with polarizer which is great for midday water shots i've been using this filter for about a week
and i'm really liking the speed of the system and they did make the case big enough to carry some
extra filters if you need that so that's a nice touch so as a filter kit it feels like it has all
the filters i would need for a running gun minimal setup but here are some things to watch out for
the variable nd does have some color shifts which is common in most variable nd filters but if you
are aware of this you can easily finesse it in post if color is a major must-have for you then go
with individual nd kits and not with variable ones i really like the whole magnet idea for filters
but these ones seem to be a bit on the weak side two things about this one when i was trying to
take the magnetic cap off it tends to pull off the filter as well so you have to be very specific
and careful when taking off the lens cap and the second thing even a slight jolt had the cap pop
off luckily the filter stayed on but this happened a few times once when i had the camera on my side
on a strap and i jumped off a short ledge the lens cap popped off another was when i bumped my hand
against the camera while walking and another time is when i was pulling the camera out of my camera
bag and this is a pretty big downside for run and gun shooters that are a bit more aggressive
in their shooting style or traversing difficult terrain i for one would want to make sure that the
filters will not pop off randomly with a jolt or pulling the camera out of the bag quickly
now i completely understand magnetic strength is tricky to get right too weak and it pops off too
strong and you're struggling to separate all the pieces but there is a goldilocks zone to get the
right balance and the freewell kit is almost there but the upside is that it would be pretty easy to
switch out these filters with gloves on in cold weather and another note on the lens cap i wish
it wasn't glass too often i touched it thinking it was the bare filter and it freaked me out a little
bit and i would be totally fine if it was solid metal or any other material so i would know just
by touch that the cap is on and has not fallen off here are my final thoughts is the freewell
variable nd magnetic kit worth it i think so it's something i would definitely be interested in if
i was starting to build out my kit or looking to reduce the size of my kit for run and gun shooting
but if you are a little rough and tumbly with your gear then you have to be really cautious
with these magnets because they do tend to pop off fairly easily from the whole system
also i live stream on my second channel where i do deep dives on the creative process
as well as freelance financials so make sure you check that out as always thanks for watching