Tide Optics 72mm Variable ND Filter (ND2 - ND400) Circular Neutral Density Lens Filter

Verious degrees of darkness. Not sure if I'm using it correctly though 😉 Seems OK if you're using it to darken a subject, like a car 🚙, that's colour is brightened by the sun or other light source, you turn the filter until the colour seems correct, this does mean that the rest of the stuff in the frame darkens also, so like I said before probably only good for single subjects. I tried it on clouds to darken the sky etc but it dosent seem to work. Both Pentax and Sony cameras on auto mode produce dark or completely black (with filter at higher setting) pictures and on manual mode it's difficult to judge the stops for the correct exposure, maybe a f stop guide should be provided with the filter? I'll keep it for taking pics of victoriana bottles through the window etc where the light usually Blitz out and detail. Now I'm looking for a proper polariser filter as the CPL ones don't work either 😕Build quality is good and dosent feel like it'll drop to bits anytime soon 🙂The plastic case it comes in dosent have a cut out insert to hold the filter in place though which I thought was a bit cheap skate! Instead the filter just rattles around inside as the case is around 10mm around too large. Hope this is helpful 😊

I was really impressed with this filter, currently looking at an nd1000 because why the hell not 😁,

This was my first ever ND filter from TideOptics, and it honestly didn’t disappoint.Quality - A very solid finish and has a very smooth ring to change the density of the filter from minimum to maximum and this is clearly marked with laser etched blocks along the sides of the filter.Experience -I have used this filter on my sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, and I didn’t find any issues with it. It honestly saved my life shooting against harsh sunlight. This piece of ND filter is always on my gear bag wherever I go!Thing I also love -Tide Optics donate a percentage of it’s sale to an Ocean Charity. Talk about giving back to mother nature!Overall, it’s value for money and it’s 100% worth it!

I received this Tide Optics VND very quickly from Amazon. The packaging is fantastic, a great finished box adding the feeling of quality to the product. The filter itself is stored inside a padded plastic case which i will continue to use to keep this item in good condition.I ordered the 82mm to fit my Sony FE 16-35. I can happily say that i can little-no vignetting around the edges of the frame even when wide open at 16mm. I get a small amount of i leave a UV filter on but this is similar to many filters. This filter is a little wider than 82mm where the glass is and i believe this is the reason you don't get any vignetting.In use, I work as a professional Photographer and Videographer, VNDs are critical when it comes to filming to allow the videographer to shoot as double the frame rate and at a wide aperture to keep that depth of field shallow. I've been using this for the last 2 weeks daily and can say it does it's intended job well relative to it's price of around £35. It did create a small colour cast to the greens but this has no issue when shooting long exposures in photography as we can shoot RAW and correct in post. And in videography, i could correct the footage without any degraded image quality. I was shooting 8-bit Sony HLG, so if you was shooting 10-bit similar to Canon, your certainly wouldn't have any issues.Unfortunately I was encountered by the black 'x', this is a fairly common issue when it comes to VNDs. VNDs are two opposite CPLs and at one point in their rotation you will see it creep in from the corners and eventually across the whole image. I did encounter the 'x' before i hit the darkest part of the VND that had been marked, but remember i was shooting on a super-wide lens!The filter is very well made, no play between the glass ring and thread therefore no light leaks. It's sturdy and looks like it will last a long time!Work its money? ABSOLUTELY. It isn't the best VND on the market, but them VNDs that perform slightly better cost 5-10 times what this once does. For a budget VND you are going up against smaller companies, we all know who they are. And after using many of these and thoroughly testing them out in the field, i'm confident this one from Tide optics is on par/better than the competitors. Perfect for its price. Just make sure you get the biggest filter size you are going to need and buy a step up ring for the smaller lenses.

I wanted an ND filter to take photos of landscape so that I can get more dreamy looking sky and water.I am aware that many variable ND filters have the cross problem with wide angle lenses. However, the product description of this Tide Optics filter mentions nothing about the cross, and the reviews are stellar, so I thought I would give it a go.On the ND filter ring, Min and Max and marked, with 15 bars in between. Beside the Min and Max, there are also triangles/arrows. It was quite confusing, as I cannot tell whether the min/max are at the first/last bar, or if they are at very the triangles are pointing. The filter can be turned 360 degrees with no hard stop, which adds to the confusion. It would be great if actual ND strengths are labelled on the ring instead of the bars. Hard stops at either end would be great, so I can adjust the filter more easily by hand without having to look at it.I took the attached photos with a zoom lens at a 28mm equivalent focal length (which is wide, but not very wide), at the first bar and last bar on the filter ring. (As mentioned before, I am not sure whether maximum is the last bar or at the triangle.) You can clearly see the cross in the second photo, and the cross is still present when I zoomed in.