Haida or Nisi filters?

I am planning to sell all my Hitech filters if i can and maybe few LEE filters and also Singhray filters, i am moving completely to glass and the cheapest and good quality brands i found are Haida and Nisi so far.

But i didn't have Nisi filters before, i have Hiada and they are very good even slightly better than LEE and way better than Hitech ones, but i feel Nisi isn't far behind Haida, and from the details it sounds they are rivals to Haida or even better, so that i asked here if anyone bought and tested Nisi filters and if they compared to Haida.

Will you sacrifice LEE regardless its big name in filters world or Singhray too and go with those 3rd party Chinese brands? the tests showing the stronger color casts of LEE and Hitech compared to Haida and Nisi, i don't know about the sharpness though, but glass filters should all be sharp enough more than resin anyway, but is it worth to sell LEE/Singhray/Hitech to get Haida/Nisi?

Please, never bring the budget/cost issue at all.

Heya,

I recently sold my Lee & Formatt HiTech in favor of Haida. No regrets, I actually enjoy using my filter(s) again now that it's simple and can use a lens hood again. I don't even do color correction with my Haida, no need, it barely has a tint. Sharpness takes a small hit, like all filters, but only noticeable at 1:1 pixel scale and only when comparing super large crops with ultrawide angle. On telephoto with normal view, I can't see a difference. I only looked to nit-pick, and I've yet to be disappointed.

I've not used Nisi, I'm interested to see what you learn.

I'm more than happy with Haida & Marumi for my filters now.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17936822
Heya,

I recently sold my Lee & Formatt HiTech in favor of Haida. No regrets, I actually enjoy using my filter(s) again now that it's simple and can use a lens hood again. I don't even do color correction with my Haida, no need, it barely has a tint. Sharpness takes a small hit, like all filters, but only noticeable at 1:1 pixel scale and only when comparing super large crops with ultrawide angle. On telephoto with normal view, I can't see a difference. I only looked to nit-pick, and I've yet to be disappointed.

I've not used Nisi, I'm interested to see what you learn.

I'm more than happy with Haida & Marumi for my filters now.

Very best,

Thanks for your reply.

Well, let's take it this way, i am sure about Haida and it is there as an option no doubt, but would like to know about Nisi, is it as good or better? i don't see/read anywhere it is worse than Haida or less quality optically or resolution, but if it has for example better color cast handling than Haida then this will be a sold, if it has better handling to flare or reflections for example this is a reason to consider, but until now i don't see many of Nisi filters users.

MalVeauX wrote in post #17936822
Heya,

I recently sold my Lee & Formatt HiTech in favor of Haida. No regrets, I actually enjoy using my filter(s) again now that it's simple and can use a lens hood again

I am still pretty new to using filters such as grad ND's and currently have a Cokin holder as well as some screw on filters such as a circular CP from Hoya. Can you tell me how the change in filter systems allowed you to start using your lens hood again when you were not able to before?

Thanks

Travis Ingle wrote in post #17941602
I am still pretty new to using filters such as grad ND's and currently have a Cokin holder as well as some screw on filters such as a circular CP from Hoya. Can you tell me how the change in filter systems allowed you to start using your lens hood again when you were not able to before?

Thanks

I assume he was using square filters with holder and now he is using screw on filters what allows to use lens hood.

Travis Ingle wrote in post #17941602
I am still pretty new to using filters such as grad ND's and currently have a Cokin holder as well as some screw on filters such as a circular CP from Hoya. Can you tell me how the change in filter systems allowed you to start using your lens hood again when you were not able to before?

Thanks

I was using 100mm x 100mm (4x4") and 100mm x 150mm (4x6") plate filters. These are larger than the lenses' front elements and much larger than what would fit within a lens hood. It would require a very big, and custom--ie, costly--lens hood option to work, so mostly, you cannot use a lens hood unless you get a custom one or make one yourself, etc. When not working with direct sunlight or bright light sources, this is not a problem. But I use a lot of sunlight for long exposure, and the flare is a big problem for me. So going back to smaller filters that allow me to use my lens hoods makes a big difference.

Very best,

Thanks for the reply. So are you only using screw on filters now? Did you ever use grad nd's in the past and have since switched to screw on grad nd's?

Travis Ingle wrote in post #17949325
Thanks for the reply. So are you only using screw on filters now? Did you ever use grad nd's in the past and have since switched to screw on grad nd's?

Yeap, I only use a screw on filter now. I only use 3 stop, 6 stop and 10 stop. It depends on what duration I want. In low light, a 3 stop can often be more than enough. In full light, I use the 10 stop.

I used 4x6 soft edge graduated 3 stop ND in the past. I thought I needed it when I started doing more complex exposures. But I quickly found it's problems and stopped using it completely at this point. The problem is that it's a straight line. Be it hard edge or soft edge, it's a straight line. The horizon is very often not a straight line. So it's only truly useful if your horizon is straight and has no features, like water. But it's pointless for something with mountain peaks where sky is above and below structures on the horizon. For this reason, I stopped using it. Instead, I just take two exposures and blend them. For anyone that loathes processing, well, fixing a non-straight horizon exposure done with an ND filter takes more processing to fix, so I just went the simpler route at the end of the day--plus I can adjust exposure by any amount, not just the amount of the ND filter's stopping power.

I would -never- use a screw on grad ND filter. The horizon is dead center. I'm not limiting myself to that.

I just use plain high power ND filters. Simple. And if I need different exposure values, I just do different exposures of a scene and blend them if necessary. Though I rarely need to these days. If you shoot RAW, you can easily manage +1/-2 stop exposure difference from a single image. The key is to simply not over-expose (clip highlights) and you can always take exposure down from there. So I expose my images to the right as much as I can before clipping occurs, relative to the duration I'm looking for for the blur effect.

These days, I'm stacking long exposures with a single 10 stop filter to get extreme duration blur effects, without needing any fancy filters beyond a single $70 Haida 10 stop.

More info here: LINK (Go towards the last pages, starting on page 2, for the most recent work where the process has been essentially mastered).

Very best,

Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply with a detailed explanation.