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PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter: two-minute evaluate
In images, we regularly need extra mild. It’s why folks search out bigger sensors and wider apertures of their cameras and lenses – so as to seize a better quantity of sunshine in a shorter area of time. That’s sensible in order for you a quick shutter pace to freeze the motion – however what if you wish to use a slower shutter pace, so as to seize the movement blur of a automotive racing previous or flip a raging river right into a easy, silky ribbon of blue?
Reaching a sluggish shutter pace, specific on a sunny day, will be tough – which is the place ND filters just like the PolarPro QuartzLine vary are available in. Obtainable in a variety of strengths, these round filters screw onto the entrance of a digital camera lens and scale back mild transference with out affecting shade rendition. Not less than, that’s the concept.
PolarPro despatched me 4 ND filters to check, all in 67mm thread measurement (they’re additionally out there in 77mm and 82mm), in ND8, ND16, ND64 and ND1000 strengths. The ND8 filter drops mild enter and will increase publicity time by three stops; the ND16 4 stops; the ND64 six stops; and the ND1000 filter 10 stops. Clearly, having a set like this in your digital camera bag could be helpful if you wish to cowl each eventuality – nevertheless it’ll be mighty costly too.
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Every filter comes with its personal hinged exhausting carry case and microfiber cleansing fabric, emphasising their premium positioning. The circumstances are exhausting plastic, however have a fetching brushed steel end and magnetic closure, and every is helpfully labelled with the thread measurement and ND worth, to cut back the time it takes to drag out the proper one out of your bag.
The filters themselves are nicely crafted and superbly stable, so it does at the least really feel like that cash goes someplace. Fabricated from brass and aluminum (and with a particular brass-colored end), they’re reassuring robust, with pleasingly chunky ridges that gave me loads of grip each time I used to be attaching or detaching them from my Panasonic Lumix GH6’s lens (I used a 62mm to 67mm step-up ring, additionally made by PolarPro, so as to take action).
The brass body building ought to maintain the screw threads in fine condition too, in principle – so these filters needs to be becoming easily for a lot of, a few years to return. I discovered them very straightforward to suit, however you’d count on that from new filters. Additionally they function entrance threads, permitting different filters and attachments to be fitted over them.
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The glass, dubbed Cinema Collection Glass by PolarPro, is made in Germany. A collection of coatings purportedly get rid of shade shift (any form of shade solid being added by the filter), and PolarPro additionally claims its ultra-low refractivity retains the results of the sunshine passing via so minimal that it could totally resolve sensors with as much as 400MP decision. The coatings add anti-scratch, anti-oil and hydrophobic qualities too.
My Lumix GH6’s sensor is simply 25.2MP, so doesn’t actually assist in placing the refractivity claims to the take a look at, however when it comes to shade shift I can say I’m impressed. Even probably the most highly effective filter of the 4 I used to be testing, the ND1000, doesn’t add a lot of seen shade solid to photographs – however when carefully evaluating take a look at photographs with out the filters to these with, there’s a slight heat tint seen within the filtered photographs.
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I wouldn’t name this an enormous downside, notably as I believe anybody spending this a lot cash on ND filters in all probability has some expertise in post-processing and modifying photographs. It’s nothing that may’t simply be fastened in Lightroom or comparable, and most observers wouldn’t even discover it except they had been trying, nevertheless it’s positively current.
Utilizing the filters, I used to be in a position to seize lengthy exposures (10 seconds or extra) on brilliant, sunny days by the ocean. These photographs smoothed out the movement of the waves and made the floor of the water extra clear to offer my photographs a way more dream-like high quality. They might have been utterly not possible to take with out an ND filter, as an excessive amount of mild would have entered the digital camera and blown out the picture.
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I used to be additionally ready to make use of the filters to assist my videography by serving to me to shoot video with a wider aperture (i.e. for a shallow depth of discipline) or slower shutter pace (for extra movement blur). I did discover this somewhat more difficult at factors, because it concerned swapping between filters somewhat too usually – and it’s occasions like that when a variable ND (or VND) filter feels invaluable. These let you regulate ND power by twisting the filter, providing a way more speedy resolution. I’m additionally at the moment reviewing PolarPro’s personal PMVND Version II filter with a 2-5 cease vary, so look out for an in-depth evaluate of that quickly.
Whereas PolarPro QuartzLine ND filters are actually costly, I used to be totally impressed by their premium building, glass high quality and normal usability, and wouldn’t hesitate to make use of them in my very own panorama images and videography.
PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter: value and availability
Within the US, PolarPro QuartzLine ND filters value the identical value, no matter their thread measurement and filter power on the PolarPro store. Whether or not you choose 67mm, 77mm or 82mm threads, or the ND8, ND16, ND64, ND1000 or ND100K strengths, each filter prices $99.99. Easy and, for my part, good worth for cash – notably given that you just additionally get a tough storage case and cleansing fabric with every filter.
In different nations, the value can range much more. Within the UK, for example, the filters appear very costly compared to US pricing, and thread measurement and ND worth seemingly have little bearing on the associated fee – i.e. at Amazon UK, the bigger thread sizes are typically cheaper than the smaller ones, the place logic would dictate the other. It’s a barely complicated scenario, with some retailers providing first rate reductions whereas others cost the total whack.
Ought to I purchase the PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter?
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
How I examined the PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter
- One week of use
- Examined with images and video seize
- Used with Panasonic Lumix GH6 digital camera
I examined these PolarPro QuartzLine ND filters over the course of a sunny summer time’s week by the ocean in southern England – a great time and place to place one of these light-stopping filter via its paces. I examined 4 filters within the vary, becoming them onto my Panasonic Lumix GH6 digital camera (with the assistance of a step-up ring) to seize each nonetheless photographs and video, evaluating the outcomes towards photographs captured with out the filter.
First reviewed June 2025