Haida Reverse Grad ND0.9 - does this look right?

psybear

psybear

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Just taken delivery of a Haida Reverse Grad filter GND0.9 - 100x150 size for use with my Lee system. Bought from a reputable eBay seller and all sealed up on arrival.

This is my first reverse grad filter but I expected a smooth light to dark (from the top to middle) transition. This filter however has a very obvious band above the centre line. I can't see how it won't be obvious in photographs since it's so obvious to the naked eye. I don't want to try it as I run the risk of marking the filter edges and potentially jeopardising a return.

Tried to capture it in this image. I'd be grateful to hear from anyone if this is 'normal' for such a filter. I'm thinking this one could well have a manufacturing flaw.
 

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RG's usually have a very dark band in the centre - yours looks like it has a very dark band in the middle, then a light band below that?
 
Yeah that's what I thought and that's what I see... I've emailed the seller. They appear to be the UK distributer of Haida so hopeful of a positive response.
 
NeilA1975 said:
RG's usually have a very dark band in the centre - yours looks like it has a very dark band in the middle, then a light band below that?
Click to expand...
Yup. I've seen these before but never bought one... but I'd expect the dark band once it starts to continue down to the cut off point. This one starts ok but doesn't go to the cut off, it's as if the dark band on the op's copy didn't take.

Looks duff to me, maybe Googling that perticular make will take you to pictures of it just to confirm that this isn't right but can't for the life of me see this as being right.
 
I've already tried the Google image search. It's not definitive but I couldn't see similar banding in any of the images.

Got a very prompt response from the seller though:

Hi Brian

This doesn't look right to us, but I've fired off your query to Haida customer support to be 100% sure.

We don't have any opened to directly compare and we've not used them ourselves to give you a definitive answer, so I will get back to you with their comments.

If the filter proves defective, we'll have you return your filter and will reimburse your shipping costs and send another as soon as you let us know the tracking number of the returned filter.

Our sincere apologies.
 
psybear said:
I've already tried the Google image search. It's not definitive but I couldn't see similar banding in any of the images.
Click to expand...

Googling seems to take me to 100 series images which look pretty much how I'd expect. Hope you get somewhere with the supplier but I think it's a shame they haven't resolved this straight off by relying on their own knowledge or even just opening a box but I do have to say that if this is right I'd be shocked... and I just can't see it myself.
 
It's been confirmed as faulty and is on its way back to the supplier. QC not the best with Haida it seems.
 
I've tried Hitech and didn't like them at all. The ten-stop in particular was horrible - awful cast and nowhere near as dark as it should have been. These were the bigger 165mm filters. Think I'm going to try the Nisi - much more expensive than Haida but it's just the reverse grad I need - Lee don't make them!
 
psybear said:
I've tried Hitech and didn't like them at all. The ten-stop in particular was horrible - awful cast and nowhere near as dark as it should have been. These were the bigger 165mm filters. Think I'm going to try the Nisi - much more expensive than Haida but it's just the reverse grad I need - Lee don't make them!
Click to expand...

Have you tried the Firecrest's? no colour cast, even using a 16 stop. No Firecrest RG yet though I think.

I agree, the resin Hitech's are not nice if using over 3-4 stops, but fine below this.
 
I haven't tried the Firecrests but I've heard good things about them. Mind you I'd also heard good things about Haida but like I said, QC is clearly an issue.

I had a long and interesting conversation with a nice guy who runs Camera Filters Ireland - he is the main (perhaps only) Irish distributor of Haida and Nisi. He was adamant when he saw the image that the Haida was defective and confirmed that, whilst they can be very good, he has seen evidence of QC issues in the past, in fact he wants to use my image to underline the point if it comes up with future customers! He was exceptionally positive about the Nisi range - pricey but he believes way superior even to Lee. He has just about talked me into it....
 
I've just bought a Firecrest (screw in though) and tried it out in the garden, I'm amazed at the lack of colour cast. Once upon a time I had an older Hi-Tech 10 stopper and it was terrible, not easily corrected, so I never ended up using it...
 
A regular ND grad is enough. When it isn't bracketing and manual exposure blending gets the job done really well. This comes from somebody who also owns a reverse grad and strongly prefers not to use it.
 
Hi,

My first post!

I just purchased the exact same Haida rev grad off eBay and it has the same problem (dark band in the middle).

Did you get a replacement? Was the issue resolved?

Thanks,
Matt
 
Hi Matt and welcome to the Forums.

I got a refund and ended up buying the Nisi version instead. I would've been happy enough trying another Haida but they had none left and I wasn't prepared to wait for new stock.

As I said above, the guy from Camera Filters Ireland was adamant that this was a flaw in the filter - one should've been caught in QC checks but obviously wasn't.

Hope you get it sorted.
 
Hi Brian

I'm too late, but I find creating your own RGs using two normal hard grads is pretty effective (with one grad being upside down). You can alter the thickness of the reverse band yourself by shifting one relative to the other...

Sorry if you know that already and I'm teaching you to suck eggs!
 
psybear said:
Hi Matt and welcome to the Forums.

I got a refund and ended up buying the Nisi version instead. I would've been happy enough trying another Haida but they had none left and I wasn't prepared to wait for new stock.

As I said above, the guy from Camera Filters Ireland was adamant that this was a flaw in the filter - one should've been caught in QC checks but obviously wasn't.

Hope you get it sorted.
Click to expand...

Nisi are getting good reviews so I am tempted as well. What size did you get? The 70x100mm rev grads are £60...
 
when we take photo, the lens focus on the scenery, but not the glass filter. so, the dark will be much more softer than what we see by eyes, that's why the dark line will not influence the whole photo. We find some photos by famous photographer Mr. Jose from another forum. Haida RGND filter is nice.
 

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