Landscape Photography - Jeroen van Daal

A couple of years ago I bought a Cokin P set for my 10D and 17-40mm lens. Together with a Cokin P filter holder and a Cokin 77 adapter, I bought my first Hitech filters: a ND grad soft edge kit, consisting of a 0.3 filter (1 stop), a 0.6 filter (2 stops) and a 0.9 filter (3 stops). I payed 75 euros for those filters and 20 euros for the Cokin P system.
This system worked perfect at that time. At 17mm (or 27mm without crop-factor), vignetting was not possible. I could even use a polarizer (screw type) in combination with the Cokin P filter holder. A few months later, when the Sigma 10-20mm was about to arrive, I realized that the Cokin P system, with its 85mm filters), was not sufficient anymore. Okay, in theory it's possible to use a Cokin P filter holder on WA focal lengths (i.e. 10-12mm), but than you have to reduce the size of the Cokin P system to just one slot.
So I had to search for a new system.

In the land of large filter systems, players like Lee, Cokin (X system) and Hitech are important players. I quickly made the choice for Hitech100 because of two reasons:
1. my good experiences with the 83mm filters
2. its price, considerably lower than Lee and Cokin X (which is far more expensive than Cokin P)

Hitech100 specifications
- uses filters of 100mm wide and 1.5mm thick (length may vary from 100mm to 120mm)
- filter system of aluminium
- seperate holder and adapter ring
- posibillity for combining system with a polarizer ring (for a 105mm polarizer

I bought the following:

Filter holders:
- Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 3 slot filter holder (+ ring)
- Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 2 slot wide angle

Adapters:
- Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm
- Wide Angle Adaptor 77mm

Filters:
- Hitech100 ND Grad filter, soft edge, 0.3 (1 stop)
- Hitech100 ND Grad filter, soft edge, 0.6 (2 stops)
- Hitech100 ND Grad filter, soft edge, 1.2 (4 stops)
- Hitech100 ND Grad filter, hard edge, 0.3 (1 stop)
- Hitech100 ND Grad filter, hard edge, 0.6 (2 stops)
- Hitech100 ND Grad filter, hard edge, 0.9 (3 stops)
- Hitech100 ND filter, 0.9 (3 stops)
- Hoya Circular Polarizer (screw-in, 77mm)

Below are some pictures (all clickable):

Sigma 10-20mm with Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm

Sigma 10-20mm with Wide Angle Screw Adaptor 77mm

Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm <> Wide Angle Screw Adaptor 77mm

Sigma 10-20mm with Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm & Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 2 slot wide angle

Sigma 10-20mm with Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm & Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 2 slot wide angle & Hitech100 ND Grad filter, soft edge, 1.2 (4 stops)

Canon 100-400mm with Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm & Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 2 slot wide angle & Hitech100 ND Grad filter, soft edge, 1.2 (4 stops)

Sigma 10-20mm with Standard Screw Adaptor 77mm & Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 3 slot filter holder (+ ring) & Hitech100 ND Grad filter, soft edge, 0.6 (2 stops) & Hitech100 ND Grad filter, hard edge, 0.9 (3 stops)

Used: Sigma 10-20mm with Wide Angle Screw Adaptor 77mm & Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 3 slot filter holder

At 10mm

At 11mm

At 12mm

At 13mm

At 14mm

Use & Experiences
I'm using the Hitech100 set for about a year now. These are my pros and cons:

- holder to adapter connection
The filter holder is connected to the adapter by sliding the holder around the adapter ring and tighten it by turning the metal screw you see at the right of some pictures. This means that the holder can easily be put on, but it can also easily fall of. For example when you didn't tighten it enough. This already happened to me a couple of times. You really have to watch your moves.

- polarizer use
As you can see on the pictures, a round polarizer (105mm) can be used with the Hitech100 Mk4 Alu 3 slot filter holder (+ ring). But buying such a polarizer will cost you at least 190 euros.

+ easy to use
Because of the holder to adapter connection, it's very easy to switch folders.

+ very solid
The aluminium material makes it very solid.

Availability and Price
A large filter system (>100mm) is considerably more expensive than the smaller ones (<85mm). I ordered mine directy from the Formatt factory by calling this number (00 44 1685 870 979), instead of using the site. The prices I paid can be looked up in this .pdf file (new version here!). Prices are in pounds!
In the end I send my order through e-mail, and was perfectly helped by Paul Stephens (e-mail address: paul.stephens@formatt.co.uk). I paid £213.50 (including shipping) by credit card. About 2.5 weeks after my order I received it.

If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Cokin Z Pro filter holder
Written: February 2008

After having used my Hitech100 filter holder for a few years, I experienced some disadvantages with its construction. This is mainly due to the fact that the filter holder is screwed on the adapter. On the pictures of the Hitech holder, you can see this metal screw. Turning it will tighten the holder to the adapter. However, it happened regularly that, when accidently hitting something with the holder, the holder would fall off the camera. Although the holder is not damaged (it's made of metal), the filters don't quite like this. A number of filters have broken because of this.

Therefore I received the Cokin Z Pro filter holder (to be specific, the "Cokin Z BZ 100" holder and "Cokin 77 mm Z 477" ring) this week. Just like the Hitech100 holder, the Cokin Z filter holder is 100mm wide. This means that it can hold my Hitech100 filters. So for the coming time it will replace my Hitech100 filter holder. So no hands-on experience at this time.

This is how the filter holder is delivered initially. In the middle you can see the 77mm adapter ring which is screwed on my Sigma 10-20 lens. At the right you can see the holder.

This is how the adapter ring goes on the lens.

Here you can see how the holder is attached to the adapter ring. This is totally different than the Hitech100 holder, because it is pushed over the adapter ring. In this way it cannot fall off the ring.

Top view of the adapter ring and filter holder with initial configuration. It can hold 2 filters (slot 2 & 3) and 1 polarizer (slot 1).

Initial configuration causes vignetting. Canon 30D, Sigma 10-20@10mm.

The Cokin Z system is modular. This means you can freely adjust configuration. I had to change the configuration because of the vignetting.

After reconfiguration it looks like this. It can now hold 2 filters instead of 3. Here you can see a 0.3 and 0.6 Hitech100 gradual filter (hard edge) in the two available slots.

Top view of the adapter ring and filter holder with changed configuration.

This configuration causes no vignetting.

Use & Experiences

Written: December 2008

After having used the Cokin Z filter holder in combination with the Hitech100 filters, I have to admit that I like the Cokin holder better.

Here is why:

it's impossible that the holder falls off the ring
it's light (plastic)
no vignetting with two filters
possibility to adjust configuration
possibility to use a Cokin polarizer (not done yet)
relatively cheap

There are a few cons though:

only two screws are used to hold one side of the holder (see picture). I accidently lost a screw which makes the holder hardly usable. I've replaced the screw.
there are three pins (see this picture) which make it possible to keep the holder on its place. But to me this is not the best solution. For example, these pins can come in touch with the filters.

Overall, if you'd like to purchase a 100mm filter set yourself, I'd recommend to use a Cokin Z holder in combination with Hitech100 filters.