Formatt-Hitech FC77IRND1.5 77mm Firecrest Neutral Density 1.5 Filter

I ordered this after having to return the Firecrest 16 stop ND filter because a gasket wasnt supplied with the filter, rendering it unusable, and despite Formatt managers promising to send me one several times it didnt arrive until after I had returned the filter. Its just as well I did as I defy anyone to do 10 minute exposures during the day with the 16 stop filter and not get light leaks, and I dont mean a trivial amount of light but bloomin great huge circles all over the image.This screw-in filter has zero light leaks. Its very thin, which is good as at 24mm the vignetting is minimal, though if you are using a full frame lens of a wider angle than that you may well encounter a vignetting problem. It also conveniently has a filter thread, so I can have this on the lens and then also the Lee or Formatt filter holder to house an ND Grad.So how does it perform? Great! Fairly accurate to 16 stops, I have done 10 minute exposures with no issues, something I cant consider doing with the slot-in ND's. Even the box it comes with is usable (unlike the enormous boxes with the Formatt ND filters).There is very little colour cast with all the Formatt Firecrest filters and this one is no exception. If you have ever used a Lee ND filter and wondered why all your images are bright blue, and then have to try and correct that aweful colour cast, you will find these Firecrest filters a breath of fresh air.All in all, excellent. BUT have to knock a star off for price. £100 for what is a bit of glass that while it surely has a degree of technology in its manufacture it is still basically welders face-mark glass, and thus its silly money.One important thing. If you are new to long exposure photography and have read reviews and seen Youtube vids on using these very slow exposure filters, be aware that the screw-in filters are an absolute pain to use as every time you wish to refocus or recompose you have to remove the filter by the slow and fiddly unscrewing process, rather than the quick and easy unclipping of the filter holder. But thats just my warning, the results are worth the effort.

This is my first 'big stopper' ND filter, all my others are of lower values to help get shallow depth of field in bright outdoor situations. I was all set to purchase a new slot in filter system (due to diameter of my current main lenses being 82mm I needed a bigger slot in system) but after reading various honest reviews of photographers using them I instead opted for this one. Reasons - slot in can give light leakage, which isn't good for long exposures! This new filter is described as being ultra thin and stackable - something I was dubious about as I always say 'don't stack screw in due to vignette issues'. Well, they're not wrong - this is thinner than any of my others (which are all pro level) and can be stacked within reason. I needed to quickly add in this filter and stacked it with my protector filter and it didn't add any really noticeable difference - spot on! As for quality of the images taken with it, as other reviewers have said, this one really is neutral and gives very predictable results, so you can rely on it. And that's important - you get files that are true to the environment you photographed. I haven't yet checked it's claim for number of f stops reduction, as I've been too busy creating photographs to get technical, and am liking the results enough to purchase another from this line in the near future.

I've been a professional photographer for 9 years, and these have always been my filter of choice.When using cheap filters, you often get colour casts or degraded image quality.Luckily no such problems with the formatt-hitech filters! Images always look stunning, and there is only a very minor colour shift in photos.Their customer service is impeccible too. I bent the filter thread on my filter once, and emailed the customer service (the glass was still intact). They told me to ship it to them in Wales, and they would replace the metal housing free of charge.Result!

I've been a user of B+W filters for some years however, decided following some advice to give Formatt-Hitech a go for my latest acquisition.Packaging - Outer carton of the filter is fine, but the filter holder is very poor in comparison to B+W, verging on horrible in my opinion, I did not remove a star for this, but hopefully they can take note & perhaps consider a change...Build Quality - I found the build quality to be on-par with B+W which is great, however...I really don't like the finish, some folks won't mind a bit & I guess the mat (rough) finish may even help with filter removal. But again, I just don't like it... - Deducted one starColour cast - Very good indeed, compared to my B+W & a friends Lee (which he swears is better) I prefer this filter.I'll be keeping it in my bag for sure!

This could possibly the best filter ive ever owned and I own a few. Used it today for the first time on my Sony FE 1.8 85mm attached to a Sony a7r2 and all I will say is was BLOWN AWAY!Id heard about this make the other day how there meant to be just as good as Lee filters but lest expensive, and all I will say in regards to such claims is, HE WAS RIGHT! The colour rendering is AMAZING, and even when you take it out of the box and look at it, it looks not just made, but ENGINEERED!Thats it for me now, Im OFFICIALLY a Formatt Hitech customer for LIFE now. If your even thinking about getting this filter just GET IT. You wont be dissappointed.

On par with my other IR ND filters but why do I get a filter case thats 107mm for a 77mm filter? Way too big.

There have been a couple of reviews posted about these filters causing softness on the edge of the image. I already have a slot in 100mm 2.7 Firecrest ND filter which exhibits no such issues, but also wanted a screw in type so that I don't always have to carry the hefty filter mount with me when traveling light. I have had the chance to test my new 77mm filter and can confirm that it works perfectly and its performance is as expected. There is no quality fall off at the image edge and the colour balance remains neutral. Very happy.