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Here’s a review of the Fader ND. Its a variable ND filter that you can put on your photo/video lenses so you can control the amount of light that passes through.

In short, it’s awesome. Instead of carrying around a bunch of nd filters, you just carry one. I bought it to use on my m42 lenses for my Sgblade. Instead of relying on my camera’s (Xh-a1) 2 ND filters, iris, shutter speed settings to get a good exposure, I can just wack the Fader ND on the front of the lens and dial in the perfect exposure. It provides between 2 to 8 stops of filtering which is plenty. It has markings on the front spinning element thingy to tell you where you are at but its a bit off and the best way to use this thing is to just watch your monitor while you dial your exposure in.

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A couple of negatives I’ve noticed with the Fader is that when you are at maximum ND stopping power and you point the lens at the sun, there appears to be a dark cross like artifact that appears. The other thing is it screws up my lens flares quite badly and makes them look quite artificial. Apart from those two things which I’d hardly ever encounter, it gets 2 thumbs up. The alternative is a Singh variable ND filter which is over 3 times the price. Sure its probably better made but image quality wise, I’m very happy with the Fader and can’t see how much better the Singh could possibly be.

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I’ve heard that putting a ND filter on the front of the lens instead of relying on your camera’s nd filters provides a better image. If it’s true, then thats another bonus to using it and from some testing I’ve done, I think I can see the difference. Another bonus is that you can make your own lightning effects in camera. Check it out..

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I bought my Fader ND off of