Recently I got the Nisi Filter holder for the Laowa 12mm lens, and also the Nisi V5 Pro holder for all my other lenses (have not doe my fist impressions on that, but will get to it soon :)) and while ordering those, the Natural Night filter from Nisi caught my eye. As I do a lot of night photos, and the cities in Europe, especially the old towns, are lit by crazy strong yellow lights, I thought this might be useful.
I only had it for few days now, but I managed to go out and try it out. I’m far from reaching a conclusion on it, and I’m not yet sure if it’s worth the price. I tried to edit the unfiltered images so they look like the filtered ones, and I got quite close. But I do have to say, I liked the results with the filter more, especially the blue of the sky. I plan to use it in Dubai in two weeks, so after that it would be easier to judge.
For now, here are few test shots. Each one I took with and without the filter. In some, there can be a bit of zooming out or in, as each time I was putting on or removing the filter, I managed to move the camera really slightly.
Each pair of photos here, is a photo without the filter used, and a photo with the filter used. You can also download the source RAW files here of all these photos, if you want to compare for yourself. I included also DNG versions, in case you can’t open CR2 files from the 5D mark IV. Each time I used the same settings (the photo with the filter is darker, as one looses around half a stop of light by using it), and with auto white balance. The only edit done is that, few of them are brightened, but it’s the same amount with and without filter.
Btw. the redness in the light in the filtered ones, can be very easily removed by tweaking the Red Primary slider under Camera calibration in Lightroom.
No filter
Night light filter
No filter
Night light filter
No filter
Night light filter
The great thing about Plotagraphs, is that you can go back into your library of older photos and edit anyone you want. Like this you can bring new life into it. Same with this photo of blue hour in Prague, which I already took years ago.
I played here a bit with the light on the left, to make it pulsating. You can see exactly how I did it. Look at the attached screenshot of all the points and animation points I used in Plotagraph Pro.
You can check out my Plotagraph Pro review here, and a guide how to create them here.
(if you use an older web browser, you may only see a static image, if you are on a mobile, please hit the play button to see the Plotagraph in motion)
In my first impressions article about the Laowa 12mm f2.8 lens, I also mentioned that I ordered a filter holder for it. There are actually two different ones available. There is one directly from Laowa (in two variants), and then there is this one from Nisi. I could not find many comparisons, but from those that I found, it looked like the Nisi one was the better option.
Whats great about this holder (and also the Laowa one), is that you can use this ultra wide angle lens with 100x100mm filters, and with a relatively small polarizer (86mm). Normally, if you have a 14mm lens or a wider one, you have not only to use special holders, but you need bigger filters, 150x150mm or even 180x180mm. This becomes much more pricier and of course also much harder to work with. The bigger the filter, the more chances to get it dirty, to break it and similar.
The build quality looks very nice. The metal base with the plastic holders look very well made and solid. The CPL goes in easily and rotates smoothly. Filters go in a bit harder, but I presume that’s because it’s new, and will change a bit over time.
The holder fits on the lens hood mount of the lens. I fits fine, but I think its a bit looser than it should be. When I tried to rotate the filter, I rotated the whole assembly. But I managed to fix this easily with a bit of sticky tape over the thread. Now it holds much more securely.
The filter holder is in three parts. You get the adapter ring, the filter holder and a 86mm circular polarizer. Installation is very easy. Just screw in the polarizer into the adapter, than attach it to the lens, and put the filter holder over it. You then have two small wheels on the sides to rotate the polarizer. You then use it as any other filter holder.
I tried few shots with different setups, with and without the polarizer, with and without any filters or the holder. And here are few example shots, unedited, just to show the vignetting.
You can see, that the polarizer is visible a bit in the corners. But you can also see, that the effect the polarizer does is really not great. That a problem with polarizers on ultra wide angle lenses. But with a bit of moving around, I managed it to look a bit better, but not much. It more to be used in different situations, not on a blue sky.
With the filter holder and no polarizer, you can see almost nothing in the corners. But you have to rotate the holder exactly straight or you will see it a bit in the corners. On the shot with the filter attached, you can see parts of the corners covered. This is not from the holder, but from the gasket on the filter. I don’t have any Nisi filters, so I tried this with Fiber Hittech filters, and the gasket on those is a bit smaller than one would need here.
I will be using this more, and will post a full review in few weeks, after my Dubai trip. I think I will use this one there a lot :) Same for the Laowa 12mm lens.
