Haida 150 series filter holder kit for the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 lens – Review
Earlier this year I contacted Haida Australia to see if they had a 150mm filter holder available for the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 lens, at the time the lens was brand new to the market and there wasn’t one available by any manufacturer. A couple of weeks ago Haida Australia contacted me to let me know the first set had landed in Australia and they were going to send it to me to try out.
The Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 is a fantastic lens, one of the best wide-angle Astro Photography lenses on the market, it’s also a great landscape lens so a dedicated filter holder for this lens is a very welcome addition to Haida’s line up. This review will focus on the New Haida 150mm filter holder dedicated to the Samyang/Rokinon XP 14mm f2.4 lens only, this holder allows you to use square 150mm filters on the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 lens.
I wrote a full review of the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 and a review of the Haida 150mm filter system here,
http://gippslandimages.com.au/haida-150mm-filter-system-review/
http://gippslandimages.com.au/samyang-xp-14mm-f2-4-lens-review/
The New holder comes packaged pretty much Identical to the other 150mm filter holder kits Haida has available for various different lens.
Inside you will find an information flyer an adapter sleeve that fits over the back of your lens, an adapter ring, a single slot filter holder, some spare gaskets, filter locking screws, two extra nylon filter holder/spacers and longer screws to suit. The filter holder comes with a single slot but includes the pieces to add a second, the holder itself is the same as all Haida 150mm filter holders so can be used on other lenses with the appropriate filter adapter ring.
Above. left – lens adapter sleeve, centre top – filter holder, right – filter holder adapter ring
Above. extra spacers, filter holder locking screws.
How does it all attach to the camera? Firstly you need to remove the lens from your camera and slide the filter adapter sleeve onto the lens as shown in the above image, it sits behind the built in petal lens hood.
Second, slide the filter holder adapter ring onto the front of the lens, there are small notches on this ring that fit into the corners of the lens’s built petal len hood, screw the sleeve and adapter ring together until it is secure like in the image above. Now you can attach the filter holder.
The filter holder attaches to the adapter ring via a couple of slots on the back of the holder that lines up with tabs on the adapter ring, it must be orientated so that the arrows on the holder and adapter line up. It’s then a matter of rotating the holder and screwing the locking screw in, It creates a very secure fit but also allows you to rotate the holder to better position our filters to suit the scene. It’s ready to use, just slide a 150mm filter in the front slot.
Shown above is an accessory that Haida also sent me, it holds the lens cap on when the holder is not in use, fantastic! It’s very useful and worth purchasing. UPDATE – Haida are including this with these sets, nice one Haida!
How well does it work? There is some vignetting shown when using one slot on the holder, the vignette is shown even without a filter in the holders slot, I did not attach a second slot and filter to test how much more vignetting is shown, as it comes with only one slot attached. I believe this is how it’s intended to be used although you can certainly use two slots if you wish the parts are included or even three with extra slots and screws available for purchase separately. Haida does mention vignetting in their brochure and online information, I believe vignetting is pretty normal for 150mm filter holders on such wide angle lenses, it’s quite an easy fix with slight cropping all that’s needed in post processing to remove.
The following examples show the vignetting before and after post processing. The first image is a 60 second exposure using a Haida 4 stop ND filter, the second lot of examples are taken using a 3 stop soft ND graduated filter.
Above image – Using one slot there is vignetting in the corners, quite normal for a lens such as the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 when using 150mm filters.
Above – With slight cropping in post processing the vignetting is easily removed.
Above, again using one slot of the holder, you can see the vignetting in the corners.
Above – Slight cropping in post processing has again easily removed the vignetting.
Personally I love the Haida system, I own three different Haida 150mm holder kits, all are of excellent quality and work as expected. This holder kit designed specifically for the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4 is no exception and I believe one of only two options available for using filters with the Samyang XP 14mm f2.4.
Haida Australia has also promised to send out a set of their 75mm, 100mm pro filter systems and Clear Night filters for review, hopefully that will not be too far away so check back or subscribe to see these.
AUTHOR
DANIEL GANGUR
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