Multi-Stop Vari a b l e N D
Ben Pruchnie
TRAVEL FILM MAKER BEN PRUCHNIE ROAD TESTS THE BRAND NEW MULTI-STOP VARIBLE ND FROM FORMATT HITECH
F
ORMATT HITECH’S NEW MULTI-STOP VARIABLE ND IS ESSENTIAL FOR ANYONE TRYING TO UP THEIR SOCIAL
GAME AND MAKE BETTER CONTENT. WE TEAMED UP WITH A MAN WITH POSSIBLY THE MOST ENVIOUS JOB IN THE WORLD TO PUT IT TO THE TEST!
Ben Pruchnie is a Travel and Adventure filmmaker
increasingly important not, just photography. So
with Ink Global, making travel films for clients
we asked Ben what he thought of the filter.
including American Airlines a. Ben previously worked for over eight years as a photojournalist
“I have used the filter for a couple of jobs now. I
for Getty images covering subjects from Cannes
have been using it with my Sony Fs7 which is the
Film Festival to the terrorism in Brussels.
workhorse of the travel and commercial video scene. I first used it on a fashion shoot, the client
“Working as a self-shooting Director/Producer all
had a new collection, and I was commissioned to
over the world comes with its own distinct set of
film it. One of the things that was important was
challenges.”
the ability for me to be able to move quickly. With
"Sometimes being in remote locations such as a tropical island or the midst of a desert means you have to pack everything you possibly need from drones to batteries. Weight can become a
fashion shows, you only get one chance, so it has to be right the first time. It proved to be very useful, and I particularly liked the inclusion of the handle which made using it on a longer lens a lot easier. The other thing was
“Working as a self-shooting Director/ Producer all over the world comes with its own distinct set of challenges.” real issue as well as the bulk of items. Carrying
the build quality; is much higher than I am used
large amounts of equipment can really slow you
to with variable ND’s!
down and get in the way of the creative process.”
The range of ND never felt limiting, and I found myself using it like a declicked aperture.”
The Formatt Hitech Multi-stop Variable ND filter was designed for the hybrid shooter who not only
“The second job was entirely different. It was an
needs to take photography but more importantly
episode of the Hemispheres Travel Show.
film. With 1 - stops of ND on demand it is fast
I would typically take a full set of Formatt Hitech
and straightforward to change your settings to
4x5.5 ND filters and a wooden camera zipbox.
get the perfect depth of field while keeping your
But due to the nature of the shoot, I wanted to
video at a smooth frame rate. When transitioning
save as much weight and luggage space as I
from one area to another; like walking out into
could. When you are working all day and carrying
the sun from inside, the ability to quickly and
equipment, the extra grams soon add up to
smoothly change exposure is invaluable.
kilograms.”
In the age of social media, video is becoming
S t i l l f ra m e s S o n y F s 7 Formatt Hitech Multi-stop ND.
Photoshoot using the 77mm Multi-Stop ND
“You only get one chance�
“In the bright beach environment, the 6 stops of ND came in handy and helped to keep everything correctly exposed.”
“In the bright beach environment, the 6 stops of ND came in handy and helped to keep everything correctly exposed. The hard stop was also useful when I was filming “run and gun style” as you can’t always stop to check the filter settings, and I have experienced in the past the dreaded cross polarisation X pattern that happens when a variable ND effect is used too strongly. With the hard stop, I could tell when I was at full ND and am safe from any x patterns which made filming a lot more relaxed.” “The filter is definitely something that I will include in my kit bag from now on. It won’t entirely replace my need for a larger ND filter, but when I need to move quickly, and weight is a consideration, I will be using the Multi-stop.” “If I had to say one negative, it is that with a variable ND you can get a slight colour shift. In this case, it is a little more yellow at 6 stops than 1. However, this is very slight and simple to correct in editing.” “On the plus side the filter is extremely light and packs in the versatility of 1-6 stops of ND; as a filmmaker I would rarely go beyond this. You could potentially even do some long exposure photography with this filter at 6 stops as well!” “Overall the build quality was excellent, and the inclusion of a handle to control the strength was
more useful than I had expected. The filter is also very light and being 77mm easily fits my lenses. In the case of a smaller thread I just used a cheap step-up ring, and it worked fine�.
