Filter wallets

[Steve Goldstein]

I've always carried my filters in their original plastic boxes out of concern that they'd get broken in my backpack or in transit. It is, frankly, a bit of a pain to change filters as the one I seem to want always migrates to the bottom of the stack. I know lots of manufacturers make padded filter wallets, presumably somebody's buying them. Am I being overly paranoid by sticking with the original packaging?

[Mark Stahlke]

Am I being overly paranoid by sticking with the original packaging?Yes.
I use a filter wallet, wouldn't have it any other way.

[jeroldharter]

Filter wallet for me.

[Heroique]

I'd like to hear more about these wallets too, their durability, ability to protect from stress and moisture, and ease of use.

If someone can post an image of a useful wallet, I'd love to see it, it might fit my needs.

Usually I don't have too many screw-on filters, so I keep them in their individual plastic containers, collected together in a single side pocket of my Kelty Redwing pack. But I know plenty of people carry more filters than I do.

In my rainy region, another habit is to keep the filters, along w/ other small accessories, inside a small, transparent dry bag (or "canoe bag") that I can pull out of my pack and set aside for easy access. I also suffer from shy filters "hiding" on the bottom, but I can see them when I reach for them. ;^)

[David A. Goldfarb]

I have a few filter wallets and have been happy with them for years. Tamrac makes a decent one, but there are others, and they all seem fairly similar.

Sometimes, for screw-in filters, I use stacking caps, which leaves the filters well protected and stores compactly, but it is more cumbersome to unscrew filters to get at them, and if you use filters without the name of the filter engraved on the side, you need to find a pen that can write on metal, like a silver permanent marker, to identify the filter.

[Tim Meisburger]

I use stacking caps, but have exactly the problems David describes. Maybe time to buy a wallet...

[Amedeus]

I own multiple filter wallets. Tried stack caps but find it too slow of a process ...

[David A. Goldfarb]

The stack caps are more for when I want to carry two or three filters in a pocket usually, and I'm trying to travel light.

[Doremus Scudder]

I like filter wallets. The problem with commercial ones is that they are usually overly large, being designed for 67mm and larger filters. For that reason I made myself a smaller one out of Cordura nylon, some stiff plastic and some transparent plastic to just fit 52mm filters. This I carry along with a larger wallet for 67mm filters unless I'm traveling really light; then I'll just take the smaller one.

Mine hold six filters each and travel around the world with me in my carry-on as well as in my backpack/camera pack when hiking/backpacking. I've never had a problem with breakage.

Best,

Doremus