Schneider Center ND Filter for Fuji G617 105mm Lens?

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone has tried one of the Schneider center ND filters for the 105mm Fuji G617 lens? I realize Heliopan is a good alternate option to the original Fuji center ND's, but it looks like they are either no longer in production or just not available anywhere.

Center ND filters are becoming rare as unicorns, it seems, so I'm wondering if the Schneider filters would work reasonably well? Has anyone tried this?

I am loathe to go the digital correction route unless I absolutely must :rolleyes:

I use the same Heliopan centre filter for a Rodenstock Grandagon 6.8/90 as well as a Schneider Super Angulon 5.6/65. It may be less than optimal for either lens but works fine for me. It's definitely better than using no centre filter at all. It also was much cheaper than any of the original filters, which cost a fortune.

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Originally Posted by Eric Bryan

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone has tried one of the Schneider center ND filters for the 105mm Fuji G617 lens? I realize Heliopan is a good alternate option to the original Fuji center ND's, but it looks like they are either no longer in production or just not available anywhere.

Center ND filters are becoming rare as unicorns, it seems, so I'm wondering if the Schneider filters would work reasonably well? Has anyone tried this?

I am loathe to go the digital correction route unless I absolutely must :rolleyes:

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"Center ND filters are becoming rare as unicorns"

Nonsense!

We have Heliopan, Rodenstock and some Schneider ones in stock. 77mm Heliopan ones are no longer made as no current wide angle lens from Germany uses this size.

Eric - most other center filters should work just fine. Fall off is dictated more by what's called the "Cos3" law of physics than the specific optical formula. At worst you'll end up with up to 1/3 stop variation which is pretty undetectable compared to 2-3 stops without any...

I briefly had a Marumi CF. Pretty rubbish build-quality compared to the Rodenstock and Schneider offerings (e.g. no front-thread). I now have a Schneider IIIb, which works very well on both my 75/4.5 and 90/8 Nikkor-SW and previously my 90/6.8 Grandagon-N.

Excellent, thanks for the info everyone! I have been having a hard time finding a 77mm filter but I'll keep looking, and I'll take a more serious look at the Schneiders :)

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Originally Posted by Eric Bryan

Excellent, thanks for the info everyone! I have been having a hard time finding a 77mm filter but I'll keep looking, and I'll take a more serious look at the Schneiders :)

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Try with a 77-82 adapter and use the Heliopan or Rodenstock centerfilters in 82mm. They are available from time to time at the auction site for about 150EUR.

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Originally Posted by JW Dewdney

Eric - most other center filters should work just fine. Fall off is dictated more by what's called the "Cos3" law of physics than the specific optical formula.

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Filter size and distance between filter and lens do matter, though. Still, as the gradient is the same, a mismatch will leave you with a residual edge fall-off of similar curve shape but less bad than the result without a filter. While it is not advisable to buy the wrong filter (prices being generally quite similar, you could have got a better match for the price), it is usually smarter to use whatever is around rather than none.

Thank you for the info, heind61 and Sevo!

Thanks to a fellow large format forum member, I was able to track down a proper fitting 77mm Heliopan 3X filter. I am one happy camper!

I agree though.....any amount of filtration is better than none. I can get away with not using a filter if shooting in bright, sunny conditions. Color negative and B&W film will also mitigate the vignette to a certain extent.

I am not really able to take any kind of darker photos though, especially at sunrise and sunset when I do most of my work, as the vignette just gets too dark and I have to crop a good 3 or 4 cm on each side to eliminate the essentially textureless black edges.

Thanks again to everyone for the input, it is greatly appreciated!