[BruceBanner]

By yours truly, be entertained!

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[garywakeling]

Nice video, I liked the line, " I did break one"

[BruceBanner]

Nice video, I liked the line, " I did break one"

Hehe, HULK SMASH!

[UncleVanya]

I think it would be easy to over expand the product line. If you start with larger filters to fit many lenses then your first attachment would be a step up ring then a lens adapter like you showed on the 28mm. Imagine a collection of 62 or 72mm filters and hoods and caps all used on every lens under that size. I think that would be the practical approach. Perhaps two sets, one larger for the larger lenses. This would likely require a lot of adapters. But it looks very easy to use.

[Madaboutpix]

Appreciated, Bruce. Now we have a voice to attach to your profile image.

Left you a comment on YouTube, too. Somehow I can't bring myself to trust those magnetic things to keep my hard-earned filters securely in place. (Though it would seem that maybe not so much the magnetic ring but the glue keeping it attached to the ring could be a concern.). While I would usually avoid stacking filters, mine could actually be slim enough to get away without vignetting in many circumstances.

[BruceBanner]

I think it would be easy to over expand the product line. If you start with larger filters to fit many lenses then your first attachment would be a step up ring then a lens adapter like you showed on the 28mm. Imagine a collection of 62 or 72mm filters and hoods and caps all used on every lens under that size. I think that would be the practical approach. Perhaps two sets, one larger for the larger lenses. This would likely require a lot of adapters. But it looks very easy to use.

Yeah. In the past I have bought a 49 or 52mm filter for the appropriate filter thread of the lens, and multiples of them. Really however tho, if stacking was an intent it would have been wiser to start with a cpl that's 52mm or something, then a step up ring, then a ND filter that's 58mm, step up ring and then another ND filter thats stronger perhaps to stack on that at 62mm etc. This way the filters fan out and vignetting becomes less of an issue.

Appreciated, Bruce. Now we have a voice to attach to your profile image.

Left you a comment on YouTube, too. Somehow I can't bring myself to trust those magnetic things to keep my hard-earned filters securely in place. (Though it would seem that maybe not so much the magnetic ring but the glue keeping it attached to the ring could be a concern.). While I would usually avoid stacking filters, mine could actually be slim enough to get away without vignetting in many circumstances.

Definitely the issue is not magnetic strength (though I wonder if it loses potency over time), the glue issue is definitely the concern. I stacked quite a few together and indeed it feels pretty darn stable. If you were handholding and moving around with them on rather than tripod then I think one magnet filter is all you would be using anyway (a ND filter to get under sync speed or a cpl just). For stacking I think that would mean for most that it's on a tripod and in that regard its magnetically strong.

The slimness of the filters themselves I think can still be an issue. If you use the stacking method like I show then the lens adapter ring that you need to add onto a filter is where the issue lies. For example on one lens (I think HD DA 20-40), I have;

Lens>Xume Adapter Ring>Xume Filter holder>CPL>Xume Adapter Ring> and already vignetting is occurring (at the wider focal lengths) without anything else being stacked yet, because the last Xume Adapter Ring that is needed at the end of the CPL in order for a ND Filter to stack onto that (which then has a Xume Filter Holder as well). If I simply remove the last adapter ring from the CPL then it goes away and is fine (hence why I think this system was developed with no intention to stack. It just depends on focal length, like I say I can get away with quite a bit on the FA77.

What I fail to take into account is the thickness of both a lens adapter AND filter holder that is necessary to go between the two lenses/filters. So it doesn't matter how thin your own filters might be, its the Xume system that will stuff up (hence the idea that you should be forward thinking and plan step up rings into the equation if stacking is what you intend.

[UncleVanya]

Bruce... I'm not sure what you are saying makes sense. A cone that starts at 52mm and ends at 62mm might be lighter but it would be less flexible and more complicated to assemble over a simple stack of 62mm filters that starts with a larger step ring. If the cone was sufficient so too would the cylinder as long as the total length was the same or shorter.

[BruceBanner]

Bruce... I'm not sure what you are saying makes sense. A cone that starts at 52mm and ends at 62mm might be lighter but it would be less flexible and more complicated to assemble over a simple stack of 62mm filters that starts with a larger step ring. If the cone was sufficient so too would the cylinder as long as the total length was the same or shorter.

Yeah, yer kinda right.

Basically what I'm saying is you have to have a good think about your lenses and what filters you currently have. I thought with the FA43 I would be able to use the same filters (that I have been using all this time with no issues) that I share with the FA77, namely 52mm ones. But in fact no, the magentic Xume system (when used like I demonstrate in the video) adds too much on. I have to use 62mm filters with the FA43 and a step up ring to being that process.

I'm kinda saying that some hoods are cylindrical and some cone shaped, and was thinking that you could also go down the cone route (if it works with your current filters better), and that you can either use step up rings to help get you there. Just don't make the mistake I did and assume that because you have been successfully using 52mm filters (stacked to a depth of 3) on a FA43 successfully without corner vignetting that you can continue to do so with that line up and the Xume, there's a good chance you won't manage it.

[UncleVanya]

That's a lot clearer. Thanks.

[edri]

Thanks for sharing your experience with them. I'm still not convinced that I need something like this, but who knows what will happen when the black friday wave comes.

[BruceBanner]

Thanks for sharing your experience with them. I'm still not convinced that I need something like this, but who knows what will happen when the black friday wave comes.

I think they really suit telephoto lenses like my FA77 illustrated. I can stack a lot of the same size without vignette, however other lenses its not so obvious, you definitely want step up rings.

For example, in order to not vignette at all, for my F28/2.8 and FA43/1.9 I have to do the following (filter thread is 49mm for the lens);

Lens > 49-62mm step up ring > 62mm Xume Adapter > 62mm Xume Filter attached to 62mm CPL > 62mm Xume Adapter attached to other side of 62mm CPL > 62mm Xume Filter attached to 62-77mm step up ring > 77mm ND Filter

The '>' in bold show where magnetism is at work. I can leave the lens without a CPL and it will take that on with magnetism and then also take on the 77mm ND filter via magnetism. I might take a photo tomorrow to show, but as you can see I'm going from 49mm > 77mm to cope with vignetting on this focal length lenses.

Edit: Forgot to say. I find it useful for how I tackle certain landscape genres. I think I mentioned in my video that the ease of taking a shot with relatively quick shutter speed followed by a second shot with slower shutter speed is quite important. For you it might not be. It all depends on the set up and what you're aiming to do that day. On other lenses (when I leave the house) I already know what I will be doing and sometimes screw the CPL on first and not bother with the adapter between the lens and CPL, this can also help limit vignetting.

[edri]

Thanks for the additional explanations.