NISI ND1000 REVIEW
F O T O G R A F I A
PAULO BENJAMIM
In landscape photography, the filter is one of the most essential equipment and the reason why is because they allow the photographer to manage the scene's light, creating a whole new world of creative techniques that otherwise would be impossible.
In between the most popular filters we find Neutral Density Filters (ND), that are known for light reduction, therefore increasing the exposure time of the photography. This way it’s possible to extend a moment for many seconds, or even minutes, in one only photograph
The filter market right now is huge so, the existence of any doubts when buying one is completely normal.
At the moment I’m testing the new 10 stops filter from NISI and I will try to expose its technical characteristics but I can already assure you that I’m pleasantly surprised by the quality of this filter.
UNBOXING NISI ND1000
The filter comes inside a cushioned skin pocket, which is great to protect your filter from transportation in more difficult environments. These are pretty common situations for any landscape photographer.
The NISI AR ND1000 filter is both waterproof and oil resistant.
If you drop water on it or even if it falls in the water, the filter’s cleaning process is easy, and the water can be removed completely without leaving any traces behind.
The NISI AR ND1000 filter is easy to clean, whenever it’s necessary!
On the back of the filter we can find a sponge on its limits. This sponge adapts perfectly to the filter mounting, not allowing any light entrance, therefore avoiding unwanted effects that sometimes ruin the photographs.
Another characteristic of this filter (that is easy noticeable when you first grab it) is the fact that its corners are slightly cut, making it easy and pleasant to manipulate. The NISI AR ND1000 is available in 100mm x 100mm and 150mm x 150mm. The tested version is the 100mm x 100mm.
TESTING NISI ND1000
The tests were made near the Vasco da Gama bridge in Lisbon, at the sunrise time, in a moment where the present clouds helped a light diffusion, creating the ideal conditions for long exposure photographs.
In order to make a conclusive analysis, the next photographs were made in the rawest way and they don’t have any kind of digital editing, being loaded in View Nx2, directly from the camera.
The first photo, without the NISI AR ND1000 and only with a GRAD 0.9 HE filter, was made at 10mm, f/8, ISO100 and 1/15s, Neutral Picture Control and Auto White Balance.
This image will be used as a comparative example for the next photo, where has already been used the NISI ND1000 filter. This way we can compare the most natural state of the scene with the effect made by the long exposure.
Below and without any alteration of the initial definition, there’s the photograph made with the NISI ND1000 filter:
10mm, f/8, ISO100 e 59,9s, Neutral Picture Control and Auto White Balance
NISI ND1000 + GRAD 0.9 HE
In this kind of filter, no matter what the brand or model is, the colors always suffer an alteration from the long exposure effect. This is one of the major difficulties and should be one of the analysis criteria when buying this kind of equipment.
In NISI’s case, it is noticed a little cooling of the tones, not exaggerated, in contrast with some of the models in the competition, but, I repeat, this is a situation common to every long exposure filters and, in this case, its easily remediable. You just have to correct the White Balance, and that can be done either in the camera, on the moment of the picture, or in any editing program for those who photograph in .raw file format. As it has already been referred, every single filter in the market causes this effect, known as “cast”, but with various differences in the cast tone. It’s very important, if not essential that you consider this point when choosing a filter of this kind. In this case, what happens is a small cool in the tones, which means that the cast color is blue. Filters with a blue cast are easily corrigible, however, some filters can create a completely inverse cast, warming the tones, leaning the colors into a more magenta, or even green tone. Therefore, NISI, for all its characteristics and quality, is certainly a filter to look for in this so competitive market.
It’s now only missing the already White Balance corrected photograph.
After the White Balance correction, the similarity of the tones got with the filter and the initial tones happens to be perfect, protecting and picturing the original picture with loyalty and precision.
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Below we can compare the two photos side by side.
The first photo is the one without the filter; the second photo is the one with the filter on and White Balance corrected.
In order to understand better the quality of this filter before the final conclusion, here’s a comparative zoom between the initial photo and the photo with the NISI ND1000 and White Balance corrected.
We can verify that the NISI ND1000 maintains every detail and definition, not existing any difference between the photograph with or without the filter, making the NISI ND1000 a great tool for every landscape photographer.
And just a few more examples with comparative pictures and one more time without any edition changes:.
This way, and considering what has been shown previously, I think we can conclude that the NISI ND1000’s quality is irreproachable. In a general way, I was surprised (in the positive way!) with every characteristic of this filter.
From now on, based on my own experience, this is and will be my first choice when making long exposure photographs.
Some shots using NISI FILTERS