Filters’ holders are crucial tools for Landscape and Travel photographers, for many years there were only few holders on the market. Most of them support 3 filters, polariser included, and often have problems with wide lenses under 20mm on full frame camers. Lee Filters has introduced a new Landscape Polariser to avoid vignetting even at 16mm but it still supports 2 filters + polariser. Today I’ll test the NiSi V5 that don’t have these problems.
NiSi V5 Holder Kit
When you buy the NiSi V5 you’re actually buying much more than an holder, you have everything you need to start except for the filters, of course. The ring adaptors for 67, 72, 77 & 82 mm lenses are included, alongside with the polariser.
The new V5 holder kit by NiSi includes a rigid bag, really useful if you don’t have any filter pouch, but if you have many filters better choosing a third-party solution like the Terrascape Filters bag.
NiSi V5 Holder – build quality
The V5 and V3 are all made of aviation grade aluminium with a great precision, the V5 looks slightly sturdier and seems to screw even better than V3. The clip to put in place the holder has been moved to a more convenient side position, but the holder keeps moving a bit too much when we add and remove filters.
These movements happens too often also because is quite hard to pull the filters out. NiSi’s solution for the polariser is clever, it doesn’t rotate, it’s the ring that rotate thanks to a tiny wheel you can rotate even with all the ND & GND on.
Thanks to this solution we have many pros:
- no vignetting even at 16mm
- the polariser is easy to rotate at any moment
- support for 3 filters + polariser, 4 elements in total
The downside is you can’t use the polariser you want, and in the V3 kit the polariser wasn’t so great, but in the V5 has improved a lot.
If we test the two polariser on a LCD (that emits polarised light) we can easily see how much the V5 has improved on cutting the polarised light from the older version. Big plus is the total compatibility with all 100mm wide and 2mm thick filters, that is a standard in the sector.
NiSi V5 vs V3 polariser quality
A 100% polarisation doesn’t assure a great image quality and absence of color cast. I’ve compared the two filters on the field and then matched the WB and Tint in Lightroom.
As you can see in comparision above the NiSi V3 was too cold, the polariser on NiSi V5 is virtually perfect with no color cast. Also, from the last two images, the V5 cuts the reflections better than V3.
Conclusion
The NiSi V5 filters holder is a great tool for landscape photography, and for slightly more than £100 on Amazon.co.uk
is a great value for the money. It gets a full 4 stars out of 5.
is a great value for the money. It gets a full 4 stars out of 5.
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