I tried shooting with a Light Craft Workshop Fader ND Ultra Mark II (Alternative: B&H) today before I went to work. I did not get the best light due to heavy clouds, and these images have been edited only on an iPad. Expect better images to appear at a later date.
Anyway, I have included two images I took with this filter. I was using my Canon EOS 5D Mark III and a Canon EF 24-105 L f/4 lens. The first image has been cropped slightly.
A waterfall in Aker river close to Stilla, Oslo. Taken using a LCW Fader Ultra Mark II variable ND-filter
Aker river, Oslo. Taken using a LCW Fader Ultra Mark II variable ND-filter
I was actually quite impressed with the technical quality of the images during my first try-out even though my artistic qualities might be somewhat lacking.
As a quick review of the filter I can say that the quality of the filter seems excellent. The Ultra Mark II is a variable ND-filter and reduces your exposure values with between 9-12 stops, but if you push it too far towards 12 it might give you a dark cross in your images similar to what they discuss in this review of the LCW Fader ND Mark II (a lighter version of the same filter). A nice trick, for me at least, was that if I started with a light (-9) setting and I had focused and shot a photo that turned out too light, I could easily increase the darkness by 1-2 stops and re-shoot. I just had to turn the filter slightly darker.
I have earlier this summer tried shooting with a B&W 77mm (1000x) Neutral Density Glass Filter. This is a high quality ND-filter that reduces the exposure value with about 10 stops. The filter appears to be close to black, and the only way to compose the image is by using live view and about 12800 ISO. I had the same issue with the Fader Ultra Mark II.
A friend of mine have included a few images we took with that filter on his blog entry ND filter fun.
I have included one of mine from the same trip below.
10x ND – 1 minute shutter
Even though the B&W filter probably is a bit better when it comes to optical quality I am quite impressed with the LCW Fader ND Ultra Mark II as well.