Photography gear in action: Haida 100-Pro Series filter holder

Filters are the one key element for my style to photograph landscapes and nature. You can easily manage high dynamic ranges by limiting the amount of light with gradients and/or manage reflections on surfaces with polarizer or stop the motion with nd-filters.

For years I have been using Haida 2500-series filter holder with 100mm filterplates. It has served well, though having some minor flaws which I was able to live with. But things change and products evolve.

Haida´s fairly new product, 100-Pro Series Filter holder HD3300 is totally different kind of beast - Fresh, new approach with major improvements but maintaining compatibility with 100x100mm and 100x150mm filters. Build-quality is top-level.

100-Pro filter holder is made of aluminum alloy making it light and durable. The basic idea is the same: Attach an adapter to filter thread of the lens, mount filter holder and slide filterplates to the holder.

The filter holder is now split into two parts; first one is attached to adapter ring. Then, you can screw in circular polarizer if needed. Polarizer integrates nicely inside the first part making the whole set very slim eliminating the possible vignetting. Another clever feature is a knob where you can rotate the circular polarizer without removing the filter holder already mounted.

The holder itself installs on top of the first part using three mounting holes on correct position (marked with white arrow) so it will not fall of even if you forgot to thighten the locking screw. And that it is the second innovation over the earlier product - I have managed to drop my earlier filter holders with the filter to ground or rocks breaking several filters, ouch!

The newly designed filter holder holds up to three 100x100mm or 100x150mm filters with mounted circular polarizer. Another new feature is the padding on filter holder to avoid light leakage between the filters. So if you are using filters with padding - install them "backwards" with the new holder. Filter-plates sits firmly on rails; they will not move or drop even if you move the camera-set little tougher.