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Breakthrough Photography has just released the world’s first tempered glass GND and ND filter

By Marcus Wong - on 5 May 2017, 2:46pm

Breakthrough Photography has just released the world’s first tempered glass GND and ND filter

If you’ve ever used filters for outdoor photography, you’ll know how easy it is for them to scratch with time. Well, the people at Breakthrough Photography have come up with a set of Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters – the X4 GND. It’s made of tempered glass and they’re claiming it to be the world’s sharpest and most color neutral GND.

Compared to the Sing-Ray line of GNDs which use CR-39 optical resin, the X4 GND uses SCHOTT B270 optical glass that doesn’t break even when dropped onto hard surfaces. The surface also doesn’t degrade over time or exposure to corrosive elements, and the inherent rigidity means warping over time won’t be an issue, thus removing the chance of distortion on a wide-angle full-frame setup.

This particular GND gives you a two stop increase in dynamic range.

It seems the X4 GND filters will also have Breakthrough Photography’s MRC16 and nanotech coatings on both sides making the filter structurally harder than glass and less susceptible to light loss due to reduced reflections. Which means, better contrast and color.

The Dark CPL is literally two filters in one.

Also on the same Kickstarter campaign is their Dark CPL, which is a combination Neutral Density and Circular Polarizer filter. Traditionally, you would have to stack two filters to get the same effect, but doing so would cause vignetting around 19mm on a full-frame sensor. Breakthrough claims to be able to eliminate vignetting down to 16mm on a full-frame sensor, hence improving the range of options for landscape photographers.

Both filters are can be got by making a pledge of US$149 or more (each) on Kickstarter, with various add-on options available. As of now, they’ve well exceeded their funding goal, with US$158,041 already pledged for a US$50,000 goal that still has 28 days to go, so it’s probably safe to say this is definitely going ahead.

If not, you can wait till they start retailing on their website, though prices will probably be higher then.

Source: Kickstarter, CanonRumors

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