The Firecrest Soft Edge ND Grad uses Firecrest technology to create the world’s most neutral grad filter, and is the perfect complement to the Firecrest ND filters. Soft edge grads are versatile filters used to balance the luminosity of a bright sky with the terrain below. The soft edge makes it easy to place the filter in the scene, especially over undulating horizons (such as mountains).
Firecrest is a revolutionary new type of ND filter from Formatt-Hitech. Rather than dyed resin, Firecrest is a rare earth metal coating used to create hyper neutral NDs. The filters are made from 4mm thick Schott Superwite glass, and the multicoating is bonded in the middle to increase scratch resistance. Firecrest Filters are neutral across all spectrums, including UV, visible, and infrared.
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Soft Edge graduated filters transition gradually in density from the top of the filter toward the center, and although there is a horizon line, it is subtle. This allows for horizon transitions to be more easily hidden in a scene, especially with an undulating horizon line such as mountains, buildings or trees. Typically graduated filters are used to enhance the sky by balancing the luminosity of the sky to the luminosity of the terrain.
Firecrest ND is a quantum leap improvement over all previous generation ND and IRND products and represents the technological state of the art in scientific light modification. These glass filters are hyper-neutral across the visible light spectrum and also remove more IR contamination than any other filter - making them IRND filters.
The Firecrest coating is sandwiched between the finest Schott Superwite optical glass, increasing scratch resistance and longevity. Firecrest reduces all spectrums of light (UV, visible, near infrared and infrared) almost perfectly evenly.
With the Firecrest coating safely sandwiched into the middle of the filter, the outside of the filters are lapped and polished to the high tolerances in the industry. Extremely flat filters are important because any flaw in the surface will be revealed as distortion in the image while panning through a shot.
Another industry first with Firecrest ND is the development of IRND grads. Legacy graduated ND filters are manufactured from the traditional ND formulations originally developed for use with film and do not reduce infrared. Firecrest ND grads use the same Firecrest technology as their solid ND brothers. The result is a perfectly neutral graduated ND filter that pairs and stacks perfectly with even the highest densities of ND filter, and especially with other Firecrest ND filters.
These graphs show test results from an independent test performed at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The test measured the spectral power distribution of tungsten light reflected off a spectralon target made of barium sulfate using a Photo Research SpectraScan Model 705 spectroradiometer. The results were graphed according to their wavelength (in nanometers) along the X axis, versus radiance (in watts per steradian per meter squared) along the Y axis.
In the top graph, the yellow line represents the baseline tungsten light reading reflected off the barium sulfate target. This graph illustrates the excellent filtration properties of both the ProStop IRND (shown in green) and the Firecrest ND (shown in blue). Both filters appear nearly flat from this perspective.
The second graph emphasizes the differences between the two filters by removing the baseline tungsten reading and zooming-in on the Y axis. On closer inspection, the graph shows the ProStop IRND strongly attenuating the near-infrared spectrum before returning to neutral attenuation of the infrared spectrum around the 730nm mark. Firecrest (shown in blue) performs perfectly linearly in the visible light spectrum, before completely eliminating the infrared energy at around the 700nm mark. Compared to the ProStop IRND (which is the previous benchmark in IRND filtrations) the performance shown by Firecrest ND is nothing short of revolutionary. Firecrest ND truly is the future of ND filtration for digital sensors. Results in-the-field confirm the test data. The new Firecrest ND is amazingly neutral regardless of the camera make or model used.
Densities Available
1-5 Stops
Kit Sets
1-4 stops | 2-5 stops | 1-5 stops.
4mm Filter Sizes
4x4" | 4x5.65" | 5x5" | 5.65x5.65" | 6.6x6.6mm
