Physical construction and design
The unit that I was provided with is Hitech’s newer modular system, not to be confused with their previous offerings which featured a set number of filter stages in 2-stage and 3-stage offerings, and not to be confused with previous plastic holders.ย The main plate of this holder is very nicely machined aluminum with thoughtfully recessed holes for the mounting screws.ย The kit that I’m reviewing came with options for up to three drop in filters and a separate 105mm adapter.ย It also came with some spare crews of varying size and nuts to put it all together as you see fit.ย One set of spacers was also provided for adding thicker filters such as a 10-stop with a rubber gasket.
If you’re looking at filter holders then it’s likely that you’re considering options from Lee and Cokin as well and they all vary slightly in the way that the filter is attached to the camera.ย All three of those systems have an adapter ring that screws onto the lens’ thread with the Cokin z-pro (the equivalent size to the 100mm Hitech) simply sliding the adapter into a slot on the back of the filter holder and securing it with a couple of pegs.ย It’s a solid mounting method but not fast and easy to remove.ย The Lee system looks similar to the Hitech but the release is a spring loaded clip which you pull back to allow removal of the filters.ย On the Hitech holder, you have to unscrew a small clamping knob.ย The problem with the Lee system is that you can inadvertently catch the release knob on something and the whole thing might fall off the lens.ย If you tend to put your tripod on your shoulderย while you change positions, you could find your filter system coming loose.ย Whilst the Lee holder is the easiest to remove, the knurled knob on the Hitech provides a bit more solidarity for those that do keep things attached while they move around.ย My one complaint about the Hitech mechanism is that you have to turn it pretty hard to get it to grip into the adapter ring though.ย As you can see in the video above, once turned to its maximum position there isn’t much of the pin sticking through.ย Still, it holds well enough and I haven’t had any issues with it coming loose.ย If there had been a second knob on the opposite site then it would have been a small improvement.
I also love that the whole thing is tool-free where others require a small flat head screwdriver.ย If you need to change the configuration of your holder in the field it is but the work of a few seconds, and spare parts are included in case you loose them.ย My biggest issue with the modular system is the plastic 105mm adapter.ย Plastic threads are simply not a good solution for something where you are going to be taking something on and off it all the time.ย Every time you go out shooting you will be adding and removing your circular polarizing filter so that you can return the very expensive filter to its protective pouch.ย Wear on the thread is inevitable and in fact right out of the box I had issues getting my 105mm filter on there.ย The Hitech 105mm circular polarizer has a very very thin threaded section, essential one thread, whereas the 105mm holder’s threaded section is perhaps 5 or 6 threads deep.ย It didn’t make much sense to me as a the unused threads simply add to the overall thickness of the 105 adapter which leads to easier vignetting issues.ย I would love to see Hitech offer a low profile aluminum 105mm adapter designed specifically to match their CP filter.
ย Vignetting
I’m not talking about optical vignetting caused by the resin and glass in the filters, here we are talking physical vignetting.ย Seeing parts of the filter holder within your field of view.ย It’s an inevitable issue that all landscape photographers will have dealt with at some point and it essentially relates to how far your filter system extends past the front element of your lens.ย Keep stacking things in front of it and sooner or later something will show up in your image.

This is the little pin that hold it onto the lens adapter, it doesn’t stick out very far so be sure to turn it pretty hard.
I’m guessing most peoples questions will initially relate to the front mounted 105mm filter.ย Why put the filter on the front like that instead of a sprocket-style drop in ?ย It gives you very easy access to the rotating ring that is why.ย Another option would be a square polarizer but then you are limited if you want to use a graduated filter simultaneously as you can only orient the filter in 90 degree increments if you want your gradient to be horizontal in the image.ย In a lot of cases this isn’t going to be an issue though.ย Using the Hitech 105mm Threaded Ring“>front mounted 105mm filter adapter I wasn’t able to configure the setup in a way without vignetting wider than about 28mm on a full frame camera (my 5d Mark 3).ย This was using what Hitech call their standard 77mm adapter ring.ย They also offer a wide angle adapter ring but unfortunately several requests to Hitech for clarification on whether this would remove the vignetting up to 16mm has yet to yield an answer.ย If they respond then I will update this article and if anyone from Hitech is reading this, please feel free to comment below as we’d all love to know. Removing the 105mm adapter and putting two stages in the holder I found that vignetting began in the 24mm area.ย I would suggest that for most people you are going to want to default to trying the wide angle adapter, in fact I don’t really understand why these companies even make a ‘standard’ adapter in the first place as we all want LESS vignetting.ย Lee are guilty of the same thing.
ย Conclusion
Overall I liked this holder quite a lot, it feels solid enough that it will stand the rigors of being tossed into the bag of a trekking landscape photographer but light enough that you won’t notice it is there and easily to dismantle for travel.ย In design its closest rival is the Lee holder but the Hitech seems just as good, and a little more solid.ย My main issue comes with the plastic 105mm adapter on the front though which feels poor compared to the rest of the holder.ย Couple that with the ease of vignetting with that setup and I can’t say I recommend that solution immediately for polarization. This kit HERE comes without the 105mm adapter anyway so my advice would be to get it and first try life with a 4×4 Lee polarizer. If you really feel you are limited with the rotation available relative to your graduated filter then at that point consider trying the 105mm adapter. The polarizer itself isย nice and sharp and pretty neutral in color.
NOTE
In looking for the Hitech products on the B&H website I was swamped in a plethora of options and variations of Hitech gear.ย It was very confusing!ย To help you out, the links in the widget below will point you to exactly the right products that I’m talking about.
Hi Dan,
Do you know if this filter holder would work with other lens adapter rings? B&H don’t seem to have much range in the WA Hitech ones at the moment!
Thanks!
I’m afraid I don’t know, I suspect that you do need the Hitech ones though. What size do you need ?
Thanks Dan. I’m after the 77mm WA and 82mm WA. They’ve got the 77mm listed as discontinued?! And don’t even list the 82mm. I did a bit more searching and found you can order straight from Hitech so I ended up just doing an order through them, shipping was slow but cheap. See how it goes I guess.
Hmm that is interesting, I was about to order the 77 wa myself. ——————————————————————–
They do have it in stock at Adorama though.
Oh another good review Dan!
Makes me want to go out and get one of these and try it out, though I didn’t see a 58mm adapter ring. I don’t have my L series lenses any more so the 77mm is out for me. The Hitech don’t look to bad for the price of them. Always found Lee filter setups to be… on the more expensive side and rumoured to be harder to obtain.
Would love to play around with some Gradient NDs and 10stops one day!
Yeah you might have to use a step ring to get one of them down to 58mm Tyler. I was using a stepper to get it on my 100mm macro, no real issue.
Lee stuff is EXTREMELY hard to get hold of.
Using the 77mm wide angle adapter ring gives me no vignetting on my Canon 17- 400 mm lens at 17 mm
sorry that should have read 17- 40 mm lens
Thanks for your input
I think the problem with this Hitech adapter, as compared to the clamping mechanism, is the way it locks on. With the Lee holder, the adapter ring looks to have a channel the the holder slots into, whereas the Hitech has no channel, just one clamping point (the thumb screw). Does this not mean the Hitech holder is basically held onto the adapter ring at a single point? Though the Lee holder might be slightly prone to the stopper being accidentally disengaged, at least it’s held in at multiple points, unlike the Hitech. Or am I wrong?
errr. “as compared to the clamping mechanism of the Lee”
This is still the best review of this holder on the Internet that I’ve found. Just to round out the info here, in response to Edan’s comment, the thumbscrew is quite sturdy if you crank it down, you can tug it quite hard and the holder won’t come off. Also, no vignetting here using the 77 WA adapter down to 17mm, BUT it still will vignette badly with the 105 CP on the front, hence I gave up and am using the 4×4 CP in the 4mm slot. Also, and unfortunately, the 82WA adapter apparently won’t fit on the Canon 16-35L, which has disappointed many as this is primarily a landscape lens. Cheers.
Thanks Andrew for the added info. Interestingly the 82WA does work on the new 24-70 f2.8 L II.
Nice Article, thank you! Just have an Issue with vignetting ๐ I have 6D and 16-35 mm f4 L, I have 77m w/a adapter ring for this high tech 4×4 holder. Can see almost the whole ring on 16mm ๐ disappointing.. Is it barely ok from 24mm…
I recently got this filter holder after owning a Cokin P style holder and noticed that the bottom filter is designed to slide right against the base whereas the Cokin P style left some space. I’m hesitant to slide it up against the base for fear of scratching the filter up. Have you experienced any scuffing of the bottom filter?
For now, I think I’ll put in 3 slots and use the top 2 until I know that I’m not going to scuff the filter up on the bottom.
Never noticed anything in particular, but I’m maybe not the best person to ask. I don’t tend to baby my gear too much and most of my filters end up scratched for all sorts of reasons! (Mainly throwing them around in a panic as the sun sets).
The metal part of the holder is extremely nicely made, with a brushed, super smooth finish to it. Things just slide right in I’d say there’s not much more chance of damage than the Cokin ones. Ultimately, if you get them sandy or gritty then any holder can do damage at the contact points.
Cool, thanks for the feedback!