Laowa 12mm f2.8 Firecrest Filter holder
Laowa 12mm F2.8 Lens Firecrest filter holder
So I made an amazing discovery a few weeks ago which has opened up a whole new world of photography to me.
My Firecrest 100mm filter holder can be mounted on my Laowa lens with no extra brackets or adaptors. Yes, 100mm filters will work on a 12mm full frame rectilinear lens... how amazing is that?
Speaking of amazing... there is currently 10% off all Formatt Hitech products with discount code HAYES10 simply enter the code at checkout on the Formatt Hitech website.
So how did I get to this point?
Well one evening I sat down looking at my lens and Firecrest filter holder wondering if I could marry the two together. After about 20 mins trying different techniques, there was a burst of some beautifully pronounced swear words while looking at lens hoods and extra lens petals and diameters etc..
Before I reveal how I got it to work I have to say you do this at your own risk, if you push or pull it too hard then there is a danger of possibly damaging the lens. Once you apply even pressure it goes on with a bit of resistance, it does work just don't use a hammer :-)
The cpl CAN NOT be used with this lens sadly. So don't try fitting it to the rotating ring adaptor.
Now as I said above you do this at you're own risk and care should be taken. It has worked perfectly for me now for over two weeks on numerous shoots.
I should also say sorry for the poor quality photographs, it's late on a Friday night and I was in a rush.
Back to fitting on the filter holder.
I had a eureka moment and I tried the 77mm rotating ring adaptor on the lens with the lens hood off, it was so incredibly close to sliding on, I considered sanding down the rotating ring fractionally but thought better of it. I mean there was only about one mm in it, the levels of frustration were reaching crescendo now. To be so close and yet 1mm was standing in the way...
It was then I tried the 77mm thread adaptor ring which comes with the kit first day and it was nearly a perfect fit. A bit tight but sliding it on and off a few times and it was a near perfect.
So just to explain, I took the lens hood off and the 77mm filter thread adaptor slid on over the barrel of the lens, now this wasn't loose there was a good bit of tension there so I gently walked or pushed it one side at a time. It went on... next I threaded on the 82mm rotating ring adaptor, which of course went on beautifully.
Now the moment of truth would the filter holder actually go on and would it work?
Ok we all know it did or otherwise I wouldn't be writing this :-)
So yes it works and I tried a test shot, no vignetting even with a 10 stop filter. I was more than a little surprised, the best filter holder in the world now fits on a 12mm rectilinear lens with little to no vignetting on 100mm filters, that is completely crazy.
Now if you use the extra light shield caps on the firecrest holder you will be catching those in the shot then alright. So I kept mine off.
Once it's on properly you can use 100mm filters with no vignetting just don't use the extra light shields and the polarising filter won't fit so don't even try to use it.
If you're interested in purchasing a Firecrest Filter holder I am delighted to be able to offer you 10% discount off all Formatt Hitech products via their website, simply enter code HAYES10 at checkout to save money.
So how wide is this lens?
Well below is the first test shot I took with the holder and a 6 stop filter.
As you can see I actually caught the tripod leg... It's that wide.
I will be adding more photographs this blog as time goes on.
See you out there,
Kieran.