Formatt HitechFormatt Hitech Firecrest 100mm Holder Kit – Professional Grade Holder System – Complete Light Leakage Protection – 100x100mm Lightweight Holder Kit with Low Profile Gasket and Extra Oxidisation

Beautifully made bit of kit, worth the price for just the polariser, you get what you pay for and this is a quality item

The light blocking covers on this are essential if you want to use Firecrest filters without ripping your hair out. The polariser is good, but is very fiddly to fit or remove, the same goes for the step rings necessary for lens attachment. Direct fitting adapters are available, but only in 72, 77 and 82mm threads. A full range is really needed please Formatt-Hitech!There are some build quality issues. The slots for the filters are far too tight, not sure why they had to engineer different ones from those already in use on the standard holder, those work nicely. The clip that retains the filter holder onto the adapter has very little area gripping the adapter, and the clip itself is quite awkward to operate, could use a bigger clip. The screw that holds it on is loose by design, so there;s a lot of risk of that working it's way out and vanishing on location. You can't tighten it up or it locks the sliding clip mechanism.The vented slot ends in the outer covers are incredibly difficult to fit and remove, the non vented ones pop in and out with ease.The gasket around the rear filter does not block light on one side, however with the covers in place it seems to not cause any issues with 13 stop filter.Overall I like the light blocking cover design, less bulky than flags, and I like the provision of a polariser within the unit. I don't like the build quality, it's no better than what you'd expect on cheap chinese stuff from ebay and certainly not up to price point these are set at.

Think carefully if you intend to use this outside 'in the landscape' with more than one lens. The rotating adaptor / polariser / step down ring all require careful handling and assembly. If its cold / windy / dark then its going to be a struggle swapping from one lens to another. They are all to thin requiring very carefull alignment to avoid cross threads or just not assembling. The catch to release the holder from the lens isn't big enough and doesn't have positive feedback. Also the removal / insertion of a firecrest glass ND requires too much force even when the slots are adjusted with the supplied allen key. Aside from this difficulty I felt there was a risk of breaking the glass or dropping to whole thing.I bought it expecting it to be better than my current Lee setup, but its just not usable in the field. If you've got only one lens and can assemble everything indoors with good light etc you may be OK.Its possible that it may keep out more light leaks than the Lee setup but i didn't get that far.

Very well made holder, worth the money ?, the jury's still out .

Waste of money!!! Keeps falling off the holder with my expensive filters on it. The clip that holds the filter holder is very loose and once clipped on the holder itself moves around.The polarizer itself is actually quite good but the holder is unusable had enough after two days in the field. The whole system is a tremendous fiddle to use with the caps and the fittings that attach to the top and bottom of the holder. I have ordered the new nisi v5 pro which looks like a simple uncomplicated system just hope I'm not wasting more money ,time will tell £££

Eliminates light leaks for filters without gaskets

Filter holder is constantly falling off the front of my lens, I’d go for LEE filters next time

Very good product, as described. Fast delivery thanks