Cokin NX-Series filter system
● £220-£690 ● www.nx-series.com
I REVIEWED Cokin’s NX-series kit earlier this year (AP 22 February 2022) and was impressed by the way the firm has cleverly re-invented its filter holder system. It’s extremely low-profile to minimise vignetting, while ND and GND filters are housed in metal frames to make full use of their area while providing extra protection. All the filters are held in place by a unique system of small ball bearings, with the polarising filter simply clipping into place from the front. The result is an elegant system which is impressively quick and easy to use. It won’t vignette with lenses as wide as 15mm, at least.
Cokin’s starter kit costs £220 and includes the holder and three lens rings (72mm, 77mm and 82mm), the matched polariser, and two frames, one each 100x100mm and 100x150mm. Additional frames cost £18 each, or £32 for a pack of two, and you’ll need a frame for each filter you want to use.
Other kits are available at various price points up to the Professional Kit (£690), which includes three ND filters and three GNDs in their metal frames, along with a carry case, which represents good value. The filters all come from the firm’s premium Nuances Extreme range.
Of all the systems that place filters in protective frames, Cokin’s NX-series is perhaps the best conceived. Its main practical disadvantage is that the polariser is rather awkward to swap out in the field, as you have to remove the square filters and then prise it out from the front. But aside from that, it works really well.