Irix, the Swiss lens manufacturers are branching out into new products besides lenses. The natural extension to lenses is filters. While Irix lenses do come with rear filter holders, you often need them on the front. Things like polarisers and graduated NDs are impossible to work with when sandwiched between the lens and body. So, to tackle this issue, Irix have today announced a new 100mm filter holder system.
The Irix IFH-100 is a dedicated adapter designed to hold 100mm wide filters. The filter is made of aluminium alloy, allowing for a compact size with a lot of strength. The front side of the filter is also lined with light absorbing fabric to prevent internal reflections. Irix have also announced a range of 100mm filters to go along with the new holder.
The IFH-100 filter holder comes with removable adapters for lenses of various diameter from 67-82mm. These allow quick attachment of the filter holder to the lens as well as removal. The design also offers free rotation when using graduated or polarising filters.
Along with the filter holder, a series of filters, titled Irix Edge 100 are also being released. The first of these to be released will be 100x150mm. These will include hard and soft graduated neutral density filters, as well as reverse grads for taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets. Each will be available in ND4 (2 stop), ND8 (3 stops) and ND16 (4 stops) varieties.
Later, 100x100mm filters will be released in ND32, ND120, ND1000 and ND1000K strengths, along with a poalrising filter. Other filters are planned which are designed to help reduce light pollution.
The filters are 2mm thick and made from high quality optical glass. Irix say that it’s the same quality optical glass that they use for their range of lenses. Lenses that I’ve found to be extremely well made. They are also coated on both sides with an anti-reflecting nano-coating to help retain contrast and natural colours. The coatings are also oil and water repellent for easy cleaning.
There’s no word on prices yet, for either the holder or the filters. That should be coming in the next week or so when Irix open their booth at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City on October 26th.
I would suggest keeping an eye out on the Irix website if you want to stay up to date.
Hopefully, there’s some spacers available for the holder to fit 4mm thick glass filters. I love my Schneider NDs, but I hate the Cokin Z-Pro holder I have to use them with.
