For about three years I’ve been using a Kase K8 filter system. I bought it for landscape work with my digital Fuji system but am now using it with my Bronica SQ Ai, too. This brief review explains what’s great about the system and bad about the company.
The Good
The Kase K8 features a circular polariser which fits magnetically into a rotating gear screwed to the lens. This means you can use the polariser on its own without the bulk of the square filter holder. This was a deciding factor in my choice of this system, I often want to use the polarising filter without ND or graduated filters. The glass filters are very easy to keep clean, unlike some competing products you can easily wipe rain from them and they don’t smear. They also seem to be free of colour cast and I’ve got good results from them.
The Bad
The real problem is the attitude of Kase towards their customers. The first slot of my filter holder was very tight, getting filters out without breaking them was difficult. I used the “contact us” form on the Kase website to ask about this but didn’t get a reply. When I wanted to use the system on my film camera too, I decided to buy some more geared rings and lens caps and found nothing was available. Kase have released the K9 system and it isn’t compatible with the K8 system. There’s nothing wrong with that; progress is good. But they immediately ceased supplying parts for the previous system. I had a system which cost over £600 and was under two years old and I could not buy spare parts for it. If I broke the circular polarising filter, I would have to buy a new holder, circular polarising filter, geared rings and caps for nearly £200. I really don’t think it’s acceptable to stop supplying spare parts for a £600 filter system two years after introducing it. Again, using the contact form on their web site didn’t elicit a response.
The Rescue
Luckily, Melvin Nicholson came to my rescue. I have been on one of his photography holidays to the Lofoten Islands and can recommend them wholeheartedly. He’s a Kase Ambassador and spoke to them about my problem. They confirmed there were no parts for the K8 system available. But Melvin had some geared rings and caps he could let me have, because he’s now upgraded to the K9 system. He posted them to me and wouldn’t even take money for post and packing. What a gentleman! So I now have a set of geared rings on the medium format camera lenses as well as a set on the digital outfit.
I’ve taken my holder apart and use a thin cardboard shim to make the first slot wider, and can now remove filters from that slot without getting an upper-body work-out. I noticed the steel screws had rusted badly, inevitable when they are screwed into an aluminium filter holder. Steel and aluminium in contact have a strong electrolytic reaction and always corrode if they are damp, and it’s not reasonable to strip the whole assembly down and remove the screws at the end of a wet day’s shooting. If you have one of these holders, I recommend taking the screws out and applying a little grease before putting them back but make sure you use grease that won’t harm the plastic part of the filter holder. Normal grease will damage plastic after being in contact for a few months, you need to use special plastic grease.
In Conclusion
Kase filters work well, they are easy to clean and give good results. Before you spend a fortune on one, understand you may be unable able to get spare parts a couple of years later. Put some plastic-safe grease on the screws if you want to be able to unscrew them in future. Melvin Nicholson is a gentleman, check out his website next time you want a photography holiday!
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