H&Y recently announced a new addition to its lineup of magnetic and hot-swappable filter accessories: the Revoring Swift. The comapny says it is the world’s first modular magnetic filter system and was launched on Kickstarter where, at the time of publication, it already achieved nearly ten times the initial funding goal.
The company says it listened to the users of its first launch and evolved and adapted the product line to do precisely what creative photographers and videographers wanted: a complete ecosystem of stacking magnetic filters that can be quickly and easily changed out or swapped between multiple cameras without the need for step-up rings.
The new Swift system was built around the Revoring Mount. This mount attaches to your lenses using an innovative mechanism that expands and retracts to grip your filter threads. Once in place, the system is pretty much locked in, and from there you can mix, match, and add drop-in filters and magnetic boxes/adapters to accommodate whatever type of shot you are going for. The system supports square filters and mounts, drop-in circular filters and adapters, matteboxes and barn doors, and even a simple magnetic lens caps to protect your lenses between shots and during transport.
The system does have static step-up rings available if you prefer, but the Revoring adapters come in sizes ranging from 37-49mm, 46-62mm, 58-77mm, 67-82mm, and 82-95mm which should effectively accommodate most lenses on the market. If you do choose to use the static step-up rings, they are sadly not magnetic.
The Revoring Swift is a huge deal due to its simplicity. Traditionally, if you were to stack an ND filter, with a CPL, and something creative like a streak/flare/or color filter, you have to take the whole system off of your lens to connect and remove each piece which can be time-consuming, clunky, and even problematic when out in the field. Swift makes it easy and fast to change and stack your creative filters, whether you are in the studio or in the field.
Design and Build Quality
Like most filter systems, wrapping your head around the logistics of the entire system can be a bit overwhelming at first. But after spending some time with the options they all started to make a lot of sense.
At the core of it all, you have two options: an empty Revoring magnet base adapter and one with a CPL or VND system. The Revoring mount is initially a bit stiff. It can be difficult to expand and mount safely. To be honest, some people may be concerned that the Revoring mount’s gripping mechanism could cause damage to the lens. However, this is possible with almost any mount. Take your time until you feel comfortable and the system will become second nature.
The build quality of the adapter (and accessories) is definitely among the higher-end systems that I’ve used — including LEE filters and PolarPro — over the years and they feature an all-metal design that is very solid and durable. Because they are so strong, I found it more difficult to break my table and other camera equipment than I was the adapters and filter mounts. You can either shoot the base adapter as it is or add magnetic holders and filters of your choosing.
The drop-in kits can be snapped into place without worrying about light leakage and depending on the filter added, a metal rotation ring on the side is easy to access and make adjustments. In the above photo, I had two filters added but you can stack as few or as many filters as you want to shoot with, and again, this was incredibly quick and easy to do.
Additionally, the other kit components — such as the square filters, the rubber lens hood, the matt box, and even the magnetic lens cap — were all incredibly easy to swap in and out, strong and durably built, and the magnets feel incredibly strong. At home, I was worried the magnets wouldn’t hold up against wind or even the weight of the filters when mounted, but those worries were quickly dispelled once I started using it in the field. With the larger square filters, the holders even come with a screw-locking mechanism to ensure the filter is held tightly in place for an added level of security. This also ensures there is no “drifting” of the filters should you bump or jostle the system.
The magnets snap together so well that it was occasionally pinching my fingers, so if you were wearing gloves, it would be very easy to have them get snapped in between the various filters added on.
If you are recording in real time and need to adjust, add or remove filters, then the camera will pick up the sound. The CPL, VNDs and any adjustable creative filters with a rotating wheel are all included. While a very minor issue as usual adjustments would be made before recording, potential users should be aware that these filters are not completely silent in operation.
Each kit comes with a carry case or pouch of some sort to help keep the components safe from dust, dirt, scratches and straight-up breaking when not in use. These mini-bags were quite useful, but with so many components, it almost required a dedicated gear bag just to carry them all together. The good news, like most filter companies, they have an optional “luxury” filter bag that fits most of the delicate components in an easy to access kit that can fit in most camera bags for easier transport.
Usability and Performance
There is a lot to unpack here so I’ll try to keep it contained by components. The Adapter ring with VND and CPL built-in is a breeze to mount on a lens. Adjusting Neutral Density (or polarizer), is quick and simple. However, you can easily nudge the side that is not being adjusted accidentally.
There are protruding levers for each function on the filter making them very easy to use, but in my testing, there is a little bit of drift in each. While this may make the system a bit bulkier or more expensive, it would be nice if this particular filter combo features a locking mechanism for each component to avoid this. Using both hands on the filter avoids the issue entirely, but let’s be real, with a focus on making this faster and easier, having to use two hands to hold things in place misses the mark here.
Outside of this small frustration point, the particular filter was smooth and easy to use or swap between cameras, and the polarizing side of things actually worked quite well. It produced sharp images and little color cast at lower levels. However, as with all Polarizers, the magenta shift can occur if you apply it too heavily.
On the VND side of things a few issues popped up, but nothing new to the world of variable neutral density. You will notice cross-polarization or “X” patterns in your images if the ND is increased to a higher level on a larger lens. Sadly this is relatively unavoidable in wider lenses, but to achieve a “darker” image, the bliss of this system is you can simply stack more ND filters to get the look you are seeking. H&Y actually addressed this issue directly in a the video below:
At longer focal lengths, this isn’t much of an issue at all as displayed in the gif below showing applying the maximum CPL level and then increasing the ND levels at 70mm.
This system is designed with the purpose of making it faster and easier for you to swap out the filters or swap filters between camera systems, reducing the amount of downtime between shots.
The system truly does just that.
This is after you have mastered the basics. Moving beyond the CPL and VND combo and adapting the other creative filters like the drop-in kit, square filters, or even the rubber lens hoods honestly just took seconds. It would make it easy for a planned shoot to ensure that all lenses and systems are equipped with adapters. The filters can then be moved quickly between the different systems by simply using the step ND[***********************************************************************************************************************************************************]
The only thing that was a bit of a frustrating point when using this system is if you do decide to remove the Revoring adapters, there is no way around having to use two hands to do so. With an “ordinary” adapter, it is easy to just hold onto the camera/lens with one hand and then unscrew the filter with the other. The Revoring system makes this impossible.
One hand is needed to hold the “base” in place, and the other to open and unscrew the mounting mechanism. A tripod is required to secure the camera. To be fair here, the idea is users will have these adapters already mounted to each of their possible lenses with covers to protect the lens on each of them as well, thus avoiding the problem. But if you are obsessive about cleaning and storing things properly like me, you’ll never want to leave these things on when not in use.
Fast, Secure, And Functional
The Revoring Swift system is modular, easy to use, and just plain impressive compared to the many other filter systems I have used over the years. You can create the exact look you want for video and still photos with the Swift system.
It is so fast to swap between filters and the optical quality is really impressive. It’s hard not to be impressed with what H&Y has made here.
The H&Y Revoring Swift system is currently available through Kickstarter where the company has assembled several pre-built bundles for easier purchasing as well as discounts on individual item orders. Once the campaign ends, the Swift system can be found directly on the company’s website.
Are There Alternatives?
Like most professional filter systems, the H&Y Revoring kit is not cheap: the kits range in price between $220 to $479 for those who need entire bundles, and for those looking for individual items the prices range from as low as $21 for adapters, to $199 per filter.
There are many options, however the price ranges are similar to professional filters. Some options include Lee Filters, NiSi, Formatt, PolarPro, and for the just slightly more affordable front, you can choose from a wide selection of options from Cokin.
Should You Buy It?
Yes. The Revoring Swift filter is an excellent choice if you are looking for a brand new system. It’s easy to use and has a ton of flexibility.
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