The Freewell V2 Hybrid is a single filter that combines a 3-to-7-stop variable ND and a circular polariser. The obvious question, which is also the question Freewell themselves pose in the marketing, is whether combining the two into one filter is a good idea or whether it just takes options away from you.
Having tested it on 4x5 in the countryside, my answer is: it is a genuinely good filter, beautifully made, with one clever feature that makes film exposure calculation much easier than I expected. It does take some flexibility away (you cannot use the polariser alone or the ND alone), but for what it is, it is excellent.
I should say upfront, as I always do, that I am not a landscape shooter, and a circular polariser is primarily a landscape tool. So my use case for this filter is limited. But that does not stop me assessing whether it is a good piece of kit, and it is.
What it is and how filters work
For anyone new to filters: an ND (neutral density) filter blocks light. It reduces your exposure without affecting anything else. “Neutral density” means it has no colour, it is not pushing the image warm or cool, it is just losing light evenly across the frame. A variable ND lets you adjust how much light it blocks by rotating it.
A circular polariser cuts reflections and deepens skies. It is the filter landscape photographers reach for to take the glare off water, wet rocks, foliage, and to make blue skies richer. It also costs you some light just by being there.
The Freewell V2 Hybrid combines both: a variable ND adjustable from 3 to 7 stops, with a circular polariser built into the same unit. You rotate one ring for the ND strength and rotate the filter on its bracket to adjust the polarisation.
Because the two are combined, you cannot use the polariser on its own (without the ND) or the ND on its own (without the polariser). It is all or nothing. That is the central trade-off of the design.
![PLACEHOLDER: the Freewell V2 Hybrid filter held up, showing the variable ND ring with its stop markings]
The genuinely clever bit
Here is the feature that won me over, and it is a film shooter’s feature specifically.
The stop markings on the ND ring (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) are not the ND’s own values. They are the total light reduction of the whole filter, ND plus polariser combined.
A circular polariser robs you of light just by existing, usually a stop or two. Normally, when you fit a polariser, you have to work out how much light it is eating and add that to your ND value to get your real exposure. That is a fiddly mental calculation, especially with large format where you are already doing a lot of exposure maths in your head.
Freewell have done that calculation for you. When the ring says 3 stops, the total light reduction is exactly 3 stops, polariser included. So the actual ND element is probably a 2 or 2.5-stop ND, with the polariser making up the difference, but you never need to think about that. You just read “3 stops” and halve your shutter speed three times.
I confirmed this in the field. At the 3-stop setting, I measured exactly 3 stops of light reduction, not 3 stops of ND plus an extra stop or two for the polariser. That is exactly what you want as a film shooter. I went out expecting a complicated maths problem (work out the polariser loss, add the ND, combine) and instead got a clean, honest number I could work with directly.
It is the kind of small, thoughtful design decision that tells you the people who made the filter actually understand how it gets used.
The shoot
I took the filter out on a Schneider 210mm f5.6 large format lens, mounted on a Stenopeika Air Force 4x5. When Freewell asked what filter thread size I wanted, I went with 77mm, which is my most common thread size and fits the Schneider. The 210mm is a little long and narrow for landscapes (I would have preferred something wider) but my only modern wide lens with a filter thread is the 65mm, and that is so wide that screwing anything onto the front risks vignetting. So the 210mm it was.
All black and white for this shoot, a mix of sheet film and dry plates. The location was the countryside near the medieval church at Llancaut, down on the banks of the Wye, possibly just on the English side of the Welsh border (I genuinely was not sure which side I was on).
I shot a series of comparison frames: one without the filter, then the same scene with the filter, to get a clear sense of what the polariser and ND were doing.
The polariser’s effect was clear. The big thing it did was knock back reflections, particularly off a mud bank across the river and off the water itself. It took the sting out of bright reflective surfaces and gave the skies a bit more depth. Exactly what a polariser is for, working as it should.
The ND let me shoot wide open in bright light, which turned out to be the use case I enjoyed most. More on that below.
![PLACEHOLDER: a comparison pair, the same scene with and without the filter, showing the polariser’s effect on reflections and sky]
The thing I did not expect to enjoy: wide-open landscapes
Here is the use case that genuinely sold me on the ND, despite not being a landscape shooter.
Without an ND filter, your ability to shoot wide open is limited by your lens’s fastest shutter speed. On a bright sunny day at ISO 100, shooting wide open at f5.6, you might need a shutter speed of 1/640th of a second. If your lens tops out at 1/400th (as many large format lenses do), you simply cannot do it. You are forced to stop down, which gives you more depth of field than you might want.
The ND solves this. Drop three stops of light with the filter and suddenly 1/640th becomes a perfectly achievable 1/80th, and you can shoot wide open with the shallow depth of field you actually wanted.
I found shooting wide-open landscapes with shallow depth of field genuinely enjoyable, and it is something the ND makes possible that I could not otherwise do. For anyone who wants the shallow-depth-of-field look in bright conditions, an ND is invaluable, and a good variable ND like this one is a flexible way to get it.
The Pro Mist filter (a brief detour)
Freewell also sent me a Pro Mist filter (their “Snow Mist,” Pro Mist presumably being a trademarked name) in 77mm. I was baffled by it at first because, indoors, it did not seem to do anything. I almost went on a lengthy rant about not understanding its purpose.
Then I worked it out. A Pro Mist filter softens specular highlights and points of light. It is designed for scenes with bright highlights, or for portraits, where it gives a gentle glow and softening. It does not do much on a flat indoor scene with no bright highlights, which is why I could not see its effect at first. Point it at something with bright highlights and the softening becomes obvious and rather lovely.
So: not baffling after all, just being tested on the wrong subject. My fault, not the filter’s.
The practical downsides
Two honest considerations.
It takes options away. Because the ND and polariser are combined, you cannot use one without the other. If you only want a polariser, or only want an ND, you cannot get that from this single filter. For a minimal kit, that is a real limitation. You are committing to “ND plus polariser” as a package every time.
The presentation box is bulky. The filter itself is thin and packs small. But it comes in a fancy leather box that takes up significant space, and space and weight are at a premium in my bag. I would be much more likely to carry the filter regularly if I did not have to carry the box.
The good news on that second point: I worked out partway through that a mysterious extra piece in the kit, which I could not identify at first, is actually a rear cap for the filter system. Which means you can protect the filter without the big box. I will probably do what I do with all my small kit and keep it in a sock to stop it getting scratched, and leave the leather box at home.
How it compares to my Cokin system
Worth a direct comparison. I already own a Cokin filter system, the square drop-in kind. The Freewell, despite still needing a screw-in adapter ring, is a lot less hassle than the Cokins in use. The Cokin system is sensitive to being nudged or knocked out of alignment, which causes vignetting. The Freewell screws on solidly and stays put. For ease of use in the field, the Freewell wins comfortably.
The verdict
The Freewell V2 Hybrid is seriously good quality. Beautifully made, beautifully machined, beautifully presented. As a combined variable ND and circular polariser it does its job well, with the clever stop-marking system making film exposure genuinely easy.
The caveats are honest: it takes flexibility away (no ND-only or polariser-only option), the presentation box is bulky (though the rear cap solves that), and as a non-landscape shooter I do not have a huge need for a polariser in the first place.
I did not test it with colour film, so I cannot speak to whether it introduces any colour cast. For a filter at this price point, one would hope not, and there are other reviews that will cover the colour performance specifically if that matters to you.
But for what it is, a well-made hybrid VND/CPL that is easy to carry and easy to use, it is genuinely good. I do not strictly need it. But I like it, and the thoughtful stop-marking design makes me respect the people who made it.
If you want a single filter that handles both variable ND and polarising duties, and you can live with the all-or-nothing trade-off, the Freewell V2 Hybrid is well worth considering.
Big thanks to Freewell for sending it. Shot on a Stenopeika Air Force 4x5, which I have reviewed at length here.