ND Grad filters - where can i buy?
Discussion
Lee filters are your chaps. Top quality kit. Like overgrown Cokin filters but much, much better quality
[url]www.leefilters.com/home.asp[/url]
Last time I bought by mail order and they were very efficient. Some of the prices are a bit eye watering e.g. circular polariser is over £100, but you should only ever need to buy one once.
Alternatively If you're going to go digital you can mimic graduated filters in Photoshop. Most useful for graduated neutral density filters so you get no colour shift but do cope with huge contracts ranges you sometimes get between sky & land.
HTH
Chris
[url]www.leefilters.com/home.asp[/url]
Last time I bought by mail order and they were very efficient. Some of the prices are a bit eye watering e.g. circular polariser is over £100, but you should only ever need to buy one once.
Alternatively If you're going to go digital you can mimic graduated filters in Photoshop. Most useful for graduated neutral density filters so you get no colour shift but do cope with huge contracts ranges you sometimes get between sky & land.
HTH
Chris
No worries, glad to be of help.
They do a really nice set of three graduated neutral density filters 0.2, 0.6 and 0.9 which reduce the light by one stop, two stops and three stops respectively. I got myself a set of these and a red filter for black and white landscape work (love the effect on the sky).
At the time I couldn't lash out for the circular polariser as well, so I waited a couple of years and then bought if for Mrs CVP as a birthday pressie but I get to play with it as well, it's just the best thing for landscapes.
In my defence I wasn't being too cheap, she did say she wanted one so I was only obeying orders...
Chris
They do a really nice set of three graduated neutral density filters 0.2, 0.6 and 0.9 which reduce the light by one stop, two stops and three stops respectively. I got myself a set of these and a red filter for black and white landscape work (love the effect on the sky).
At the time I couldn't lash out for the circular polariser as well, so I waited a couple of years and then bought if for Mrs CVP as a birthday pressie but I get to play with it as well, it's just the best thing for landscapes.
In my defence I wasn't being too cheap, she did say she wanted one so I was only obeying orders...
Chris
Yeah i love taking B&W shots with a red filter - my favourite is here (lost some clarity when scanned, but i still like it)
www.davidhambly.co.uk/beach.jpg
Do i have to use a Lee Filter Holder with the ND grad filters, or will they fit into a Cokin P series?
Polarisers are good too - ive got a linear one for landscapes, apparently a circular one isnt necessary for landscape shots.
www.davidhambly.co.uk/beach.jpg
Do i have to use a Lee Filter Holder with the ND grad filters, or will they fit into a Cokin P series?
Polarisers are good too - ive got a linear one for landscapes, apparently a circular one isnt necessary for landscape shots.
I think the Cokin P filters are quite small
The Lee ones are 100mm wide and then either 100mm long or 150mm long for the graduated ones (so you can move the cut off up and down in the frame).
OK, done a bit of browsing on [url]www.cokin.fr[/url] and they are doing a product code P362, called a 100mm adaptor which says you can put any 100mm filter in the P series filter holder. Looks like it will only take one filter though. I found it in the "New products" section.
Otherwise if you go for the Lee filter holder system you can fit at least two/three filters in the holder plus a circular polariser at the front. Whilst I don't think you'll need three filters and polariser I sometimes use the polariser and a graduated ND filter or graduated and warm up filter for landscapes, so being able to have two is quite handy.
Best speak to a good Cokin stockist about that adaptor as it could save you some cost.
Cheers
Chris
The Lee ones are 100mm wide and then either 100mm long or 150mm long for the graduated ones (so you can move the cut off up and down in the frame).
OK, done a bit of browsing on [url]www.cokin.fr[/url] and they are doing a product code P362, called a 100mm adaptor which says you can put any 100mm filter in the P series filter holder. Looks like it will only take one filter though. I found it in the "New products" section.
Otherwise if you go for the Lee filter holder system you can fit at least two/three filters in the holder plus a circular polariser at the front. Whilst I don't think you'll need three filters and polariser I sometimes use the polariser and a graduated ND filter or graduated and warm up filter for landscapes, so being able to have two is quite handy.
Best speak to a good Cokin stockist about that adaptor as it could save you some cost.
Cheers
Chris
Just a note if you decide to go for the Lee system. There are two shapes of polarising filter, square & round. You need an adaptor to rotate the circular one independent from any grads. This can also effect the lens hood as well.
From their web site:
"Both linear and circular polarisers are available from Lee Filters in both a rotating 105mm diameter version and a 100x100mm square version.
100mm square polarisers are to be used in the filter holder, the entire holder is then rotated to achieve the correct effect. Recommended for studio use or for when only the polariser and, possibly, standard filters are to be used.
105mm rotating polarisers are attached to the filter system via a special ring that is fitted to the front of the holder. This allows the polariser to be rotated independently of any grads used and is ideal for landscape photography where extra flexibility is required."
I have a square pola', two holders and rotating ring: www.leefilters.com/CPTS3.asp?PageID=135 + lens hood and the quality, as already mentioned is much better than Cokin. But, as with everything, you have to pay for it.
Cheers
From their web site:
"Both linear and circular polarisers are available from Lee Filters in both a rotating 105mm diameter version and a 100x100mm square version.
100mm square polarisers are to be used in the filter holder, the entire holder is then rotated to achieve the correct effect. Recommended for studio use or for when only the polariser and, possibly, standard filters are to be used.
105mm rotating polarisers are attached to the filter system via a special ring that is fitted to the front of the holder. This allows the polariser to be rotated independently of any grads used and is ideal for landscape photography where extra flexibility is required."
I have a square pola', two holders and rotating ring: www.leefilters.com/CPTS3.asp?PageID=135 + lens hood and the quality, as already mentioned is much better than Cokin. But, as with everything, you have to pay for it.
Cheers
Bacardi said:
105mm rotating polarisers are attached to the filter system via a special ring that is fitted to the front of the holder. This allows the polariser to be rotated independently of any grads used and is ideal for landscape photography where extra flexibility is required."
Good point. Yep That's the one I got Mrs CVP and it's veyr easy being able to position your grad in the right place and then apply polariser to the extent oyu want to.
Chris
They both do the same job in slightly different ways.
When I asked what the difference was I got an explnation like this;
"A circular has an additional quarter-wave plate or scrambler behind the (still linear) polarizing foil. Although not scientifically correct, it more or less restores the natural 50/50 vertical/horizontal
balance of polarization, without affecting the initial pictorial result.
Only by restoring this natural balance it will allow the light metering and AF sensors to work properly, as they use polarizing beam splitters. With a linear filter, you would risk a cross-polarizing effect, ie a black-out. Bad for both light metering and AF.
In spite of what most people will tell you: the main reason to buy a circular polarizer is *not* the AF sensor, but the light metering system. You can *see* when AF goes haywire (it won't shift focus, it
just has more difficulty to lock on), but you can only guess what happens with your light meter!"
OK I don't understand the scientific explanation but I do understand the bit about potential under / over reading of your meter.
So if you use a hand meter and do the manual compensaiton for a polariser, then a linear polariser is fine, if oyu rely on the camera's in built meter and you've got a linear polariser then brakcet a bit and you should be ok. If buying from scratch and relying on your camera's meter a circular polariser maybe the best bet (despite being more expensive to buy).
Chris
When I asked what the difference was I got an explnation like this;
"A circular has an additional quarter-wave plate or scrambler behind the (still linear) polarizing foil. Although not scientifically correct, it more or less restores the natural 50/50 vertical/horizontal
balance of polarization, without affecting the initial pictorial result.
Only by restoring this natural balance it will allow the light metering and AF sensors to work properly, as they use polarizing beam splitters. With a linear filter, you would risk a cross-polarizing effect, ie a black-out. Bad for both light metering and AF.
In spite of what most people will tell you: the main reason to buy a circular polarizer is *not* the AF sensor, but the light metering system. You can *see* when AF goes haywire (it won't shift focus, it
just has more difficulty to lock on), but you can only guess what happens with your light meter!"
OK I don't understand the scientific explanation but I do understand the bit about potential under / over reading of your meter.
So if you use a hand meter and do the manual compensaiton for a polariser, then a linear polariser is fine, if oyu rely on the camera's in built meter and you've got a linear polariser then brakcet a bit and you should be ok. If buying from scratch and relying on your camera's meter a circular polariser maybe the best bet (despite being more expensive to buy).
Chris
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