Cokin P ND Grad Filters??

[cherryrig]

After taking some landscape shots with my Bronica I've been thinking of getting some ND filters. Grad ones seem to be the best for what I'm thinking of doing and the Cokin P size filters seem like a good price.

Anyone got some advice at all on if it's worth getting those, as for me the Lee ones seem too much. Also would 3stops - ND8 be too much and more an over kill

Cheers

 

[jd callow]

Cokin's are not as neutral as the more expensive kind and therefore aren't as good for colour as the costly ones. The plastic is easily scratched. If you have the cokin holder you may find this is your only route. I have glass ones that are of the same size (75 x100 mm I think) that don't fit the cokin holder. I believe the ND6 is 2 stops and the nd 9 are 3 stops I could be wrong as I go by sight not number. If you are shooting chromes, 3 stops is not too much. Using a 3 for the sky and a 2 for water is often the right combo if you want the middling areas to have detail. If you are shooting urban scenes at night and you don't want the side walk to dominate or the 2nd floor of building to disappear 3 stops may not be enough.

 

[naturephoto1]

Buy the Lee, you will be much happier with the results. They will be much more neutral and are made to much higher standards. You may want to start with a 2 stop and purchase a 3 stop later. Also, you will need to decide upon soft or hard gradations. The soft grad will be easier to use but will not make as hard a line such as when you are using them with the intersection of the sky and the ocean.

Rich

 

[cherryrig]

Thanks for that guys

I'll have to look into some what more I think before I make a choice if I buy some or not

 

[jd callow]

As cheap as the cokin's are you may want to buy one just to see if its the right direction.

 

[cherryrig]

Like £33 is not much really when you think about it.

3filters a holder, then just have to pay for a 67mm ring as well

 

[jd callow]

A glass ND will start at 100USD (or £50) plus a holder.

 

[Pupfish]

JD Callow, do you have Tiffen PXL grads, and do they not fit in Cokin P holders?

 

[xtolsniffer]

I started with Cokin grads and then moved onto Lee, they just seemed better made, although if you go up to the 100mm Cokin Z system, it's not that different in price to Lee. I have a 2 stop hard grad and a two stop soft and that seems to cover most of what I need. The small size of Cokin P can be a little restrictive if you use wide-angles a lot.

 

[Bob F.]

I chose Hitech filters over the more expensive Lee - partly because I do not use colour very often. I have one Cokin grad and tested it and the HiTechs on my X-Rite densitometer and that confirmed both the Cokin's colour cast and the lack of it in the HiTech filters.

They fit my Cokin P-type holders but I have read that Cokin has reduced the holder size slightly so it may now be too tight a fit in new holders. It would be a simple matter to sand a millimetre off the plastic filter if necessary.

 

[Pupfish]

All I really want it for is keeping my dynamic range within the bounds of transparency film, namely Velvia 50. Accordingly, I've decided to go minimalist with just one GND of 2x to see how well that works. Beyond that, I'll carry both Astia 100F (to squeak another stop, easily), and color neg film.

The notion of a plastic resin filter that invariably will scratch, and maybe show strange effects when used in front of a polarizer has sold me on the glass rectangular Tiffen GNDs. Just now got a P-series Tiffen XL 2X GND for cheap enroute from Adorama (only place I've found where the extra-long versions are $100, not $150 or more). Also just scooped up a whole bunch of Cokin P adapter rings for all my lenses at fire-sale prices and a Cokin P Circ polarizer for a good savings from Samys auction store.

Likely a big reason why these are getting discounted by the big guys and harder/near impossible to come by at local camera retailers is digital HDR photography. For the cost of one filter one can buy software that'll merge 3 or more bracketed shots. While I personally find most HDR shots are too kitschy, too obvious and heavy-handed in the effect, this may be good news in the short term, for those of us still shooting film-at least until all these filter stocks are depleted.

 

[timbo10ca]

I second the Hitech filters- cheaper than Lee and all reviews say equally as good. I have a few but have not used them much yet. When I *have* used them, it's been on transparency film, and I've been happy with the results.

Tim

 

[cherryrig]

I went out the other day and bought so Cokin ones just to have a play around, if I don't use them that much I'm not too fussed seeing as they didn't cost me that much So it's all good really. Just need to wait for a nice day now haha