Geaduated ND filters?

mark · Jan 5, 2019

2 questions
1-I’m looking to get them but, considering the expense, I was wondering if you folks, who use them, use all three or if you find one or two just hang out in your kit?

Is there anything wrong with Lee Filters?

AgX · Jan 5, 2019

Resin filters have different "dyes" than glass ones. This has effect on the spectral absorbtion. This in most cases would be irrelevant. But as you asked.

"All three"
Heliopan for instance offer 8 different densities.

jim10219 · Jan 5, 2019

I have some Newer cheap plastic ones that work fine so long as flare isnt an issue (they're uncoated). One had a defect in the dye, so its unusable, but the others are good. I also have some Cokin ones that are better made, but don't produce better images. My point being, Lee is a good brand and even if the super cheap brand works well (minus the QC issues), I wouldn't think they're be any problems with a Lee.

As for if you need 3 or 1, that's kind of up to you. If you buy the 3, you'll likely use all 3 at different times. If you just buy the one, get the one in the middle (I'm guessing 2 stops?) and it will probably work well enough for you in most situations provided you don't shoot a lot of sunrises/sunsets with slide film.

mark · Jan 5, 2019

AgX said:
Resin filters have different "dyes" than glass ones. This has effect on the spectral absorbtion. This in most cases would be irrelevant. But as you asked.

"All three"
Heliopan for instance offer 8 different densities.

Lee has a 3 filter soft edge set.

Pieter12 · Jan 5, 2019

I like the Galen Rowell grads from Singh Ray.

AgX · Jan 6, 2019

mark said:
Lee has a 3 filter soft edge set.

My fault. I read "graded" instead of "graduated" thus understanding plain, homogeneous ND filters.

foc · Jan 6, 2019

I have a quick question for the OP.

What are you going to use the graduated ND filter for?

I had ND grads years ago (Cokin) and was never happy with the results. I used them to darken the sky in landscapes but to my eye it looked false in any of the colour prints I produced although most people thought it looked ok. In colour I preferred to use a polarizer filter and achieved more vibrant colours in foliage and sky.
For B&W I just used coloured (red or yellow) filters to get dramatic sky.

Ian Grant · Jan 6, 2019

With LF typically we use apertures around f22 so we'd need quite a soft edge set like the Lee filters you mention Mark. I have some graduated Cokin filters along with red, orange and green but in 30+ years I've only ever used the Green filter. I should add I used them successfully before that but they aren't appropriate for the work I shoot.

Graduated filters have been a round a long time, I have a pre-WWI set of filters with two graduated, earliest reference I have is 1910, and none mentioned in 1898 so somewhere in the early part of the Century

Ian

RalphLambrecht · Jan 6, 2019

mark said:
2 questions
1-I’m looking to get them but, considering the expense, I was wondering if you folks, who use them, use all three or if you find one or two just hang out in your kit?

Is there anything wrong with Lee Filters?

Have used a glass ND once in 20 years but I would never put a cheap piece of plastic in front of perfect piece of optical design; that's like driving a Porsche with cheap fuel.

Ian Grant · Jan 6, 2019

RalphLambrecht said:
Have used a glass ND once in 20 years but I would never put a cheap piece of plastic in front of perfect piece of optical design; that's like driving a Porsche with cheap fuel.

Optical resins are used in some high end camera lenses and are as good as glass, they are also used for spectacles these days and are robust.

Ian

GLS · Jan 7, 2019

Lee grad filters are superb. I have used them for years. They are far more neutral than the cheaper brands (Cokin etc); I once stacked a 2 and 3 stop grad and there was zero colour cast to the ND portion of the frame.

As to which I use the most? Probably the 2 stop, both soft and hard variants. The 3 stop versions are also often useful. The 1 stop versions are probably only occasionally useful if you shoot a lot of E6, as 1 stop is nothing to negative films or modern digital sensors. The 4 stop versions are nearly always too much (I think I have used my 4 stop hard once).

Hope this helps.

Geaduated ND filters?

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