ND grads for Hasselblad

philipus · Jan 30, 2019

Hello everyone

I am looking to add graduated ND filters for use with my 203FE. I have two lenses, the 80 FE and the 40 CFE.

Is there a filter holder that fits both or will I need to buy two holders?

Which filter system would you recommend? I know there's Lee, Cokin and others and that some brands offer different types/ranges of filters.

Thank you very much in advance
Philip

michiel fokkema · Jan 30, 2019

I've been using Lee for quiet some years now and love the system. Not cheap, but I'm sure will last a lifetime.

philipus · Jan 30, 2019

Thank you for replying Michiel. Would you happen to use it with the two lenses I mentioned? I'm trying to figure out which holder(s) I need.

michiel fokkema said:
I've been using Lee for quiet some years now and love the system. Not cheap, but I'm sure will last a lifetime.

GLS · Jan 30, 2019

A second vote for the Lee system here. I have used them for years and have no complaints.

The standard filter holder will work with either, you just need the appropriately sized adapter rings for each lens (the rings come in a variety of Hasselblad bayonet versions, as well as standard screw-in versions). The only possible caveat is with the 40mm lens. By removing the 93mm filter holder/hood you can use an 86mm-sized Lee adapter ring with the thread below, but you may see some minor vignetting (at least with a two filter slot setup on the holder). See these links for further info:

https://leefilters.uservoice.com/kn...can-i-use-the-system-on-my-hasselblad-cf-40mm

https://blog.cariadus.com/2016/08/09/using-lee-filters-on-a-hasselblad-40mm-cf-lens/

pressureworld · Jan 30, 2019

Third vote for the Lee Foundation Kit. I shoot with a Hasselblad 501c with the 50mm CFE and 80mm and never had any problems. If you go with Lee make sure you pick up the wide angle adapter ring for Hasselblad and remember, buy once, cry once!

msage · Jan 31, 2019

I went with the NISI system because they had a nice solution for a particular Nikon lens I use (14-24 f2.8). I liked that it came with a polarizing that rotated independently from the grad. filters. You need to chose the ring that fits your lens and pick the size filter holder that will work with your lens. As mentioned in a couple posts, these systems are expensive!

GLS · Jan 31, 2019

msage said:
I liked that it came with a polarizing that rotated independently from the grad. filters

Lee also provide this option. You can buy a 105mm threaded ring which mounts on the front of the filter holder, and thereby use 105mm polarisers rather than being limited to the 100mm square slot-in types.

philipus · Jan 31, 2019

Thank you for all this information, I really appreciate it. From reading the blog post it seems that the 40mm would vignette with the 86mm adapter. Is there any other way to prevent this, perhaps by using a step-up ring? The 40mm is one of my most used lenses and vignetting isn't an option for me.

GLS said:
A second vote for the Lee system here. I have used them for years and have no complaints.

The standard filter holder will work with either, you just need the appropriately sized adapter rings for each lens (the rings come in a variety of Hasselblad bayonet versions, as well as standard screw-in versions). The only possible caveat is with the 40mm lens. By removing the 93mm filter holder/hood you can use an 86mm-sized Lee adapter ring with the thread below, but you may see some minor vignetting (at least with a two filter slot setup on the holder). See these links for further info:

https://leefilters.uservoice.com/kn...can-i-use-the-system-on-my-hasselblad-cf-40mm

https://blog.cariadus.com/2016/08/09/using-lee-filters-on-a-hasselblad-40mm-cf-lens/

Thank you very much. The wide angle adapter ring, is that the 86mm adapter GLS mentions above or another one?

pressureworld said:
Third vote for the Lee Foundation Kit. I shoot with a Hasselblad 501c with the 50mm CFE and 80mm and never had any problems. If you go with Lee make sure you pick up the wide angle adapter ring for Hasselblad and remember, buy once, cry once!

Thank you Michael, I wasn't aware of the NISI system at all.

msage said:
I went with the NISI system because they had a nice solution for a particular Nikon lens I use (14-24 f2.8). I liked that it came with a polarizing that rotated independently from the grad. filters. You need to chose the ring that fits your lens and pick the size filter holder that will work with your lens. As mentioned in a couple posts, these systems are expensive!

jeffreyg · Jan 31, 2019

Still another vote for the Lee system. You can even handhold the filters in front of a lens. You can also make your own with the blank and/or UV filter and Rit dye.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

GLS · Jan 31, 2019

philipus said:
Is there any other way to prevent this, perhaps by using a step-up ring? The 40mm is one of my most used lenses and vignetting isn't an option for me.

The Lee adapter rings can come in normal or "wide angle" versions; the latter sit further back on the lens barrel than the normal versions, and are designed to help avoid vignetting. However the 86mm version unfortunately doesn't come in a wide angle version, hence the vignetting issue. It is unclear from that blog post whether the vignetting is only present with two filter slots used on the filter holder, as he does in the pictures (note: the Lee holder is modular in its assembly, and you can vary the number of slots from 1-3). With a single slot it may not vignette, but that may be limiting if you want to use more than one filter at a time (I use 2 slots on mine fairly often).

Barring that, you could hand-hold a filter in front of the lens (not ideal, and could well scratch resin grads), or look into some of the larger filter systems, such as the Lee 150mm system, or the Cokin X-Pro 130mm series. They start to get pricey though.

ND grads for Hasselblad

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