View Full Version : Which Cokins, A or P?
or is it S?
I have been set on getting myself some Cokin P filters.
Namely, an ND, and an ND Grad or two.
I only have the nifty fifty (52mm thread), kit lens (58mm), and my sigma 70-300 (58mm). So with that in mind, I plan to buy
a 58mm Adapter ring
a Cokin P filter holder
the filters.
I planned to buy the P's to 'future proof' for when I eventually upgrade to, say the 17-40L etc, but someone has told me, with my current lenses they would actually be too big to have any real use?
Thoughts?
Keltic Ice Man
20-05-2007, 22:06
I got loads of A - then I upgraded to the sigma 24-70mm so need to get rid of these and go for the P
Go for the biggest you can, as early as you can.
The only real reason a filter could be too big, assuming it fits on the camera is the graduated area of a grad covering too much of the filter. If the grad area is too big then it's pretty much usless because if you rest the bottom edge on the skyline, you've still got sod all difference in exposure by the time you get to the top of the frame.
I'm fairly sure that the only difference between the A and P series are the dimensions but someone clever will no doubt confirm soon enough.
M - Have a think about Hi-Tech ND Grads, Cokin used to get magenta colour casts. Not sure if it is still a problem, but Hi-Tech are cheap and have served me well over the past 6 months .
Ill look at that chewy, cheers :)
KIM, thats what I thought, biggest now, save me upgrading later.
dazz, thats what I thought too. That the gradient would cover too much of the lens. I wonder if I go for a hard ND grad then? That might offset the problem a little?
I got a set, really nice filters. Your right to be thinking that way marcel :thumbs:
Ive always read that you should go for P. So thats what I did. :)
Thanks you two. What lenses do you use them on?
cwinhall
21-05-2007, 08:14
I have been advised by many photographers to stay away from Cokin filters.. Lee or Hi-tech were the recommendations.
Jimmy_Lemon
21-05-2007, 08:43
Go for the P - you can just see the edge of the A holder with the kit lens if you arent carefull :( You can have a play with my A & Ps on Saturday if you like. Help you choose or whatever, but I would deffo say go with the P :)
That would be excellent mate, cheers.
So thats Pete's CP and Sigma, His hand strap, and your Filters to all check out :D
Yeah you need the p size for the widest mm of the kit lens. The hi-tech ones are really nice, I opted for the 100mm ones to fit the lee holder, expensive (ish) but I think they will save on any future upgrades if I invest in other lenses.
Well thats 2 people who've said I might be able to spot the edges of an A on the kit lens, so I do believe that has swayed me to the P :)
Thanks everyone.
TBH I'm not sure how often I will end up using these filters, so Lee just seem overkill for what I want for now. Who knows, I may invest in some Lee ones when I have the Canon 17-40 or something, but not yet :)
Don't waste money on a Cokin brand holder, get a Kood or other cheaper variant, they do the same job :)
Les McLean
14-06-2007, 06:03
You have probably bought the filters by now (hopefully P series), and yes on a 17-40 with a 1.6 crop camera you can see the edges of the filter holder at 17mm, although there is a workaround, buy a second filter holder and remove the outer slot (leaving the holder with only one slot instead of two), you won't be able to stack filters, but it does the job :)
stevewestern
14-06-2007, 07:00
..another thumbs up for HiTech filters - I bought from Formatt filters, who were amazingly helpful - so far, the filters also seem pretty good !
Well I've plumped for the P system, bought a P adapter and holder from here on the forums.
Now, I'm going to buy two filters, an ND and an ND Grad.
I think a sensible choice for the first two would be the ND8 and the medium ND Grad?
Jimmy_Lemon
26-06-2007, 10:39
I think the ND you were using on my 10-20 was the P121 which is ND8 the medium is ND4 and kinda brings out some detail in the clouds on a nice day, but I don't think it would have done much with the skys we had at Bolton Abbey. So its a bit of guess which skys you are going to be shooting into most of the time :(
Despite the advice against Cokins I found on the forum I still bought some as they were cheaper and despite not having any P size filters to sell me the camera shop guy (real camera shop ;) ) reconed Cokins were fine.
I bought online the #250A kit of 3 ND grads and holder + a plain ND4 and ND8 and a 77mm ring. came to about £70. Just ordered a cheap Kood brand holder off ebay to cut down for a wider angle version.
Messiah Khan
26-06-2007, 15:03
Do you get vignetting with a P holder on the 10-20 on a 1.5x crop body? Or should I get a bigger holder?
Not with the wide angle holder I believe. (So Jimmy tells me), I didn't spot any vignetting on my 1.6x the other day, just crap shots...(Think I had the 'crap' filter on my lens :D)
Jimmy_Lemon
26-06-2007, 15:56
As Marcel says I got the wide angle holder and I have noticed some vignetting right in the corner of some of the 10mm shots :( not sure why it is on some and not others. I am going to have to work out whats going on!
As Robert was saying you can buy a cheapo P holder and chop off the front so it only holds one filter if you dont want to pay for a wide angle holder. (which are less than £10 from Warehouse Express)
A note about the hard grads, as opposed to the soft grads (if it's still any use to you) - since they are so close to the lens, the "edge" is actually blurred, so they are in effect, a "harsher" soft grad, IYSWIM. I can't remember where I heard that, but it makes sense to me.
Also, as has been pointed out, if you're worried about the filter holder chopping off bits of your shot, buy a second holder and cut the first two slots off (thats the outer-two, not the inner-two ;) ). It's worked for my 10-20 and 17-70 :)
Not worries about the vignetting / filter holder appearing yet, I have the P holder to go on my 58mm lens, so should be more than adequate.
It's the strength of the two filters Im unsure of. Might aswell go for the full ND8, as if Im using that, it'll be for water motion type shots, that sort of thing.
And the ND Grad, I think I'll hedge my bets and get an ND4 (2 stop)
Right, P holder is here....58mm Adapter is on its way ;) :nuts: :bonk: Should be here tomorrow, if not I'm screwed, postal strike on friday.
Anyway, Ive decided on the following filters
Cokin 154 ND8 (ND Filter)
Cokin 121M ND4 Grad (ND Grad)
The idea being that the all-over ND is for slowing water down etc, and the 121M is for skies in landscapes (hedging my bets going for the middle one).
Anyway, can I source the buggers locally? Nope. Fotosense is out of stock, Jessops is, well, Jessops priced and in the wrong stores etc etc.
I've found a local camera shop who has a
Kood ND4, and a Cokin ND8 Grad
I'm worried that the ND8 Grad will be too strong....I basically want it to hold the sky back on some landscape shots, but then again I suppose I could use the two together :p
I know it's impossible to say without a 'shot' being infront of me, I'm just trying to hedge my bets really.
Are Kood any good compared to Cokins? I might nip in and get a couple of those tomorrow instead then.
HI Marcel,
This may be too late.
I had the cokin P series a while back and found that if I only wanted to hold back the top third of the frame ie. the sky, you could still see edge of the bottom of the filter (at 18mm on cropped sensor). So I sold the lot and went for Lee filters. Much more expensive I know, but worth the extra. I also find I'm using the 3 stop grad (ND8 on cokin) quite alot. I do use a cokin ND8 (non grad) with adaptor on the lee holder, but I will change this soon as there is a colour cast.
Messiah Khan
29-06-2007, 13:07
HI Marcel,
This may be too late.
I had the cokin P series a while back and found that if I only wanted to hold back the top third of the frame ie. the sky, you could still see edge of the bottom of the filter (at 18mm on cropped sensor). So I sold the lot and went for Lee filters. Much more expensive I know, but worth the extra. I also find I'm using the 3 stop grad (ND8 on cokin) quite alot. I do use a cokin ND8 (non grad) with adaptor on the lee holder, but I will change this soon as there is a colour cast.
Is that due to a size difference on Cokin vs Lee filters? Im probably going to be getting one of these setups in the near future, and ive been looking at the Coking Z-Pro series. Im just wondering if I should be looking at Lee or any other systems instead.
Jimmy_Lemon
29-06-2007, 15:16
The P ND grads from Cokin are really long so the bottom of the filter shouldnt be in shot. I have that problem with my A filters though as they are more square.
Messiah Khan
29-06-2007, 15:19
The P ND grads from Cokin are really long so the bottom of the filter shouldnt be in shot. I have that problem with my A filters though as they are more square.
Would this be the case with a 10-20mm on a 1.5x crop body as well?
Is that due to a size difference on Cokin vs Lee filters? Im probably going to be getting one of these setups in the near future, and ive been looking at the Coking Z-Pro series. Im just wondering if I should be looking at Lee or any other systems instead.
The problem I had was the filter was too small in length. If the horizon was in the center of the frame there would be no problem, but on a full wide angle, putting the horizon on a third, the P series was just too small. Used a canon 17-85mm ef/s lens when I noticed, and with moving to a larger frame camera I didn't want to lose shots due to the filter being too small. The larger Cokin filters x-pro and z-pro would be better if you were to stick with cokin, but then the price is similar to the lee filter system at that level. Also the z-pro size is the same as lee so you have a much more interchangable system.
Messiah Khan
29-06-2007, 17:31
Cokin Z-Pro Grad ND Kit £134.99 (Includes: Filter holder, Grad Grey ND2 (121L), Grad Grey ND4 (121M) and Grad Grey ND8 (121S))
77mm TH0.75 Adapter £15.49
Total - £150.48
or
Lee Digital Starter Kit Box contents:
• Filter Holder
• ND 0.6 Grad Hard
• ProGlass 0.6ND
• Cleaning Cloth
• Triple pouch
Digital Starter Kit £176.25
77mm adaptor ring £15
Total - £191.25
Hmm.:thinking: Any suggestions? Is it worth going for one of these kits? Or should I mix and match? Ie get a cokin holder, and Lee filters?
whiteflyer
29-06-2007, 18:35
Don't forget to look at Hitech Filters.
These are half way between Cokin and Lee and the manufacturer has now put prices on their website http://www.formatt.co.uk
Well I have tried in the past couple of days to no avail to get hold of two Cokin filters locally.
Cokin P 121M ND4 Grad
Cokin P 154 ND
Does anyone have them in? Nope.
The place locally that was selling the Kood filters, closes early on a Friday, so it looks like I have a filter holder, but no adapter, and no filters to take on holiday with me....:bonk:
Well get some from eBay when I get back it seems.
I got my cokin P154 from this place. It's a bit closer to me than it is you, they do internet orders.
http://www.digitaldepot.co.uk/acatalog/Cokin_ND_Filters.html
Jimmy_Lemon
29-06-2007, 20:31
Would this be the case with a 10-20mm on a 1.5x crop body as well?
I was using them on my 10-20 on my 350d at Bolton Abbey and didnt notice the bottom of the filter at all. It is so close to the lens that I think it would have to be a horizon to see the bottom of the filter in shot. I will do some tests shots in a moment, as I am interested to see myself now ;)
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