ND Grads

martinturner

martinturner

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Martin Turner
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I am looking to branch out further in a bid to get more out of camera and apply less processing, so am interested in some ND grads. I mainly shoot landscapes, so the grads would be used to tone down over exposed skies whilst maintaining foreground elements. I have had an instance where due to being high up and sun placement needed to darken up the left or the right of the shot. My workaround has always been to take a couple of shots and stack them (blending layers in PS).

I am quite interested to find out who owns some grad ND's. Do you find them useful and most importantly, point me in the right direction with regards to what to buy. I do not want full shot coverage, as I already own some NDs and additionally a 10 stop ND for long exposures for smooth water etc. My purpose from these is to dampen bright skies enough for camera to balance tonal range througout. Additionally, I would like to shoot some sunsets, but often struggle with them as too much light is getting in the camera and its tough to find a balance without darkening everything. I am presuming they would be useful in this instance?

Oh, I have a D40, although am guessing I am going to need something Cokin/Lee? I am confused by all the letters etc, so some help would be appreciated. I have had a look at some B+W circular threaded ones but, restricted in terms of beign able to move the horizon, so ideally a slot in system would be desired. I have heard bad things about Cokin and colour casts?

After some brief investigation; if I want Cokin P (is this what most opt for?), I am looking at £15 for the filter holder, £15 for lens adapter and then ~£20 for each grad ND. Which collectively is not too bad a price. Also what are the different letters representive of A P Z etc? I am guessing different ranges?

As for Lee, perhaps I was reading it wrong, but the filter holder seems to come as part of a kit which costs £100. You then have to buy the filter adapter and then the filter (similar to the Cokins) I could not see why the price is so steep for what it is? Can you not but the filter holder not as part of a kit? Are there different ranges like the Cokin A P Z's etc?

As you can tell by my babble .. I could do with some assistance

Thanks in advance :)
 
Hi Martin

I have only two ND Grad filters... an ND2 and an ND4, and I really enjoy using them. I purchased the Cokin 'P' series rings, holders and filters online from Surrey Photographic. here's there www site to the link on Cokin filters.

http://www.surreyphotographyshop.co.uk/index.php?cPath=59

You will need to purchase the lens adapter ring - this screws into your lens where an on lens filter would screw into, and the 'P' series adapter holder then slides onto that ring and you can place the filters into the adapter holder.

I found the service to be excellent too.
 
You can ask of course, but if I tell you I'd have to kill you... :) hehe.

I have not seen any colour cast as a result of using the Cokin P set of ND Grads. I'm not an expert though by any means Martin, and some might easily spot what I don't see. I don't use the grads anywhere near as much as I should, and only recently have begun using them as my interest in taking landscape and wide angle shots has increased.

Can colour casts be corrected in PP though...?
 
Thanks again :) I am torn as I currently get by with multi exposure blending in post which does work. I just feel that perhaps I should be doing this in camera? Thanks for the link, they do a set of three as part of a kit which is of very good value. Will await some other opinions before I commit ;)
 
Hi Martin,

I had exactly the same issue trying to understand the filters and finally with help and advice from the peeps on this site i decided to go for the Hitech filters over the Cokin due to comments about the magenta cast/tint when using more than one Cokin at a time.

Here's the link where i bought mine....
http://www.teamworkphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10288

I bought the Cokin P series adapter and holder for £26 as the Hitech filters are compatible, by the way the Hitech holder alone is about £50

Anyway i am rubbish but trying so hard to learn to dont take too much advice from me :LOL:

Here's my first 2 shots using the filters....

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=147776

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=146686

Good luck with your decision

Mike
 
If you want good neutral filter to balance your skys then get lee they are pricey but as they say you pay for what you get thats why the likes of David noton and Joe cornish use them they are the top of there league for filters and I would'nt be with out mine they are a landscape photographers best friend. I use the company www.studiokitdirect.co.uk free delivery as well. Good luck in what you choose
 
Martin,

As I said in a PM I think grads are vital. Before I continue, I really don't know the proper way to use them. Alexisonfire taught me a few things, but he also admitted to me that he just stuck them on and tried to do what felt right.

My style of grad shooting of late has been fairly over the top. Mega dark sky, extreme colour, no real subtle usage at all. As such, if I had to choose which grads to have? I would want a 3 stop soft, and a 3 stop hard. I used a Combo of the two (6 stops) when on Skye. I would use the hard grad and try and line it up with the horizon to ensure a nice darkened sky. I would then take the 3 stop soft, and use it to soften the edge of the hard stop. The great thing about the LEE FILTER system is the size of the grads. You use the 3 stop hard grad as a solid ND, the filters are so big that you can slide the grad area below the area the lens captures, so it is almost like getting two filters in one!!

Another thing worth bearing in mind, most of my photos are shot around sunrise / sunset or extremely warm light. I feel this allows one to be much more creative in terms of colours and extreme usage of ND's.

if I were you, I would personally aim for a 3 stop soft at first. If I could afford, I would then add the 3 stop hard. Eventually, I would perhaps add the 2 and 1 stops, but I hardly use them at the moment, so would not miss them. I find by sliding the 3 stop soft higher, you can reduce the grad effect massively.

I hope this is of some us, I will dig out other threads where I have discussed the same issue.

Gary.
 
Thanks for all the replies :) and cheers Gary for the pm's,

So, I think I have made a decision.

Cokin Wide Angle Filter Holder - £10
Cokin 67mm adapter ring - £10
Hi-Tech Hard Edge Grad - £60

So £80 all in. Can anyone confirm 100% if the Hi-Techs will work with the Cokin 'wide angle' adapter? I am presuming its the same as the normal one, just not quite as deep.
 
Hey Martin,

With the Cokin P holder (I assume this is the wide angle holder you bought) do you have any idea of how wide I could go with a Canon 10-22 before seeing vignetting.

Just wondering whether to go for the Z holder or not:thinking:

... otherwise I think I'll be making the same purchase.

Cheers.
 
Cokin P holder from ebay £6, then i bought some 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 HiTech ND grads £30, a B+W 10 stop from Robert White £66.
Not bad at all for just over 100 quid !
 
I would bite the bullet and go for the Lee holder and a 3 stop soft ND grad. My wife has a saying 'buy cheap, buy twice' though she usually says this when buying shoes:thinking:


I only have the 3 stop soft ND grad for my Lee kit and I dont think that I miss out by only having the one.

Oh and I use it for nearly all my landscapes, sunrises and sunsets included:)
 
EdinburghGary said:
The great thing about the LEE FILTER system is the size of the grads. You use the 3 stop hard grad as a solid ND, the filters are so big that you can slide the grad area below the area the lens captures, so it is almost like getting two filters in one!!
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I was thinking of buying a hard grad as well. What the diameter size of your lens? Can the dark area cover all of a 77mm lens?
 
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