What Square filters

[Kev M]

I've got a bit of birthday money in the bank and I've been meaning to buy some filters for a while but as they're not something I've used before other than a UV or CP which have generally been the cheapest I could find I'm not sure where to start.

So, I reckon I want an ND or two, some ND grads and the holder thingies. What's more useful smooth grads or hard grads? What make do I go for?

I've heard of Lee, Hi-Tech, Cokin and Kood filter. Lee are out of my price range so which of the others do I choose from? Luckily I'll only need a 67mm adaptor as all of my lenses have the same filter thread.

And lastly, where's got good prices and good service to get them from?

Cheers,
Kev

 

[arclight]

Very happy with Kood.

I have both smooth and hard grads.
Mostly use the hard, but the shots I have used them on have had quite a distinct horizon.
Sometimes I have stacked hard and soft together.

I got them from 7 day shop. Prices were good.

 

[jerry12953]

I get great natural-looking skies with a polariser and a 1-stop hard grad. If you want drama, then you'll need to go darker than that. But a 2 stop can look like overkill on a normal blue sky with fluffy clouds.

I don't use a filter holder at all, just hold the filter up against the rim of the lens. Its usually OK, but at widest angles I do sometimes get a pink thing across the bottom of the frame, which needs to be cropped out. Not quite sure what it is.

As I use Singh-Ray, which are even more expensive than Lee, I can't advise you on makes!