Budget nd filters

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Ferj

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I'm looking at buying a 1 or 2 budget second hand nd grads for landscapes is cokin the best/only option or is there an alternative? Also 1 or 2,3 stops which is a priority? I'm pretty skint so I know Lee offers better quality but I have to be realistic! Will need a 62mm adapter & holder too so need to factor this into my minimal budget!
 
OK thanks, doing a bit more research there's people saying they've ditched grads etc for simply shooting multiple exposures and combining I guess like HDR as this prevents carrying grads that get scratches etc and prevents colour casts. In my mind this makes sense, but is it as cut and dried as that?
 
I've probably drunk too much to be driving a keyboard but all these things have their place. Some things can't be exposure blended, e.g. tress blowing about in the breeze and blending generally means you need to carry a tripod. Grads are not so good if there is not a straight-ish line separating the bright from the dark, e.g. a tall building or single mountain in the middle of the shot. Personally I use grads a lot more than I combine multiple shots but as you say others have a different view.
 
Grads help you to get the best out of the camera dynamic range, but in a lot of scenarios depending on the camera, modern sensor shadow recovery can be excellent if you ETTR, so negating the use of a Grad, or you can take multiple exposures and do a 'light' HDR. All different tools, and all useful to have available.

SRB filters are as @sirch says good value, especially in the 1,23 stop arena, their 10 stop full ND has a significant magenta colour cast though.
 
Well I took a look at their site and took a punt on the nd soft grad kit for £45. Seemed reasonable and I can shoot in camera rather than having to rely on merging images etc!
 
sirch said:
Personally I use grads a lot more than I combine multiple shot
Click to expand...

Me too. Both have their uses, but I prefer grads because I like trees and trees very often move in-between multiple exposures which makes blending difficult. Water can also be a problem especially if it's rippling or got ducks on it. You then need to go into photoshop and start masking the layers - which is time consuming. If you like that sort of thing, that's fine, but I don't.
 
Another vote for SRB. But unlike @Mr Perspective I have found no colour cast from the SRB 10stop. But mixing rheir NDs and Grads with give a strong cast in my experience
 
MrDrizz said:
Another vote for SRB. But unlike @Mr Perspective I have found no colour cast from the SRB 10stop. But mixing rheir NDs and Grads with give a strong cast in my experience
Click to expand...
Me too, I have found no significant colour cast with their 10 stop, or at least nothing that AWB can't cope with, by which I mean the WB on the RAW is usually pretty much spot on if I use AWB with the SRB 10 stop, I can't recall using any other WB setting with a stopper so I wouldn't really know if there is a general tint
 
CoKin Nuances are rather good I have a 5 and 10 stop considerably better than the Hitech IRND pro (not Firecrest) filters I have.
I read an Amatuer Photographer article and they stated the Nuances filter had less colour cast than a Lee 10 stop they tested side by side with.

Here is a comparrison of my Cokin Nuances 5 stop filter and No filter though both have a Hitech 0.6 SE ND grad fitted

5 stop filter fitted

Cokin Nuances 5 stop by Alf Branch, on Flickr

No ND filter

No filter by Alf Branch, on Flickr
 
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SRB I have there Camidox CPro but don't think they do it any more but still available on flea bay it does warm the image a tad. I think some of the others 10 stoppers are very good value too and although have some cast it very easy to deal with. As for grads I do have Lee Grads but have found I use them less and less nowadays Of course it does also depend on the dynamic range of your camera but tbh It's very easy to blend two images in PS than faffing about with a grad and missing a shot because I've been pouncing around. Then if you have something like a tree or light house in the frame then you still have to faff in post anyhow.

If you have fleeting light or your chasing the light, faffing with grads can mean missing the shot, I have numerous times now I'd rather have the shot than miss it.

It is horses for courses, good to have grads if you have them, all a part of the armory to get the job done but it's not imperative to have them and if your on a budget....
 
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