Choosing really good filters..

Johnny1982

Johnny1982

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Johnny
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I want to start to invest in my long term filter system now after my running with Cokin P series systems.

I want to invest in a good system so I want to go with the LEE system.

Now what are LEE's best filters to buy for the very best performance?
I want to get set of ND grad soft and hard filters. I see they do packs for £130+ in each. Are these the best filters they do?

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1010448
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1010449

I also want to get myself a B&W ND screw in filter so I have been looking at this one
B+W 77mm ND-110 (3.0) SH Filter
or would I be better getting
Lee ProGlass ND0.9 100x100 (square)
I want that mainly so I can get very long exposure of the sea

Please advise?

Johnny
 
Those are the best ND grads that Lee make. I've also heard good things about Singh Ray filtes but I think these are made to order so with that in mind I would stick to the Lee products :p.

For the filters themselves, I've only had a bit of experience with soft ND grads (from HiTech) and have found that the soft transition doesn't really work as well as I thought it would but I think that is because I'm using a DX camera. Quite a well known landscape photographers seem to be in the mind that if you had a choice between hard and soft transition grads to go for the hard ones. As for the choice between screw in and slot in I would go for the slot in filter because it will probably allow you a lot more flexibility.
 
With the screw in filters the Lee is a 3 stop ND (the 0.9 one) while the B+W is a 10 stop ND (3.0 one)

The 10 stop means an exposure of 1 second will take 17 minutes, or a 1/1000th exposure will take 1 second.

This is a fairly extreme effect and is pretty much limited to what you want to use it for, ie. moving water or clouds etc.

I have a 6 stop and 10 stop and find I use them both pretty much equally. The only word of caution is the 10 stop is quite warm, although not unusable in colour if you think it through.

My experience has been on film however, don't know how the sensors cope colour wise with the 10-stops?
 
Well the ND filter is for black n white photogaphy anyway so the color cast isn't an issue. I would be looking for exposures of +5 minuites anyway.
 
Sounds like a 10 stop is for you then (y)

re the Lee filters, they are very nice having borrowed a couple on a recent workshop. I'm looking at the rangefinder set for myself at the moment but struggling to justify the money compared to my expected usage. If you enjoy gradding though they are the dogs danglies
 
Personally I think for an ND filter anything up to three stops is acceptable as a slot in but if you want to go for a much longer exposure then a screw in is probably more suitable to avoid light leaking and causing uneven exposure.

As the the hard/soft decision - with a crop sensor being smaller it makes sense for the transition zone to be smaller (ie a hard transition appears 'soft' due to the crop factor)
 
Johnny1982 said:
I want to start to invest in my long term filter system now after my running with Cokin P series systems.

I want to invest in a good system so I want to go with the LEE system.
Click to expand...

Hi, not sure if I can do this - if not, sorry & please remove moderators :shrug:

I'm just going to start with filters, if you are thinking of selling your Cokin P series, please PM with details, I could be interested. (y)
 
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