Circular ND grad worth while?

bass_junkie83

bass_junkie83

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Dave
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Off to Turkey soon, and one thing i am a bit wary about is how bright it may be, and i'm seriously considering if it will be worth keeping a grad filter in the bag, just in case.

As much as i like landscape photos, it's not really something i have had the time to get into myself, and as such i don't have any filters, other than a CPL.

I don't have the funds to invest into a filter system right now, but would a circular grad filter, such as this be a worth while stop gap?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/77mm-Graduate...es_CameraLensesFilters_JN&hash=item415524c124
 
Is it just me or is there no picture on that eBay sale that would put me off personally

If your on a really tight budget have you considered the Colin P Series they are not perfect but I am sure you could get say a ND8grad, holder and lens ring for about £35ish and I think I would rather go for that over a circular ND Grad for the simple reason it would give me flexibility on where the grad tint start in frame i.e. If I want 2/3 sky or 1/3 sky you get the shot framed up and just slide the grad to the correct position

Matt
MWHCVT
 
I saw the cokin versions. But the first review i saw was someone using a 17-40 lens, same as i will be using, who said the filter holder intrudes into the shot at anything below 28mm.

But i guess that is less of a problem than not being able to set the height of the horizon.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
I saw the cokin versions. But the first review i saw was someone using a 17-40 lens, same as i will be using, who said the filter holder intrudes into the shot at anything below 28mm.

But i guess that is less of a problem than not being able to set the height of the horizon.
Click to expand...

I have heard this too but I believe this is if you are using the holder that can hold 3 filters I believe there is one out there that only hold 1 filter so the assembly protrudes a shorter distance from the lens and should stop that issue

I may be wrong on that point though as it has been heard of me being wrong in the past ;)
 
I'm actually considering taking this route as a first step into grads aswell. Not so much in terms of cost but rather convenience and getting a better idea of what I want. The ability to just pocket a filter and screw it on it seconds with the normal lens hood is very tempting.

Its hard to tell for sure but the impression I get looking at pics on the net is that most circular grads(Tiffen, B&W etc) seem to be alot more defuse than soft edge square filters...

http://www.tiffen.com/hi-res/color-grad_nd.6.jpg

Maybe its just a trick played by its size and only being the "middle" of a square one but to me it looks like thats halway between a soft grad and a blender grad.

What would that mean? somewhat more freedom with positioning but somewhat less precision?
 
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