Hard or soft grad if only one?

Ajf350d

Ajf350d

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Name
Andrew
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I want to get a couple of good quality Lee ND filters for my shiny M43 setup :)
I don't have specific landscape scenes in mind, but have used my previous Cokin ones enough to decide it is worth the investment.

Thing is, which type has the most flexibility to get good results, the hard or soft ones?
I am guessing the soft but wanted some opinions before I spend!
I would probably get 0.6 and 0.9.
 
Soft grads cover most of my needs, I rarely shoot landscapes with a flat defined horizon (seascapes for example).
O.6 & 0.9 is a good choice in my view.
 
I had the same question when I purchased some nd grads recently. I had a read of the lee filters website that gave the following advice:

Precise creative control
There is a place in landscape photography for both hard and soft grads. Which one you decide to use will depend mainly on the subject matter of your image.

As a general rule, a hard grad would be used for images containing a horizon, or any hard transition between the sky and the foreground - even with jagged or mountainous horizons, the exposure can be controlled far easier with a hard grad.

Soft grads perform best in woodland, mist, or interiors. Anywhere where there is no definite transition between sky and foreground, a soft grad will gently balance exposure across the image.

http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera/ndgrads

It kind of went against my thinking where I thought broken horizons would suit soft grads best. I went with a 0.6 and 0.9 hard grad, I'm probably going to purchase the 0.6 and 0.9 soft grad some time but not yet. I also use the hard nd grad with a fx lens on a dx crop camera but I'm not sure what difference that makes, I'm guessing I don't use the whole of filter so the transition is not as hard (covers a larger area of the cropped sensor) as it would be on fx camera/fx lens.
 
Afraid I am going to drag this thread kicking and screaming to the top again :)
About to purchase but decided I need to build up gradually. On reflection I think a Little or Big Stopper would be useful. Probably get the Big Stopper?
So with that I want to get ONE ND Hard Grad.
Would the 0.6 or 0.9 be the most flexible here?
I have Lightroom anyway so think maybe the 0.6 would be OK and any over exposure could then be edited in Lightroom?
 
Little stopper. Sometimes the big stopper is overkill, I rarely use mine.
I have never owned hard grads, always manage fine with soft.
If only buying one grad get 0.6.
 
0.6 it is then :)
Consensus here and reading articles and speaking to dealers, still seems to be hard as the best all round.
I know if probably doesn't make a huge difference but at Lee prices I want to get it right!
I wondered about the Big Stopper. Might play safe then and go Little.
I am going to Wales shortly anyway and it is bound to be cloudy and wet so the extra stops probably aren't an issue.:p
Hopefully Devils Bridge and Rhayader.
 
Ajf350d said:
I am going to Wales shortly anyway and it is bound to be cloudy and wet so the extra stops probably aren't an issue.:p
Hopefully Devils Bridge and Rhayader.
Click to expand...

How dare you! it's always lovely here in mid-Wales! Seriously it's been a fabulous summer so far.

Actually I think you are being very sensible about your filter purchases. People sometimes buy "a set" because they think they ought to and I bet most of them never get used. It's worth mentioning that if you're planning on using a big or little stopper to photograph waterfalls - it's not really worth it. The best light for doing waterfalls is overcast, and using a polariser and 100 ASA will give you exposures in the region of 1/2 sec @ f16. This will give you a good depth of field and very attractive flow to the water .
 
Sorry, that was un called for :)
I actually went to North Wales last year and it was hotter and sunnier than here in Worcestershire!
Actually looks like the forecast may be about right for photography though, but you've raised a point as I don't currently have a polariser....
Certainly not goong for the Lee one. The Seven5 filter is £200 TWO HUNDRED pounds:eek:
I think it may be platinum or something.

I guess the Stopper is better for flowing water such as rivers and sea?
 
Last edited:
Ajf350d said:
Sorry, that was un called for :)
I actually went to North Wales last year and it was hotter and sunnier than here in Worcestershire!
Actually looks like the forecast may be about right for photography though, but you've raised a point as I don't currently have a polariser....
Certainly not goong for the Lee one. The Seven5 filter is £200 TWO HUNDRED pounds:eek:
I think it may be platinum or something.

I guess the Stopper is better for flowing water such as rivers and sea?
Click to expand...


I've got pretty strong views on (big) stoppers. I hardly ever use mine, and on here anyway people seem to use them just for the sake of it. In my opinion they're a bit of a one-trick pony. But a polariser is absolutely essential, in my opinion.

For more opinions on (big) stoppers click on this link......

http://wp.me/p2BFlt-8R
 
Hi Andrew
I have used Lee grads for some time now both hard and soft, when I owned Olympus 4/3rds cameras I found I used the hard ones more, since changing to a full frame system the opposite is the case, I have no idea why this is so but that is just how it seems to be working out,
As for the big stopper again I have used one for a while and although I really like the affect it has on my images it can be a bit over the top sometimes so I have just ordered a little stopper to see how I get on with that .

Regards Bob
 
As Andrew mentions for your camera a hard grad would work fine as the grad-line will be far less obvious than you might think, if you might move to FF in future though you'll probably find yourself using both although I use a Soft edge far more than HE. I'd also recommend a 2 stop.. best compromise, I find 3 can be a bit heavy.

10 stops are a love/hate filter.. I have one but don't use it too often, I look at it as an "arty" option in my kitbag but not an essential one.. much more useful is the 4 stop I have which works great for waterfalls etc., as Marie says the 10 stopper is usual overkill for those shots.

The polariser is useful but must admit I seem to be using mine less and less now, certainly for colour saturation, now use it mainly for killing reflections/glare on water

Simon
 
Well, I've gone with the Lee Seven5 Starter kit which includes a 0.6 Hard Grad and I also purchased a B+W Circular Polariser.
One thing the place I got them pointed out, which I hadn't though about was that they don't recommend having the polariser BEHIND the ND Grad.
Not a deal breaker anyway as i think I am likely to use them separately.
Might even be able to make up a holder to put the polariser on the front of the Lee holder!

I'll see how these go and add others if I need them. Decided to hold off on the 'stopper' pretty much for the reasons above. There are only a few instances I would likely use it, compared to the ND Grads/Polariser.
 
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