Just one ND soft grad ... Which one?

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Hi, I've been using a cheapo set of ND grads and am sick of the horrible purple cast that they impart, particularly on clouds/skies. I am now thinking about getting just one decent filter and have been looking at Hitechs and Lees. I have a Canon 7d and was reading that the camera is not great with infra reds(?) and that is a large part of the problem with some filter brands... Hitech was mentioned. I'm not 100% sure if this is the case and would like to hear from anyone that has a view/experience on this. Based on this, I am now leaning towards getting a Lee filter. Being a complete landscape novice, I have tended to mainly use my cheapo 3 stop grad for the sunset coastal shots that I've taken, and this has produced exposures not too far off. I have noticed that the effect of the 3 stopper is a little strong on clouds sometimes. Bearing this in mind, I'm wondering what you more experienced lanscape photographers would choose if you could only buy one grad. I am thinking that maybe the Lee 0.75 (2.5 stop) ND soft grad would be the most versatile and am leaning towards getting this.

I'd appreciate your thoughts please.

Cheers in advance.
 
ND6 / 3 Stop soft, by far the most useful on digital. I used to use an ND2 and an ND4 stacked to create a customisable two stage grad, worked a treat! They were Kood grads in Cokin P size. These days I'm using Fake Lee 0.9 and 0.3 soft grads, though it's still the 0.9 (3 stop) that gets the most use, It's rarely worth me getting the 1 stop one out.
 
Sorry to come in late on this but my Lee 0.6 (2 stop) hard grad is the filter I use the most. I have a good selection of Lee Filters and if I could only take one filter with me, it would be the 0.6.

The trouble with a 0.9 (3 stop) is, in some situations it will make the sky darker than the ground/water. Never a good natural look. It can also cause heavy vignetting.
 
Merc said:
The trouble with a 0.9 (3 stop) is, in some situations it will make the sky darker than the ground/water. Never a good natural look. It can also cause heavy vignetting.
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That's why you have to meter to use the correct grad!

My most used is the 3 stop soft, but I only tend to use grads when there's a massive difference between sky and foreground, as I use PP to darken the sky and as long as the sky isn't too bright or the ground too dark things work out OK. Perhaps my technique would be a bit difference if I'd learnt Photography on slide film...
 
redddraggon said:
That's why you have to meter to use the correct grad!

My most used is the 3 stop soft, but I only tend to use grads when there's a massive difference between sky and foreground, as I use PP to darken the sky and as long as the sky isn't too bright or the ground too dark things work out OK. Perhaps my technique would be a bit difference if I'd learnt Photography on slide film...
Click to expand...

I do meter! And as said MY most used grad is a 0.6.

Oh, I did learn with slide.

If you'd read what I wrote properly maybe you'd understand what I meant. Maybe it was the way I wrote it? The OP asked for advice on one grad. I find the 0.6 the most useful. A friend of mine runs Lee workshops and he'll tell you the same thing.

Most of the shots with a large dynamic range on here http://www.flickr.com/photos/36686662@N00/ were shot with a 0.6.
 
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It depends. If shooting BW long exposures over water I'll use a 3 stop. If I shoot a normal colour exposure then I 'll use a 2 stop.
 
Merc said:
I do meter! And as said MY most used grad is a 0.6.

Oh, I did learn with slide.

If you'd read what I wrote properly maybe you'd understand what I meant. Maybe it was the way I wrote it? The OP asked for advice on one grad. I find the 0.6 the most useful. A friend of mine runs Lee workshops and he'll tell you the same thing.

Most of the shots with a large dynamic range on here http://www.flickr.com/photos/36686662@N00/ were shot with a 0.6.
Click to expand...

I think he picked up on the "can cause heavy vignetting" bit (I may be wrong). You're right it can cause a DR imbalance between sky and ground (the unnatural look you mention) and sometimes (for me) this is desired. Having said that, a grad filter can only cause vignetting if you underexpose.
 
dandeakin said:
My most used is the 2 stop hard grad. I've got a 3 stop, but it often seems abit over the top for a lot of my images, unless the sun is directly in the frame.
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Dan, please do us all a favour and stop digging up old posts - this one was last posted to in july 2013 before you excavated it....
 
In use is there much difference between a hard and soft grad ? I use Lee seven5 soft grads, and for me the only that generally has a noticeable effect is the 0.9, I've yet to use the 0.3.
 
My most used is a 0.9 (3 stop) hard grad.In my experience it's definitely worth having both hard and soft grads, and if I only had one of each, they'd both be 0.9.
 
Very old thread resurrected again, the original question dates back to June 2013.
Still helpful for some I guess.
 
+1 for 0.6 hard grad too. Although 0.9 hard grad is most useful for sunsets.
 
It might be an old post but it is interesting to see the results
Im not sure what Lees I have other than a 10 stopper
 
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