Landscape filters, options?

[Cris_L]

Well I'm a portrait tog off on a landscaping trip soon. Obviously I'm going to need some filters but can't really afford to get a full set of Lee filters at £200+ so I'm wondering what alternative options there are..cokin, kood, hi tech etc.
Are most of these types P type, would any square filter fit in a cokin type holder?

Last thing want to do is an injustice to my 5d2 by sticking a nasty filter in front of it but at the same time funds are limited!

 

[LongLensPhotography]

The filters will need to be 100mm at the small edge for 77mm diameter zoom, so P size is completely out of question. It really has to be Lee, or at least hi tech in that size. And they easily scratch... Also think about a decent Hoya or BW CPL and 10-stop. These are made to last a little longer.

 

[Andy77]

Hi cris, i use a set of hi-tech nd grads, there the 100mm ones and work fine 17-55 also a 77mm thread, must agree with daugirdas about a decent c-pol and a nice 10 stopper, i use a hoya hd c-pol and a b&w nd110, you can really transform your images with these alone.....

Andy

 

[nealeholl]

If you're thinking about getting a Big Stopper put your name down now, and you may get it before hell freezes over

 

[dalex_257]

Well I'm a portrait tog off on a landscaping trip soon. Obviously I'm going to need some filters but can't really afford to get a full set of Lee filters at £200+ so I'm wondering what alternative options there are..cokin, kood, hi tech etc.
Are most of these types P type, would any square filter fit in a cokin type holder?

There are a few options out there.

1) Use Cokin P adapter and various filters for it. The company called Formatt does a very good filters in their size - very comparable to Lee and cheaper (they do HiTech filters as well). Some people say that no way you can use P type holder on full frame and wide lenses but I can share my experience with it. Firstly how wide it will go depends very much on a lens construction. On some lenses (Nikon 24-120 for instance) front element is quite large and goes closely to the sides of the lens - Cokin P will vignette there on 24 mm and you would need to take 2 slots off to make it work. However on my 17-35 Nikkor where front element is not as large and is quite far from the sides of the lens it is much better. It does not vignette at all from 21mm and if I saw the front 2 slots off it does not vignette on 17.

I initially followed the advice of Lee Frost - Cokin P holders are relatively cheap so get a few of them and "configure" so you have 2, 3, and full 4 slots versions (by sawing off the front slots) for all your wide lenses.

2) Look for the used prices on Lee holder and filters. I build myself starter Lee system now (Universal hood with 2 slot holder, Lee ND grad set HARD, Lee linear 105mm Polariser) and overall it cost me a lot less than if I would bought everything new. The good places to look for parts of this are large format forums, here on TP and on eBay (the latter is rarely useful now but there are bargains there occasionally). Lee system for me is much more versatile than Cokin (though you pay the premium price for this and it's heavier) and has more advantages - like using holder combined with the hood, larger filters allow to go even wider and ability to do non-intrusive changes to reconfigure the slots and their number to your needs.