Lee launch 'Big Stopper'

Only issue I can see is light leaking between the filter and the lens
 
Wouldn`t even bother paying £10 for it cos you know it aint gonna work as good as a screw in filter, waste of time.
 
Will continue with my £1.30 welding glass me thinks!!!!
 
I fancy one of these for my Lee filter system. Much easier than the screw in B&W I have.

Must look into this next week at Focus. Lee will be there so I'll ask about the light leak issue.
 
RichardtheSane said:
What are the optics like on welding glass?

Surely it won't be up to photographic standards?
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Surprisingly good actually! Have a look in the thread on here for LOADS of examples, I was very surprised!

Only thing is you really have to watch for flare, they're not exactly designed to minimise it!

This Lee one sounds interesting, but i'd also like to know about the light leaking issues...
 
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It was only a matter of time before they copied my welding glass :lol: :p
 
I prefer this compared to the screw-in types as it would be easier to compose, focus and place the filter.

Of course all this if there are no issues about light leakage..
 
I was at Focus on Imaging yesterday & after speaking with Lee I was persuaded to buy one. I currently use a 77mm B+W ND110, but its a pain in the arse having to put the Lee system on, position the grad, then remove it all to add the ND110. The Big stopper has a foam seal that goes around each edge of the filter on one side & when placed in slot 1 it forms a light seal against the filter holder. If it works (which Im sure it will as Lee dont sell crap) it will be a lot easier to use than the ND110.
 
Bristol Bound said:
I was at Focus on Imaging yesterday & after speaking with Lee I was persuaded to buy one. I currently use a 77mm B+W ND110, but its a pain in the arse having to put the Lee system on, position the grad, then remove it all to add the ND110. The Big stopper has a foam seal that goes around each edge of the filter on one side & when placed in slot 1 it forms a light seal against the filter holder. If it works (which Im sure it will as Lee dont sell crap) it will be a lot easier to use than the ND110.
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Is slot 1 nearest lens or furthest away from lens?
 
Nearest the lens. It sits snug against the back of the filter holder and has to be in this slot to avoid light leakage. They also said it was much more fragile than the pro glass so be careful with it (maybe they thought I looked clumsy).
 
Bristol Bound said:
I was at Focus on Imaging yesterday & after speaking with Lee I was persuaded to buy one. I currently use a 77mm B+W ND110, but its a pain in the arse having to put the Lee system on, position the grad, then remove it all to add the ND110. The Big stopper has a foam seal that goes around each edge of the filter on one side & when placed in slot 1 it forms a light seal against the filter holder. If it works (which Im sure it will as Lee dont sell crap) it will be a lot easier to use than the ND110.
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that's great news. looking forward to some reviews before I buy one :thumbs:
 
existent said:
that's great news. looking forward to some reviews before I buy one :thumbs:
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Can't provide a review, but I had a good look at the Big Stopper at Focus. I think Lee have made a nice job of fixing the light leak problem with that slim layer of foam which mates snugly but slides in quickly and easily. V simple but works.

It's glass (not resin/acrylic/polywhatever) and made for them by a third party. It's uncoated unfortunately but then so are all the others except the Hoya X400 nine-stops which is screw-in and special order only.

I asked about colour neutrality and the guy said it had a very slight blue tint but I think he was being critical/honest. When I look through my B+W ten-stopper you can see the slightly orange tint in that quite easily but in practise you don't really notice it without doing a direct with/without comparison. I couldn't see any significant colour shift with the Lee one - not at all scientific but it must be fairly close to neutral.

Don't think you can go far wrong with it. Lee Big Stopper :thumbs:
 
I'm very interested to see what the Lee 10-stop is like as I too am fed up of having to compose, line up filters, remove, put on B+W ND110 etc etc...
 
For those wondering about light leakage with the big stopper, when used with the Lee foundation kit holders it won't leak light when placed in the inner filter slot closest to the lens because these holders are sealed around the edges.
 
Had a look at this today, looked good, looks like the light seal issue has been addressed well to me, as Hoppy said, the guy shoeing it to me mentioned it may come out a bit cold, but they did have a pano on the display taken with it, was told it was straight out of the cam, looked a tad cold, but nothing too bad and easily corrected in PP, was so impressed wanted to buy on, but could not find any in stock, will be getting one of these soon though :D
 
Bristol Bound said:
I was at Focus on Imaging yesterday & after speaking with Lee I was persuaded to buy one. I currently use a 77mm B+W ND110, but its a pain in the arse having to put the Lee system on, position the grad, then remove it all to add the ND110. The Big stopper has a foam seal that goes around each edge of the filter on one side & when placed in slot 1 it forms a light seal against the filter holder. If it works (which Im sure it will as Lee dont sell crap) it will be a lot easier to use than the ND110.
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If you decide to sell the B & W ND110, I would be interested. :thumbs:


Kev.
 
Bendihossan said:
For those wondering about light leakage with the big stopper, when used with the Lee foundation kit holders it won't leak light when placed in the inner filter slot closest to the lens because these holders are sealed around the edges.
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Interesting, how do you get the filter in the slot then !!!!
Hope some one buys one soon and let's us all know.
Will the foam last ?
I have several Lee holders and wil probably convert one just for this filter if
it works well (no bad colour casts) I would have thought sliding the filter in and out of the holder would wear the foam out !
C
 
Ceejay said:
Interesting, how do you get the filter in the slot then !!!!
Hope some one buys one soon and let's us all know.
Will the foam last ?
I have several Lee holders and wil probably convert one just for this filter if
it works well (no bad colour casts) I would have thought sliding the filter in and out of the holder would wear the foam out !
C
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I wouldn't worry CJ. The foam is quite fine and dense but also smooth. Only about 1mm thick (guessing) and about 1cm wide, with shamfered edges. It slides in easily with just enough pressure to seal.

It will last well I think, given the kind of delicate handling you give to filters anyway. If not, I'm sure those nice people at Lee will renew it for you.

I'm going to test it with an actual photo today, to check the colour, but I'm confident that it is at least as good or better than anything else currently available, in either square mount or screw fit. I will also see how the sample they have on the stand is holding up to wear, it must have been slotted in and out a thousand times by now.
 
They slid it in for me Yesterday, could not see any signs of wear on it :D

HoppyUK said:
I wouldn't worry CJ. The foam is quite fine and dense but also smooth. Only about 1mm thick (guessing) and about 1cm wide, with shamfered edges. It slides in easily with just enough pressure to seal.

It will last well I think, given the kind of delicate handling you give to filters anyway. If not, I'm sure those nice people at Lee will renew it for you.

I'm going to test it with an actual photo today, to check the colour, but I'm confident that it is at least as good or better than anything else currently available, in either square mount or screw fit. I will also see how the sample they have on the stand is holding up to wear, it must have been slotted in and out a thousand times by now.
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Richard,
Thanks for the info. After the day I've had at Seacliff looking forward to actual user reports on this filter, then my B/W 77mm will be up for sale.
C
 
Had a play with the 'big stopper' at Focus yesterday. Looked pretty good, and the light seal problem seems to have been adequately solved with the foam gasket. It was also interesting to hear and see that it had a very faint blue cast as opposed to the warming cast of my current B&W. It's also nice to see that it comes in glass rather than the resin of the Lee grads.
 
Ceejay said:
Richard,
Thanks for the info. After the day I've had at Seacliff looking forward to actual user reports on this filter, then my B/W 77mm will be up for sale.
C
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I had a proper go with the Lee today. The foam backing is perfectly intact after four days of the show. It's actually very thin, more like a gasket as MK says, about 1/2mm and 5mm wide. Any problems, they say they'll fix it for you but I don't think that's a worry.

In addition to what I posted earlier, the guy told me they are made for them in Asia by hand and there may be slight batch variations. However, he said it was typically a smidge over ten stops and a little 'cool' but that was the best they could get after a long search.

So I tried it, with white balance locked on tungsten, and took a few snaps of their white display wall, then compared it to my B+W ten stopper. It is very slightly blue, but less blue than the B+W is orange if you follow. Really very minor. A good result I think :thumbs: I reckon it is 10.5 stops, just like my copy of the B+W. I also liked the way the Lee holder retaining spring-clip pops on and off very easily, so you don't have to slide it in and out and when setting up.

However, while I'm on this obsessive ND thing, I stopped by the Premier-Ink stand and had a fiddle with their brand new variable ND filter - the Light Craft Fader ND 2-8 stops. It works by rotating two polarising filters against eachother. Have to say I was very impressed and bought one on the spot - 77mm for £80. If it's as good as I think it is, that's a bargain and I can see this filter being very popular indeed :)

It looks well designed and well made, and easy-peezy to use - just rotate it against the engraved scale. Piece of cake to turn it open for setting up, and then down again for shooting. The 77mm version I want was sold out but I'm assured it does not vignette with a 17mm lens on full-frame even though it's thicker than a normal filter, due to the tapered design which is 77mm extending to 82mm outer thread. They supply a nice replacement lens cap, which is good. You can still use a lens hood by fitting the hood first then screwing the filter on second. Should work fine.

Best of all, this was the most netral ND filter I have tried so far. Basically, it's so close to neutral you can forget it. I was concerned about flare, having four uncoated surfaces which doesn't bode well, but pointing it at the bright show lights and doing comparison pictures with and without the filter, well, there was a just-perceptable difference. Need to take a closer look at that but TBH I gave it a pretty good go and it performed well. Bright sun may be different but it was good enough for me to buy one.

I didn't get to check the polarising effect, assuming that it has to have one.

This is it http://www.premier-ink.co.uk/photog...-craft-workshop-77mm-fader-filter-p-2828.html
 
HoppyUK said:
Best of all, this was the most netral ND filter I have tried so far. Basically, it's so close to neutral you can forget it. I was concerned about flare, having four uncoated surfaces which doesn't bode well, but pointing it at the bright show lights and doing comparison pictures with and without the filter, well, there was a just-perceptable difference. Need to take a closer look at that but TBH I gave it a pretty good go and it performed well. Bright sun may be different but it was good enough for me to buy one.

I didn't get to check the polarising effect, assuming that it has to have one.

This is it http://www.premier-ink.co.uk/photog...-craft-workshop-77mm-fader-filter-p-2828.html
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I was thinking of getting this one for a while now as it seemed to be a cheaper and more accessible version of Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter but was waiting for a review like that. Thanks Richard.
 
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