Drop in filters

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Hi,

I've got a number of filters for my lenses, UV, circular polariser, various neutral density filters, all screw in. I've been reading a lot about graduated ND filters for landscapes recently and I would like to have a go. So I need a drop in filter holder and some filters.

I've read that lee filters are the best and the most expensive, cokin is the cheapest but can suffer from colour casts while hitech sits in the middle in terms of price and quality, is this true?

I'm thinking of going for the middle ground and choosing hitech. (I've heard that cokin have gone bust and additional filters may be hard to obtain in the future)

I have found a hitech kit containing the holder and three ND grads for £150. Does this sound reasonable or not?

Also do I want hard or soft edges? I can't afford both so I'm looking for which ever is most versatile.

Thanks!
 
Hi

Thanks for the reply.

The lenses that I will be using the filters with are all 77mm or less so does that mean I would be ok with the 85mm range then?

I had been looking at 100s.

Thanks
 
Naz said:
Hi

Thanks for the reply.

The lenses that I will be using the filters with are all 77mm or less so does that mean I would be ok with the 85mm range then?

I had been looking at 100s.

Thanks
Click to expand...

That will save you in adaptor rings but the real thing you need to look at is how wide your lenses are. If you've got something that goes down to 10mm for example then the regular Cokin or Hitech plastic 3 slot holders will show up in the frame. Cokin do a 1 slot 85mm holder that can take Hitech filters but I'v heard a few people say even that shows up below 12mm plus they seem to be out of stock.

Personally I'v started off with a used tiffen 2 stop 77mm circular grad for my 10-22 and have actually found it very useful. It does limate you a bit but not as I'v often heard said to having every pic 50% land 50% sky, very useful to have in my pocket for the odd shot, the filter frame doesnt vingette and allows me to use the normal lens hood at the same time.
 
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With grads, you'll want the bigger filters, as you move them up and down to ged the grad in the right place, 85mm will be too small I reckon.
The Hitech kit at £150 looks reasonably priced if they are the 100x100. I ordered this kit, but cancelled when I spotted a Lee holder and Lee 100x150mm Soft ND grad kit for the same price on ebay. No brainer really.

Im considering buying the Hitech ND Hard grads, as unless I spot a mega bargain like I did with the softs, I just cant afford the Lee versions at the moment.
 
Oh and I'd go with the Hards to start with. Im struggling in some situations with the softs as you only get the true strength ND at the very top of the filter. The hards are the full strength ND all the way to the cut off point.

The softs really should be redesigned so the are the full strength all the way but only start to get lighter near the very end of the grad.
 
Naz said:
Hi,

I've got a number of filters for my lenses, UV, circular polariser, various neutral density filters, all screw in. I've been reading a lot about graduated ND filters for landscapes recently and I would like to have a go. So I need a drop in filter holder and some filters.

I've read that lee filters are the best and the most expensive, cokin is the cheapest but can suffer from colour casts while hitech sits in the middle in terms of price and quality, is this true?

I'm thinking of going for the middle ground and choosing hitech. (I've heard that cokin have gone bust and additional filters may be hard to obtain in the future)

I have found a hitech kit containing the holder and three ND grads for £150. Does this sound reasonable or not?

Also do I want hard or soft edges? I can't afford both so I'm looking for which ever is most versatile.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Cokin was bought last month by Kenko-Tokina, and will continue business-as-usual production in France. Sounds like good news :)
 
TCR4x4 said:
Oh and I'd go with the Hards to start with. Im struggling in some situations with the softs as you only get the true strength ND at the very top of the filter. The hards are the full strength ND all the way to the cut off point.

The softs really should be redesigned so the are the full strength all the way but only start to get lighter near the very end of the grad.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that hard grads would be more effctive at longer focal lenghts? as you go longer your going to be using a smaller part of the filter so the transitional area on a soft grad will cover more of the image.
 
Moreorless said:
I'm guessing that hard grads would be more effctive at longer focal lengths? as you go longer your going to be using a smaller part of the filter so the transitional area on a soft grad will cover more of the image.
Click to expand...

It's more a case of matching the type of grad to the scene - if you have a nice hard transition from bright to dark (such as sea / sky boundary) then a hard grad is an obvious choice, where the 'edge' is much more random (broken tree line, hills, etc) then a soft may be more suitable to avoid a harsh exposure line cutting across a feature.
 
Faldrax said:
It's more a case of matching the type of grad to the scene - if you have a nice hard transition from bright to dark (such as sea / sky boundary) then a hard grad is an obvious choice, where the 'edge' is much more random (broken tree line, hills, etc) then a soft may be more suitable to avoid a harsh exposure line cutting across a feature.
Click to expand...

Yeah but isnt the camera/focal lenght itself going to have an effect on how hard the grad is aswell as the filter itself? a longer focal lenght will be collecting light from a smaller part of the middle of the filter so the graduation will appear softer. Wouldnt a crop camera naturally make for a softer grad aswell?

With a circular grad I'v actually found thats a good thing since a very soft graduation helps to hide the point it starts, with more accurate slot in grads though I'v heard a few people say that a hard grad on a crop camera gives similar results to a soft one on a FF one.
 
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On the hard/soft thing, the main factor is field of view, as distinct from focal length directly. Basically when you get to 100mm equivalent or so, grads are pretty useless - almost invisible - as they only look through a small portion in the centre of the filter.

There is also a depth of field effect, and high f/numbers make the grad line appear a bit stronger. There is some control with that. Even the distance the filter is held from the lens makes a very marginal change. Not the different slots so much, but if you stick the filter directly to the lens with BluTack as some do, that softens it a bit - puts it very slightly more out of focus.

The other thing is that not all manufacturer's definition of hard and soft is the same. They all vary a bit and HiTech grads I've used are quite a lot harder than Lee for example.
 
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