Filter holders and filters, Worth it?

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Ant

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Anthony
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So Basically, i'm just asking everyone what they think about filters, and the holders. Do you use them? If so, how often, and do you think its worth getting a set of filters?

I'm on the brink of ordering a cokin p-holder and filters, and i'm wondering whether it'll be worth it.
 
Absolutely :D. I bought a Kood set a few weeks back, with a selection of grads, and shooting anything with a sky in it has taken on a new dimension :). Having an ND4 also afforded the opportunity for some milky waterfall shots too :). Where are you buying from? I can recommend Crooked Imaging for price and speed of despatch :)
 
I'm one of those who thinks that every lens should have a "lens protector" filter on at all times to protect the front element - i.e. skylight or UV filter.

The two filters that will produce effects that can't be achieved in Photoshop are a polariser and graduated neutral density.

Go for a decent make (e.g. Hoya) and don't buy off eBay, you'll end up with fakes.

A.
 
the cokin system is not to expensive for you to try and there will be enough people on here to take them off your hands if you dont get on with them.

basic kit should be:
holder
step ring
couple of different step grads
couple of ND

then if that works for you, pick up a polariser to go with it.

remember they dont work with hoods so be wary of flaring
 
33L said:
remember they dont work with hoods so be wary of flaring
Click to expand...

I saw a rectangular hood in one of the mags last month that is designed to fit on the front of the filter holder :)
 
Ant said:
I'm on the brink of ordering a cokin p-holder and filters, and i'm wondering whether it'll be worth it.
Click to expand...

Probably depends on what you shoot. Lately, I'd give my left leg for some ND and ND grads as i'm struggling to get slow enough shutterspeeds even at f/32 and I seem to be doing more and more blending of multiple exposures.
 
When taken in the context of the vast amount of gear that most of us lug around with us and which proves to be dead weight because it hardly ever comes out of the bag, a few filters are lighter, smaller and a lot more useful.

For general work all you need is a polariser, a couple of grads and a couple of ND. Of course dinosaurs like me also need red, orange and yellow filters for black & white film work.
 
68lbs said:
I saw a rectangular hood in one of the mags last month that is designed to fit on the front of the filter holder :)
Click to expand...

yeah there is a cokin hood for them, i was referring more to the lens hood. I dont know how well the cokin hoods work and are they adjustable for different focal lengths.
 
Anorakus said:
The two filters that will produce effects that can't be achieved in Photoshop are a polariser and graduated neutral density.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Don't buy cheap "ND grads" like Cokin as they will introduce a colour cast. The top pro's seem to use Lee, although personally I had problems with Lee ND grads a few years ago.

In my opinion its not necessary to use a filter holder with ND grads. You can hold the filter lightly against the rim of the lens as you take the pic. Its easy with the camera on a tripod, possible with practice hand held!:)
 
cokins have been known for their colour cast but i remember reading that that may have been corrected recently.
At the end of the day their kit is cheap enough to have a go and flog when upgrading to better kit. The Lee/Kood filters can work in the cokin p holders iirc.
 
jerry12953 said:
Agreed. Don't buy cheap "ND grads" like Cokin as they will introduce a colour cast. The top pro's seem to use Lee, although personally I had problems with Lee ND grads a few years ago.

In my opinion its not necessary to use a filter holder with ND grads. You can hold the filter lightly against the rim of the lens as you take the pic. Its easy with the camera on a tripod, possible with practice hand held!:)
Click to expand...

Interesting you mention about a colour cast with Cokin grads. I have recently got a set of ND 2, 4 & 8 grads, with a holder and adaptors. I can't say I have noticed a colour cast. (cokin P system)

Now I have gone down the route of a holder and filters, I will never go back.There is so much more flexibility compared to that of ones that screw onto the lens thread. You don't have to but a new filter for each thread size for a start, only a cheap adaptor for the holder.
 
Rob.7wood said:
Interesting you mention about a colour cast with Cokin grads. I have recently got a set of ND 2, 4 & 8 grads, with a holder and adaptors. I can't say I have noticed a colour cast. (cokin P system)
Click to expand...

I'm only going on what other people say. I've never used Cokin myself. Maybe I'm out of date.;)
 
lee's and singh-rays for fancy top end, cokins and hi-techs for a step down yet very capable alternative...you pays your money and gets what you got
 
Well, thanks everyone.

Just been to jacobs in liverpool, and got myself 82 and 67mm ring, cokin p filter holder, and an nd8 grad filter for now.

Can't afford anything else atm.

i'll have a play some day this week, once everything stops being grey.
 
If you can afford it, the Lee filters are very good. Two reasons why they are more expensive than say Cokin are quality and the fact that the filters are much bigger.

Is size important? Well, if you aspire to using a wide angle lens such as a 10-22mm lens on cropped sensor or 16mm on full-frame, then I can guarantee that if you buy 85mm filters such as Cokins, Hi-tecs or whatever, you may regret it as they will vignette. You can work around this problem with non-graduated filters by rotating the holder through 90 degrees.
It's much less likely that the Lees will vignette by virtue of the fact that the holder is much bigger. You can also add/remove filter slots as your needs change.

If, however, you intend to only use modes wideangles, then this is less of a problem.

On the subject of lens hoods, I have a Camera Bellows hood that fits a Cokin P series holder. It's OK but one thing I started to use with my large format camera was something called a flare buster. Basically, this is a square or oblong card on the end of a flexible arm that is used to cast a shadow over the lens, thereby eliminating any flare. The same thing can be done with something like a grey card which you hold over the lens out of shot (obviously) and so that it casts a shadow over the lens.
 
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