Lee Filters and grads

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Bruce120

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Hi all,

I want to buy a filter kit as I want misty water without blown skys!

I do not understand what to buy, filter holders etc

I have a Tokina 12-24 77 thread and this would probably be the lens that would get the most use of the filters.

Can someone point me in the direction of what to buy
 
You will need a ND filter to get that effect

At 77mm the holders and filters start to get a little expensive! I have a whole host of them for my 58mm lens's but just a ND grad for my 77mm lens is in the region of 40 pounds! Thats not counting the adapter ring and holder!

But saying that they do work well and if you want to get the shot right in camera then they are prety much essential.

Matt
 
Get a set of Cokin ND Grads to begin with, not as high quality as Lee but a fraction of the price, and still good quality. If you start using them a lot you can buy the Lee system.

You need a 77mm adapter ring (you can get these off e-bay).
A filter holder,
and a few filters.
I started with a 2 stop ND4 grad and a 3 stop ND8 grad.

That's why I say go with Cokin (P series) to start with, 4 lee filters are not cheap.

These are fine if you are shooting in relatively poor light, but if the light is brighter the shutter speeds will not get slow enough to get the effect you want. So you might also want to get a couple of plain ND filters, say an ND4 and/or ND8.

You can stack them up in the filter holder.

Remember you will also need a Tripod and remote release. Go for something sturdy (most spray happens when it is windy) but not too expensive so you won't be worried about getting it covered in sandy salty water.

I often stick my tripod on the surf line, does'nt do any harm just wash off well in fresh water before you close up the legs. It is not the salt water that is the problem, it is sand getting into the upper tubes which can jam the legs.
 
The cokin P system is what I use for my 58mm and is good. But it does not go up to 77mm in size! for that you need the pro Z system and unfortunately the price jumps quite considerably.
 
My Cokin P's fit fine on my 10-22mm which has a 77mm thread? Just needed the wide angle adaptor.
 
Cokin P is no good on a 12mm lens, you'll see the holder in the image!

For LEEs: You'll need the adapter ring (buy the wide angle 77mm, that way you'll get no vignetting), the foundation kit (holder) and then the filters. The soft edge ND grad kit is good for landscapes, or buy the hard edge kit if you shoot scenes with dead-straight horizons like seascapes.
 
You are far better using light rather than filters to achieve this effect, take the shots around the golden hour, just before dawn and/or during sunset, then the light will be low enough to shoot without filters, and the light at this time is far better for this kind of shooting (more luminous+ narrower tonal range)

And as a bonus, you will save a few bob on filters :)
 
Les, I am happy to experiment and will get out there and try I guess you can always blend exposures?
 
Bruce120 said:
I guess you can always blend exposures?
Click to expand...

I don't think you will need to, the tonal range is usually so narrow, that you don't get the extreme highlights and shadows you get during the bright light of day, therefore blending shouldn't be needed.

As always with these kind of shots, expose for the highlights, and pull back the midtones and shadows in PS.
 
Read the Lee (manufacturer) filter book, or the filter book by Lee Frost. That will give you an idea of what to buy AND how to use it to maximum effect
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
Read the Lee (manufacturer) filter book, or the filter book by Lee Frost. That will give you an idea of what to buy AND how to use it to maximum effect
Click to expand...

+1

It's a great book and worth the £10 spend before you invest in the filters (so you work out what you want, rather than what others have bought!)
 
onform said:
The cokin P system is what I use for my 58mm and is good. But it does not go up to 77mm in size! for that you need the pro Z system and unfortunately the price jumps quite considerably.
Click to expand...

That is simply not true. Cokin P system goes all the way up to 82mm lens diameters which covers up pretty much all DSLRs lenses. Their square filter sizes are 85 mm. Only for medium format lenses you'd possibly need to go up for Cokin Z of X-Pro system to cover larger lens diameters. Of course the benefit of a larger system on ultrawide lenses is that it has less chance for vignetting.

I have a Cokin P filter holder and about 10 various filters both Cokin and HiTech (including ND and graduated NDs) and use them on my Sigma 10-20 (77mm thread) and Sigma 24-70 (82mm thread) quite allright.
 
ND (.6 .9 )grads to control any over exposure in parts of the shot.
A polariser to help with bright blue skies and to adjust he waters reflectiveness.
ND standards to slow the shutter speed down to get the "silky smooth" shots.
 
Bruce120 said:
Hi all,

I want to buy a filter kit as I want misty water without blown skys!

I do not understand what to buy, filter holders etc

I have a Tokina 12-24 77 thread and this would probably be the lens that would get the most use of the filters.

Can someone point me in the direction of what to buy
Click to expand...

If all you want is the misty water look, then a single circular ND filter is best. This one, or maybe the 106:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1013508

If you get any slight colour balance problems, which is common with most ND filters, you can dial it out by adjusting the custom white balance of the camera, or do it on post processing.

Much less bulky and cumbersome than a square filter system such as Cokin, the Hoya Pro or B+W filters are higher quality than anything else. You do not NOT want a grad, but you will need a tripod.
 
I started out with the Lee DSLR Starter Kit for around £140 + adaptor ring. I purchased from Robert White who are great to deal with.

Description from the site:
The Digital SLR starter kit includes an assembled filter holder [configured with 2x 2mm resin filter slots], a Hard 0.6 ND grad, a Pro Glass 0.6 ND standard (Pro Glass ND filters are optimised for use with digital cameras, as they absorb more Infra Red and UV light than traditional ND filters and provide a more punchy result and less discolouration in adverse lighting conditions) and a cleaning cloth. These are all packed in the new three filter triple pouch.

I then went on to buy a .9 ND Hard Grad, and full set of soft grads, but I must admit, the basic starter setup is still the most common setup for me. No regrets here!
 
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