Resin filter has warped - anyone else experienced similar?

Tom Pinchenzo

Tom Pinchenzo

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Tom
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I have a Lee 100mm resin filter (Nd grad), which lives in the little material wallet thing it came with in my camera bag. I got it out yesterday to use and noticed it had warped fairly badly. It was difficult to get in the slot but I managed. I don’t know if it there was something pushing against it and it has just stayed in that position or if it’s something larger resin filters do...

Is there a way of unwarping it and should I be storing it differently?

Cheers,
Tom
 
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Almost certainly nothing you can do.
But even before this happens, they are likely to fade or change colour over time leading to colour casts. My last "surviving" Lee one looks shockingly bad now.

I suggest to look into Lightroom local adjustments and multiple exposure blending. This not only saves £££ but also produces much greater IQ.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Almost certainly nothing you can do.
But even before this happens, they are likely to fade or change colour over time leading to colour casts. My last "surviving" Lee one looks shockingly bad now.

I suggest to look into Lightroom local adjustments and multiple exposure blending. This not only saves £££ but also produces much greater IQ.
Click to expand...

I’m working on it. I tried the ol’ HDR before investing in any filters but found it came out looking sh*t. I’ve been trying to do luminosity masks with multiple exposures on Gimp with varying success. I find the edge between light and dark bits or foreground and background never looks very good. Always with a weird light-coloured line. Also I can never get it to work very if there’s trees or vegetation moving.
 
Box Brownie said:
It seems you are not the first to have an issue!

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/lee-filters-are-warped-can-they-be-fixed.423994/

As I read it they need great care in respect of storage and higher temperatures.

Though one poster in the link apparently did flatten them.

PS and Lee say this about storage
https://leefilters.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/43292-how-do-i-store-lee-resin-filters
Click to expand...

This makes sense - I’ve left my camera bag in my car a few times when it’s been hot. I’ll try to flatten them with boiling water. Eek!
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
I’m working on it. I tried the ol’ HDR before investing in any filters but found it came out looking sh*t. I’ve been trying to do luminosity masks with multiple exposures on Gimp with varying success. I find the edge between light and dark bits or foreground and background never looks very good. Always with a weird light-coloured line. Also I can never get it to work very if there’s trees or vegetation moving.
Click to expand...

The problem with "HDR" is tonemapping that ruins in. Lightroom doesn't do any of it. It only extends the file for further processing.

You may find Gimp is a little out of date with modern tweaks like this, but you could still probably get away with it. The key to a lot of local adjustments is smooth and broad transition, just like your physical filter doesn't go from clear to full density grey instantly.
Try a simple soft grad adjustment first by adding adjustment layer in darken or multiply mode and using gradient tool from transparent to black, and set adjustment layer opacity accordingly. You can then mask it as desired.
Photoshop or Lightroom would allow you to set further blending parameters depending on either layer brightness or colour, etc.

You can actually do so much and in so many different ways, just need to get your head round it.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
The problem with "HDR" is tonemapping that ruins in. Lightroom doesn't do any of it. It only extends the file for further processing.

You may find Gimp is a little out of date with modern tweaks like this, but you could still probably get away with it. The key to a lot of local adjustments is smooth and broad transition, just like your physical filter doesn't go from clear to full density grey instantly.
Try a simple soft grad adjustment first by adding adjustment layer in darken or multiply mode and using gradient tool from transparent to black, and set adjustment layer opacity accordingly. You can then mask it as desired.
Photoshop or Lightroom would allow you to set further blending parameters depending on either layer brightness or colour, etc.

You can actually do so much and in so many different ways, just need to get your head round it.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I probably need to learn to use different blend modes. I usually just use the normal one and use the brush on a layer mask. What do the darken/multiply modes do?

I also use lightroom for RAW conversion and most of my local adjustment - I think it’s fairly similar to lightroom in many respects.
 
You could try an inverted S curve if tone curves are an option instead of HDR.
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
Hmm, I probably need to learn to use different blend modes. I usually just use the normal one and use the brush on a layer mask. What do the darken/multiply modes do?

I also use lightroom for RAW conversion and most of my local adjustment - I think it’s fairly similar to lightroom in many respects.
Click to expand...

You need to read this https://photoshoptrainingchannel.com/blending-modes-explained/ or one of many other articles that explain it all very nicely

ancient_mariner said:
You could try an inverted S curve if tone curves are an option instead of HDR.
Click to expand...

It's best to just start from most neutral profile and use local adjustments. Inverted S curve just like tonemapped HDR has a good chance to look very odd.
 
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