What grad kit?

[woody12]

Hi, I have a nikon 3100 and for my birthday next week my wife wants to buy me something worthwhile for my hobby. What I really want is a grad kit for landscape which I enjoy. I'm not sure what to look for in terms of hard and soft grads. I know the Lee series is the best but way out of mine and wifes price. Is there anybody that can give some sort of guide to what is what in the world of grads?

 

[Hoppy110]

The Lee filters are great but as you said very expensive. Have you looked into Cokin P series filters. There is a massive amount of choice with lots of third partys selling filters to fit them. The Max thread size is 77mm with the Cokin P.

 

[roseway]

I second the Cokin P series. I recently bought this set and I'm well satisfied with the results. Don't forget that you also need an adaptor ring to fit the thread size of the lens which the filters will be attached to.

 

[Hoppy110]

I bought this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cokin-H250A...0M22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333115050&sr=8-1

Along with 2 full NDs and 3 adapter rings to cover all my lenses and 1 wide angle filter holder and 1 normal. IT came to arround £130 all together I think

 

[weybourne]

I bought this one (Kood P type) which consists of:

1 x P-Type ND2 Filter
1 x P-Type ND2 Soft Graduated Filter
1 x P-Type ND4 Filter
1 x P-Type ND4 Soft Graduated Filter
1 x P-Type Filter Holder
1 x P-Type 72mm Adapter Ring

together with (Kood P-Type) Circular Polarizing Filter, Filter Wallet and another adapter ring for another lens.

Edit: I forgot to say, I am happy with the filters. I found out about them from a group test in a magazine (can't remember which but it was one of the mainstream ones) where they were recommended as a the 'budget' buy. Total cost for my basket was about £87 inc p&p.

 

[Mountaineye]

Only would add that by and large the soft grads are less relevant to DSLR's and the hard grads more sueful.

 

[simonkit]

I've owned Cokin, Hitech and I'm now investing in Lee filters,

If you're on a budget I'd recommend the Hitech filters over the Cokin ones as I found that they gave less of a color cast. I'd also suggest that you'll probably need both Hard & Soft - I find hard more useful for seascapes and soft more useful for photographs of mountains/hills etc where the horizon line is more irregular.

Simon