Which LEE Filters?

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Hi all,

I'm investing in the LEE 100 Filter system and have so far got myself my Lee 100mm holder and also a big stopper. I've had enough of bracketing shots and trying to blend them in Lightroom, the results just don't look as natural as photos I see where proper filters have been used. So, I'm looking at ND Grad filters. Landscape wise I have a place near the coast so I'd like to do seascapes and that kind of thing, but mostly it will be inland photography so anything from hilly, flat and more mountainous areas, basically, all kinds of landscapes.

The question I have is which filters to go for, made slightly more complicated in that LEE now have 4 types of ND Grads; the Soft, Medium, Hard and Very Hard.

My Camera is a Canon 80D and lens is a 10-18mm EFS and 55-250 EFS lens for landscapes. I'll probably buy something to bridge the focal length soon.

So with all this in mind which filters would you recommend I go for to get started.

Thanks for any advice.
 
I have soft, medium and hard grads in both 0.6 and 0.9

As you have a crop sensor, I’d forget about soft grads and start with medium, then hard, then very hard. It’s an expensive game so unless you have the money to splash out on a full set you’ll need to decide what you shoot the most of and prioritise what you get first. The very hard grads would more than likely only ever be used on the coast.

I don’t bother about 0.3 grads as this can normally be recovered in post anyway. I’ve never had the need for a 1.2 grad but you could always stack a 0.6 and 0.3 should you need something that strong.
 
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ecoleman said:
I have soft, medium and hard grads in both 0.6 and 0.9

As you have a crop sensor, I’d forget about soft grads and start with medium, then hard, then very hard. It’s an expensive game so unless you have the money to splash out on a full set you’ll need to decide what you shoot the most of and prioritise what you get first. The very hard grads would more than likely only ever be used on the coast.

I don’t bother about 0.3 grads as this can normally be recovered in post anyway. I’ve never had the need for a 1.2 grad but you could always stack a 0.6 and 0.3 should you need something that strong.
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Why would crop sensor make a difference re what type of filters, sorry if silly question
 
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RKC said:
Why would crop sensor make a difference re what type of filters, sorry if silly question
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Because the field of view on a crop sensor is a lot narrower than a full frame sensor, so you can’t really see the effect of a soft grad filter. Ie the gradation is too soft.
 
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I thought, but I may be wrong, that traditional Hard & Soft Grads were aimed at FF & the Medium & Very Hard were aimed it APSC....?? For the reason that Elliot has said above ^^^

Either way, don't waste money on a 'set' of filters. You'll never use them all. You don't need 0.3, 0.6 & 0.9 in BOTH Hard & Soft!!

I get by with a 2 stop Soft (occasional use) & a 2 stop Hard (frequent use) - That is usually enough to capture everything in a single image. Yes, sometimes I may add a slight extra grad boost in LR...... but that is more for taste/effect rather than necessity......
 
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ecoleman said:
Because the field of view on a crop sensor is a lot narrower than a full frame sensor, so you can’t really see the effect of a soft grad filter. Ie the gradation is too soft.
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Thank you for explanation
 
smr said:
I've had enough of bracketing shots and trying to blend them in Lightroom, the results just don't look as natural as photos I see where proper filters have been used. .
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Not sure what you are doing in LR but one way or another it is more than possible to get very natural looking results with incredibly fine control. HDR merge only works for 100% still shots, so everything else must go through manual merge.

I feel exactly the opposite about the use of plastic resin filters vs blending. I've had LEE 100 system. It was never precise enough for what I wanted. Sometimes it is close enough, seascapes in particular. The rest - badly hit or miss. They are bloody expensive and effectively a consumable item. They don't last due to small incidents, scratches, etc. Even the ones that do fade and discolour over the years. Waste of money in personal experience. Shooting into the sun is always a horror even with the smallest of scratches. You start seeing ghosts and flares very quickly. It is just a cheap acrylic plastic piece (with a huge price tag) at the end of the day. Sometimes it is too strong, sometimes too weak, and mostly the horizon isn't flat. So it is back to lightroom for complete re-editing every single time. So a waste of time too.
I now just have a cheapo KOOD 0.6 ND hard grad when I really want to use one and it generally does a good enough job. Normally it is software-based blending.

I can appreciate it is convenient for shooting seascapes or video applications but the rest is really not optimal.
 
ecoleman said:
Because the field of view on a crop sensor is a lot narrower than a full frame sensor, so you can’t really see the effect of a soft grad filter. Ie the gradation is too soft.
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That's just not very accurate at all. You may not see the full effect, but you will certainly get most of it on 1.5x depending on the gradation. Focal length is far more critical factor. Wideangles make the most of the gradation while even a short telephoto will only see the central part of the filter. Even a hard ND grad will appear very soft and diffuse even at 85mm. Yet another reason for software blending.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
That's just not very accurate at all. You may not see the full effect, but you will certainly get most of it on 1.5x depending on the gradation. Focal length is far more critical factor. Wideangles make the most of the gradation while even a short telephoto will only see the central part of the filter. Even a hard ND grad will appear very soft and diffuse even at 85mm. Yet another reason for software blending.
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So your saying that the FOV on a crop sensor doesn’t make a difference, but the FOV on a telephoto lenses does. I think you’ve just contradicted yourself there. Of course the effect is different at different focal lengths but couple that with a crop sensor means that a soft grad filter doesn’t have much of an effect.

Let’s not turn this into a filter vs software blending debate. Blending has its place but does not work in every shot. I’ll often use filters and blend.
 
I dont want to turn this into a debate about filters vs bracketing either, i didnt ask for a comparison in the OP between the two. Ive seen enough photos and video talks on them now where nd grads have been used, and not just ones by Joe Cornish, so Ive decided to invest in them.

The question I have is with my gear which filters would be a good starting point.
 
Everyone will have their own priorities but my experience is 1 stop filters of any type are rarely much use, so my kit is based around 2 and 3 stop GND's. A 3 stop ND is quite handy too, especially for seascapes when you're just wanting to slow the water down a little without creating milk. I've tended toward soft and hard filters for both APSC or full frame but I can imagine very hard filters being useful for seascapes but maybe not much else. Can really add up if you want a filter for every occasion but I get by with a selection of 2 or 3 grads, you can always stack them.
 
I agree with Eliot, on a crop body the soft grads are not worth having. There is or was an explanation of usage on the Lee filters website somewhere ...

As a start point I'd suggest 0.6 medium and a 0.9 hard edged. The medium will be of use in the landscape so to speak, and the hard edged more so for seascapes (there tends to be a greater EV difference at the coast ime). You can obviously still use both wherever you wish to. I'd also consider getting a 3 stop ND filter too (the resin ones are fine, the pro glass are better though, but expensive and more fragile).
 
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ecoleman said:
Because the field of view on a crop sensor is a lot narrower than a full frame sensor, so you can’t really see the effect of a soft grad filter. Ie the gradation is too soft.
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I use soft ND grads on M43 and they work fine.

I will be getting some hard grads for future use though but the softs do make a difference.
 
ecoleman said:
So your saying that the FOV on a crop sensor doesn’t make a difference, but the FOV on a telephoto lenses does. I think you’ve just contradicted yourself there. Of course the effect is different at different focal lengths but couple that with a crop sensor means that a soft grad filter doesn’t have much of an effect.
.
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Everything makes a difference just to a different degree.

Focal length and lens diameter are the most important factors. Sensor size comes a distant third. Try out a hard grad on a 16mm and on 200mm and you will quickly convince yourself of the difference. In fact there are plenty of 77mm and 67mm filter thread wideangle to medium range crop lenses that will receive the FULLEST effect of a grad.
 
smr said:
If I go for medium and hard grads then, to begin with, which amount of stops would you recommend, 0.6 or 0.9 ? ie. anyone else with a crop sensor and uwa lenses have medium and hard filters and if so which do you reach for more often if you have the 3 and 2 stop filters?
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From my previous reply ;)
PaulButler said:
As a start point I'd suggest 0.6 medium and a 0.9 hard edged.
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0.6 = 2 stops, 0.9 = 3 stops - and for me I used the 3 stop the most simply because I shoot more seascapes than landscapes.
 
smr said:
If I go for medium and hard grads then, to begin with, which amount of stops would you recommend, 0.6 or 0.9 ? ie. anyone else with a crop sensor and uwa lenses have medium and hard filters and if so which do you reach for more often if you have the 3 and 2 stop filters?
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That's not really an easy question to answer. It all depends on what you are shooting. During a sunset or sunrise I could switch from one to the other as the light changes.
 
PaulButler said:
From my previous reply ;)


0.6 = 2 stops, 0.9 = 3 stops - and for me I used the 3 stop the most simply because I shoot more seascapes than landscapes.
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Thanks Paul I did read your reply and noted how helpful it was - also sounds like the best advice really... I'll take your advice and go for both of those grads. I'm on Holiday next week at the coast so I'll get to try them out there too.

I think the medium is the one Joe Cornish calls the goldilocks grad too?
 
ecoleman said:
That's not really an easy question to answer. It all depends on what you are shooting. During a sunset or sunrise I could switch from one to the other as the light changes.
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I had thought of that and that's a fair point, but I can't afford to buy 4 filters at the moment so looking to buy two to begin with and wonder which two would would be better to start with. I'd rather buy two now, learn how they work and then get a couple more later on.
 
smr said:
I had thought of that and that's a fair point, but I can't afford to buy 4 filters at the moment so looking to buy two to begin with and wonder which two would would be better to start with. I'd rather buy two now, learn how they work and then get a couple more later on.
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I understand that. Filters are bloody expensive. If it were me, I also go with a 3 stop. You can always add a stop of exposure with a grad filter in Lightroom to bright it back a bit if it's a bit too dark.
 
ecoleman said:
I understand that. Filters are bloody expensive. If it were me, I also go with a 3 stop. You can always add a stop of exposure with a grad filter in Lightroom to bright it back a bit if it's a bit too dark.
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But you risk introducing noise from the shadow areas that way.

Expose to the right via the histogram to be safe.
 
smr said:
I dont want to turn this into a debate about filters vs bracketing either, i didnt ask for a comparison in the OP between the two. Ive seen enough photos and video talks on them now where nd grads have been used, and not just ones by Joe Cornish, so Ive decided to invest in them.

The question I have is with my gear which filters would be a good starting point.
Click to expand...

My recommendation is to go with a 0.6 hard edge and a 0.6 soft edge as a starting point. These will probably meet 90% of your needs and are the ones I carry along with a 0.9 soft which doesn't get that much use.
 
You can always add more graduation in post. Removing extra darkness and correcting for errors is most certainly no fun and doesn't lead to good image quality. 3 stops is simply too much in too many situations. It's basically a very specialist piece of kit.

I see a lot of images here that have been darkened way beyond all the common sense boundaries. Less is more sometimes.
 
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