Good GND filter to go with new Lee system

[scrappydog]

Personally, I plan to get a 4" CPL...

You can also slide a round polarizer into a holder.  I haven't tried it, but it appears simple enough:

Lee versus Cokin Z-Pro Filter Holder; which one is better	Small | Large

[FunPhotons]

Hm, he says the Cokin Z system is significantly cheaper, but while the adapters are cheaper the main holder is about the same. I went with the Lee at any rate.

[scrappydog]

Hm, he says the Cokin Z system is significantly cheaper, but while the adapters are cheaper the main holder is about the same. I went with the Lee at any rate.

Me too.  He uses his kit differently than I do, and I rarely use the holder -- I usually hand-hold my ND grads.

[FunPhotons]

I'm about the pull the trigger on a few filters, but I'm wondering about the 3 stop S-R, is that enough?

For shooting directly into the sun maybe a 4 stop would be better, anybody used a 3 or a 4 reverse grad who can comment?

[RobertG.]

Hi,
I have a full set of 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 soft and hard grad ND filters as well as a 0.6 reverse grad ND & 0.9 reverse grad ND filter, which I can combine with a 10 stop ND and/or a 105mm Pol filter. So it is easy for me to compare the effects.

The 0.3 grad NDs were a waste of money. I never used them so far. The same goes for the 0.9 reverse grad ND filter, which is very rarely used.

For an average sunset or sunrise I use only the 0.6 reverse grad ND filter when the sun is near to the horizon. Very seldomly I need to combine it with  a normal grad ND (at the sea for example). The attached shot is also such a case. It was shot with a 0.6 grad ND + 0.9 reverse grad ND in order to see something of the village on the bottom of the picture. I used the "expose to the right" technique and then made a HDR from the single RAW file.

If you don't plan to buy a dozen filters, get a 0.6 hard grad ND and a 0.9 soft grad ND filter. A pol filter is a very useful addition to the grad ND filters. The 105mm Lee adaptor ring works well but any 105mm pol filter used on the Lee filter holder will add some vignetting to wide angle lenses. With my TS-E 24mm L it starts at about 8mm of shift when using the 105mm pol filter, no matter if a grad nd filter is used or not.

[RobertG.]

In the attached shot I used a combination of a 0.6 grad ND with a 0.9 grad ND filter. Not really a good idea normally because the sky turns to dark grey on the edges of such a shot. But in this picture it worked more or less. Flare was a biggest concern and I had to experiment a lot with the aperture. A f2.5 worked best for the EF 35mm L used in this shot. Any smaller aperture caused a lot more flare.

BTW, the shot is the re-sized jpeg straight out of cam.

Kind regards, Robert

[FunPhotons]

So I purchased the Singe-Ray reverse grad listed above and the Hard Edge Lee, the Soft Edge being out of stock. Both .9/3 stops, and I did some quick tests last night.

The Reverse Grad made me wonder why I got it on first sight, the reverse gradation is so gradual it seems like a normal GND would work just as well. This is just by visual inspection, it wasn't as differentiated from the GND as I had expected.

In quick tests it worked well though. It was a completely clear and bright afternoon and I get a good view of the setting sun from my doorstep. It gave me a nicely blue sky, detailed landscape with proper exposure between the two shooting directly into the sun. Of course it reduced and in some cases eliminated flare. Nice shots!

The .9 Lee hard edge isn't the appropriate choice for where I'm shooting (not at the ocean) but it worked well and gave me a great sky.

Overall I'm loving the Lee system and the grads, I had the cheap Cokin system previously which wasn't as good an optical quality and vignetted.  I use the LowePro Filter Holder to store these filters. I use the Blue tab for the Hard Edge grad (remember blue meaning water), the Red to hold the reverse grad (remember red sunset), white for the soft edge (gradual white edge for landscape) and the Big Stopper on the black code. Make them easy to find and organize.

[neuroanatomist]

Thanks for the update! 

I've had the Lowepro S&F filter holder for a while (picked it up dirt cheap at a brick-and-mortar shop closeout).  My current thinking is to start with the 3-stop soft and 3-stop reverse to start.  But first up will be a 24-70 II.