Graduated Neutral Density

Hi All,

 

I am planning to buy hard edge Graduated Neutral Density (0.9 and 0.9), but while going through the online resources it seems everyone is suggesting to go for glass rather than Resin Filter.

 

I was planning to go with Lee GND filters but it seems they only have Resin Filter options, can any one help me to understand if glass filter really gonna make such a difference and any suggestion for good GND (hard and Soft) is highly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Umesh

I don't see how a GRADUATED filter can be HARD edged.

 

Depending upon what you're doing, i think resin can rival glass.

I don't see how a GRADUATED filter can be HARD edged.

 

Depending upon what you're doing, i think resin can rival glass.

 

Thanks for your input, I am referring to something similar to LEE Filters 100 x 150mm 0.6 Hard-Edge Graduated Neutral 6NDG-H

The only difference to me would be durability. Glass should resist scratching better than resin as its a harder surface.

I have never seen a glass graduated filter, especially not a glass bi-colour grad. (Not sure what you mean by 0.9 & 0.9)

 

Manufacturing such a filter in glass would be difficult and very expensive. Just buy a resin one and be careful not to scratch it, including by over-zealous cleaning.

 

The only issue you're likely to see with resin filters is flare due to lack of AR coating. Use a hood and it should be fine.

 

Edit: there appear to be some metalised coating on glass ND grads now on the market. I've used such filters in straight ND form. The coating does indeed provide a completely neutral grey. However I not sure how robust it is, since it can only be nanometres thick.

Edited June 19, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1

I have never seen a glass graduated filter, especially not a glass bi-colour grad.

 

Manufacturing such a filter in glass would be difficult and very expensive. Just buy a resin one and be careful not to scratch it, including by over-zealous cleaning.

 

The only issue you're likely to see with resin filters is flare due to lack of AR coating. Use a hood and it should be fine.

Thanks for making it clear, I was searching and never saw result with glass graduated filter, was wondering if I am doing a wrong search

A glass filter would consist of a plastic foil cemented between two pieces of glass. I've seen round neutral grad filters, but not rectangular ones. It is possible, though, at reasonable cost.

Umesh,

Schneider, NiSi and Cavision make rectangular graduated neutral density (GND) filters that are made of glass.

Glass grad have advantages . I have used Singh-Ray and Formatt Hitech resin GND filters for about 15 years.

If I were starting over I would consider buying glass filters because they are consider to be sharper and have less color shift/cast.

With higher resolution DSLRs, glass GND filters might make a difference.

If you search "glass vs resin filters" you should get some good results.

Of course it is the internet so....

Good hunting.

Umesh,

Schneider, NiSi and Cavision make rectangular graduated neutral density (GND) filters that are made of glass.

Glass grad have advantages . I have used Singh-Ray and Formatt Hitech resin GND filters for about 15 years.

If I were starting over I would consider buying glass filters because they are consider to be sharper and have less color shift/cast.

With higher resolution DSLRs, glass GND filters might make a difference.

If you search "glass vs resin filters" you should get some good results.

Of course it is the internet so....

Good hunting.

 

Thanks for the heads up, will look in to your suggestions

There were, in the past circular graduate ND filters. The darkening was in the center & it reduced to the edges. I've seen them in glass (or maybe a glass/gel/glass sandwich) They used to come matched to individual very wide angle lenses for large format use because the inverse square law would come in to play with short lens-to-film distances & large diagonals to the corners of the film.

"With higher resolution DSLRs, glass GND filters might make a difference."

- They might also be totally unnecessary!

 

A good recent DSLR will capture a 12 stop SBR shooting RAW. Provided you expose to keep the highlights, you can easily boost the shadows by 2 or 3 stops in post to keep sky and foreground detail printable.

 

The "line" between layers of different density doesn't need to be straight either. It can exactly follow a hill, treeline or whatever. And it can vary in graduation as softly or hard as you like.

 

In short, I see little use for grad filters these days.

I don't often use the Grad, (and mine is glass) since mostly I just the battery and SDHC, grab the camera with the lens on it and go. I shoot JPEG, and sometimes the filter really adds something to the shot. This is a bit older, but the only folder I identified as using the filter.

My Tiffen 0.4 graduated ND is glass. I used to have a B+W grad ND made of resin, but it had visible distortion around the edges. The Tiffen also seems to be more evenly graduated and more neutrally colored.

A glass filter would consist of a plastic foil cemented between two pieces of glass. I've seen round neutral grad filters, but not rectangular ones. It is possible, though, at reasonable cost.

 

According to our site, the Tiffen MFR # 44CGN9H 4 x 4" Hard Edge Graduated 0.9 ND Filter is made using ColorCore technology, a process that involves laminating the filter substrate between 2 pieces of optical glass and grinding flat to a tolerance of 1/10,000th of an inch.

In Europe you can get Haida glass filters with a graduated coating like the large format lens center filters a couple of years ago. Haida also offers filter holders for 100x150 filters, precisely made of aluminium. The Haida filters don't show any color shift, they don't distort, don't scratch. Resin filters are like a magnet for dust (Lee filters i.e.).

 

I use the Haida filter holder and i.e. combine an ND 3.0 and a GND 0.9 filter without any visible color shift.

 

OK, glass filters can break, but resin filters do scratch and attract dust like hell.

 

Soft GND filters are perfect for wide angle lenses, hard GND filters are perfect for tele lenses. Never use a hard GND on a wide angle, unless you want to ruin your image...