Nikon 72mm pol filter on Cokin P filter holder?

Hi everyone,

I just bought a Cokin P filter holder with a 52mm lens adapter ring.

I am going to use this filter holder with a Hitech ND grad filter,

but I also want to add my Nikon 72mm circular polarizing filter and

its dedicated hood in front of the setup. I know that Lee and Hitech

offer special adapters to slide into their filter holders, in front

of the grad filter. As far as I know Cokin does not have this

adapter. I can't mount the pol filter first and then the Cokin P

holder, since as you know the dedicated Nikon hood has a larger

diameter than 72mm... Any ideas? Thank you all in advance. CONNY

The solution you propose sounds complicated and expensive. Why not buy an adapter ring for your Cokin P holder that will fit into the 72mm polarizer.

 

In other words, the pol is mounted on the lens, the adapter ring screwed into that (the come as large as 77mm--is the pol bigger than that in the front?). Alternatively get a circ pol that fits into the rear slot of the Cokin P. Pretty expensive but usable with all your lenses and easy to slide into and out of the Cokin P holder. Singh-Ray sells them, prob. others too.

--evan

I love a puzzle. Is this a wide angle lens, probably a wide angle zoom? You are likely to have a vignette (dark corners) problem with the Cokin anyway. Generally, you won't have a flare problem using a polarizer without a hood, since they are rarely pointed anywhere near the sun. I know it's just so dang hard to shoot a roll of film just to test equipment and technique, but...

Well, it's kind of ugly, and it will cost about $20 US. The Cokin gel filter holder (yes, the gel holder)has a mounting hole of 74mm. This will accomodate the ring removed from any junked 72mm filter (you may have to rummage the junk box at a local camera shop). Now you've got something that slides into your Cokin P frame, in front of the grad, and will ley out use the Nikon hood or rotate the polarizer freely.

 

Do note (and Evan, this is for you, too) that you never want to put a plastic filter in front of a circular polarizer. In front of the polarizer, you're dealing with linearly polarized light, and this can cause weird color effects in plastic. Behind the polarizer, the light is circularly polarized, which won't cause such problems. (Assuming you can find a Cokin adapter for the 85mm front filter threads of a Nikon 72mm circular polarizer).

 

Ciao!

 

Joe

Joe, thank you for the tip. Scott, The widest lens I have is a Nikkor

24mm F2.8 but I originally purchased the Nikon 72mm pol filter

for my 300mm IFED F4.5 The front thread of the pol filter indeed

is 85mm and with the special HN-13 hood mounted on it, you

can nicely turn the filter by grasping the large hood. I thought I

could use that 72mm pol filter for all my other (mostly 52mm

thread) Nikkor lenses as well, and until now I did - with a

steppping ring. Right now I only have the Cokin adapter ring for

the 52mm diam. lenses only, since I figured I would not use the

grad with the 300mm tele anyway, at least not for the time being.

I was aware that the pol filter had to come in front of any plastic

filter, hence my original question. Perhaps I should have saved

for a $100.00 Hitech or Lee filter holder + the $130.00 72mm pol

filter adapter to go in front of that. Pretty expensive for just a

couple of shots a year with that combination I thought... BTW, I

didn't know Cokin offered a gel adapter! Thanks everyone for the

input anyway. CONNY

Joseph,

Thanks for the advice about puting plastic filters in front of polarizers, though I don't own any plastic filters and never use colored filters (other than warming filters).

 

The Singh-Ray circ-pol is designed to work in the rear slot (not the ones that the filters slide up and down in, the one behind there), the one I use is a warming polarizer. I use my ND (not colored) grads in front and have never experienced anything remotely like a color shift--neither did Galen Rowell and a significant number of other pros that use a similar combination.

 

Look at www.singh-ray.com and check out their stuff. (no commercial/financial ties, just a satisfied customer/user)

--evan

You need to scrap all the complexity Conny, unless that's what you're after. You didn't include any details on your subjects, but most polarizer & ND grad combos are for landscapes and those should be shot from a tripod. Take your Cokin P holder back to your camera store and exchange it for some film. Stick with the Nikon polarizer because it's among the best there is and simply hand hold the ND grad in front of the filter. A little unsteadiness in your ND hand will only serve to further soften the graduated edge. Just make sure you're shading the back side of the grad if your subject (and therefore camera) are backlit. Using depth of field preview to step down the lens will help you position the ND grad. I've done this for a few years now and it works well. It also lets you travel light and get to places you might not have with a bunch of extra gear. And while landscapes typically don't move, speed is still a valuable asset as the best light is usually a fleeting thing. Good luck.

Get a 52-72 step up ring for the filter and the 72mm cokin adaptor. I use a 24mm 2.8 lens with the cookin system and Hitech filters. I use a 62mm circular polarizing filter with with a 52-62 step up ring and then the 62mm cokin adapter goes in front of that You can cut the outer slot of the filter holder if you wish. it does help. here are three slots and if you are only planning to use one filter, you can cut two of them off. Grads are indespensible for shooting certain landscapes with slide film. As far as lens hoods are concerned you will get vignetting if you have it in front of your grad filters. I generally use a photoflex reflector to keep the sun out of my camera when using any grads on my camera. I find it works better than any lens hood.