ND Grads for LF

after checking the related threats I tend to order a nd grad filter

from Lee, Heliopan or Singh Ray.

 

As I understand the current competition looks as listed below. Have I

missed something? Has anyone tested the Lee in direct comparison to

Singh Ray and/or Heliopan? Does the Lee offer the same quality for

half the price or what would be the trade off?

 

B+W (4x6�, 4mm, make to order)

glass, multicoated, simply perfect, but $350+

 

Heliopan Unichrom (4x6�, 2.5mm, make to order)

plastic, $150?, no comments available?

 

Singh Ray (4x6�)

plastic, often recommended, $150

 

Lee (4x6�, 2mm)

plastic, often recommended, $70

 

Hitech (4x5�, 1.5mm)

plastic, second to Singh ray and Lee?, $60

 

Cokin

cheap in price and quality, not recommended

not sure, but I've never heard about plastic ND filters from Heliopan. Instead I remember having seen glass filters in their price list, but no price was given (wonder why...?-)

I'm not sure I follow your analysis either, not does it seem complete in terms of

offerings from the various manufacturers.

 

The only real players in the 'filter system' world to seu a series of 4x4 or 4x6 filters

are, to the best of my knowledge, Lee and HiTech (SinghRay is good but has very

limited offerings). Both Lee and HiTech manufacture filters in different materials

including a polyester gel material, resin and glass. I don; t think it is a question of

quality from manufacturer a to manufacturer b aas much as it is one of availability of

product. In most parts of the world it is far easier to get the full range of Lee

products than the full range of HiTech products. I know Lee makes (or perhaps

made) glass graduated neutral density filters because I have one. I also use their

glass polarizing filter. No complaints on either count.

 

I look to Bob Salomon to weigh in on the Heliopan range ... those screwin filters I use

are all Heliopan ... and I would use them in 4x4 too if I came across same.

Hi Martin

 

My Lee ND grads are resin. I've used Lee filters almost exclusively for 5 years. They offer superb quality at a reasonable price and I can thoroughly recommend them.

 

Steve

 

www.landscapesofwales.co.uk

Martin, I prefer Singh-Ray (<A HREF="http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html">http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html</A>) with a Cokin P holder, outer edges of the holder cut away with a hacksaw. There are a ton of helpful threads about ND grads on photo.net, most of which are not in the LF forum. Use Google with "site:photo.net" following the search terms.

<P>

To boil down the advice: you want a filter that is long enough, truly neutral, and cuts the amount of light it says it does. Lee, Hitech, and Singh-Ray are good bets. I am very pleased with the Singh-Ray filters, and the fact that they are plastic or resin instead of glass is not a concern; they are very high quality.

It's not easy to determine the brand of ND Grad that best suits your needs since there's not a lot of information out there, and the amount of "softness" varies from one brand to another. I'm working on a "field guide" to illustrate the various types and brands. It's not ideal, unfortunately, since I've relied upon friends to send photos of the filters that they own, and naturally the differences in exposure, scanning, etc. can lead to a difference in the images' appearance.

 

Anyway, you might like to take a look at this "work in progress". If anyone owns filters brands/types that aren't already illustrated and would be willing to send photos, I'd appreciate it.

 

http://www.dannyburk.com/nd_grads.htm

 

Regards,

Danny

I used Singh-Ray Grad filters for years when I shot 35mm. They are excellent quality and completely neutral in color. They are made of resin and scratch easily but if you're careful you should get years of use from them.

 

When I switched to shooting 4x5 I continued with the Singh-Ray until I bought a center filter for my 65mm Nikkor. The center filter had an 87mm filter thread that was too large for the Cokin filter holder.

 

I then switched to Lee filters because they were larger. They too are made of resin and seem to be color neutral. Lee also makes a lot of filters besides grads so I got an 81b and polarizer from them. I fount that best prices and the clearest web site with the Lee offerings is Robert White in the UK. http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/

 

- Dan.

Martin

 

> B+W (4x6�, 4mm, make to order) glass, multicoated, simply perfect, but $350+

 

Can you point me to a source of these filters and is there a listing of the available styles (hard/soft, number of stops, etc.)

 

I have a Schneider Cine ND Graduated Glass Filter (made by B&W) which was expensive too, but it's uncoated and it was not built to order.

 

Another remark, my very competent LF mentor advises me that there is a loss of sharpness with resin filters for long (>150mm or so) focal length lenses. FWIW, YMMV.

 

Thanks & Regards

Frank

re Heliopan ND grads:

Found the nd grads on their corporate website (only in german). Have not yet checked if they are available through their distributors. About a year ago they stopped producing nd grads made of glass, todays production is only plastic

 

re B&W:

look here http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/mcgrad45.html

Martin,

 

I have used both Lee and Singh-Ray split ND filters for 4x5. I can't detect any difference. The Singh-Ray company will make custom filters which may be a plus if you can afford them. I can't.

 

Bruce

Nothing wrong in terms of quality with the pro series from Cokin, I use X-Pro (13x17 cm).

 

Cokin also makes 4x4" filters now, called Z-Pro. Pricing is about the same as Hitech but filter offering is nowhere as good.

 

Formatt (makes Hitech filters, www.formatt.co.uk) also makes glass filters in 4x4" and 6.6x6.6", for the movie industry. Prices go up above 600 pounds.

If some one are interest like Frank. On The filter Connection webpage

(www.2filter.com/prices/products/mcgrad45.html)

they sell B+W / Schneider 4x4 and 4x5.65 MC Gradual ND filter a $397

(4x5.65) and $294 (4x4) each.

 

Regards, Salvador