what grad filters I should buy first?

[claus_cheng]

I would like to order one soft and hard grad filter at Singh-Ray.

 

What stops would you recommend first: 2 stops or 3 stops ???

 

Thanks for help.

[colinsouthern]

3 Stop Hard GND, 3 Stop Hard Reverse GND.

 

2 stop will do very little - you'll probably end up with 4 & 5 stops (I was using 6 tonight).

[erik_loza]

Funny. I rarely have use for more than a 2-stop. All boils down to style, I guess. Buy several, then you have it covered.

[david_henderson]

I carry six grads and the ones I use most are three stop hard and two stop soft. The reason for the difference is that the hard edge is mostly used by the sea or with a low, level horizon and this is where the sky is brightest, particlarly early and late in the day.

 

I never use more than three stops. Partly this is because once the sky gets to be as dark as the foreground or a reflection it looks ersatz. Partly its because if you fully correct for the very brightest area of sky close to the horizon the rest of the sky becomes far too dark, and partly because I'd prefer the sun to be softened by a cloud or mist or pollution so that I dont have to make so much adjustment and the photographs look more natural. I use grads for maybe 40% of my photography- more when I'm on the coast or in the country - and I think I could count on one hand the number of times I've used more than three stops of grad.

 

That said, if you want to photograph a lot with level horizons, I do think there's a case for Singh Ray's reverse grad which darkens the horizon more than whats above it. If OTOH most of your photography is in hills and trees, a reverse grad is going to be spending a lot of time in your bag, and you'll get far more use from soft grads.

 

Finally if you decide against a reverse grad -which only Singh ray make AFAIK- it does open up the possibility of buying more grads for the same money . HiTech cost much less than Singh Ray; Lee somewhat less. All three brands use CR39 optical resin.

[User_1577653]

I was in the same position a while back and decided to go with a 2-stop gnd first. I think this was a good (very usable) first choice. The only thing I would add is that of the two I bought - a soft 2-stop and a hard 2-stop, the soft just seems TOO soft. These are HITECH brand, and I seem to recall others have reported the same thing - that the HITECH hards are more like the softs of other brands.

[claus_cheng]

Thanks David.... for the detailed answer.

 

Thom (bythom.com) also recommened as start set... 2 stop soft and 3 stop hard.

[colinsouthern]

Keep in mind too that it makes a difference whether you're shooting FF or crop, and Vertical or Horizontal

[ShunCheung]

I use Singh-Ray grad ND filters and I find their "soft" ones too soft; i.e. the transition too gradual. Therefore, I use a 2-stop and a 3-stop "hard" filters.

 

If you shoot digital, in these days, a lot of that same grad ND effect can be achieved in post-processing, merging multiple exposures. It involves more work in PhotoShop (or similar) but it is also more flexable, as the transition can be of any shape and can be as drastic as you want. You'll also avoid yet another filter in front of your lens to degrade your image. Therefore, I would get maybe 1 (or 2) grad ND filter first and see which workflow works better for you.

[hjoseph7]

"2 stop will do very little - you'll probably end up with 4 & 5 stops (I was using 6 tonight)."

 

I just ordered the 3 Stop-Hard and the 2 Stop-Soft, because the Singh-Ray Website recomended it. I wish I would have followed my gut instincts and ordered the 3 Stop-Soft now that I think about it. There have been plenty of situations when I pointed the camera at the background, then at the foreground and there was about a 6+ stop difference between the both of them. I usually used the averageing method in those situations, but it's not ideal.

[kahkityoong]

3 stop hard & 2 stop soft are the best combination although if you can add the 2 stop hard it would be very useful too. The 3 hard & 2 soft are the most commonly stacked when I need to use 2 at once as well. I use Singh-Ray, carry all from 1 to 4 stops, hard & soft, reverse grads 2-3 stops. I wouldn't recommend buying a 3 reverse until you already have 2 and 3 stops in soft and hard gradients.