With my new L lens, I was planning on upgrading to some good ND Grad filters and Polarizers. When I just priced out the Lee system, Yikes. Then I remembered as I went through the Aperture tutorials here, theres a lot you can do with filter effects and polarizers.
Are the aperture filters good enough that I can put off buying real filters (and save up for it) or is it “ok” and not as good as the real thing? Im heading to Florida at the end of the month and ND grad filters would make sense on the beach for sunset/rises…
I’ve got an easy answer for you Mike — rent ‘em for your trip from BorrowLenses.com (affiliate link, please use it if you do rent!). Good ND filters are very expensive, I know… but there’s a rare instance where digital is as good as the glass. This is a great way to find out if they are worth your money or not!
@PhotoJoseph
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Hi Mike
I’m a chap that likes to try & do my digital Photography in a sort of traditional way. I try and get as much as I can, correct on my camera not through digital processing.
I prefer filters. Like you I almost had a heart attack at the cost of Lee filters. I use either Cokin or Kood. They are pretty good in the quality v value issue.
Paul.
hi,
have tried a few over the years, what size is the L lens.. the bigger sizes get more expensive.
if it’s not bigger than 77 ish I use Hitech filters which i found good value for money. have 3 ND’s and 3 grads and a infrared. the grads are good because they are longer.
i use soft grads as i always had trouble with the fade on hards.
you can get cheapies off ebay and they’re ok if you aren’t intending to stack em.
the cheap ones have a colour cast but you can clean it up a bit in post.
perfectly ok for sunsets though on a beach full of colour to try out.
you can stack the good filters easily with virtually no colour cast in combination which works well. to balance sand, water, and sky.
polarisers with grads i found a pain to rotate and align and just use a screw on for that. as you probably are aware cheap polarisers also leave a bad cast as well, but some still clean up reflections ok.
but for sunsets all are pretty ok even the cheapies when correct colour is not so much of an issue.
if you’re looking for a big stopper a cheap alternative is a welding glass lens. but you have to search through trial and error to get minimal colour cast.
more suitable for “artistic” shots. OH&S makes these really hard to find now.
hope this helps
Simon.
Oh, they do rent out filters… didnt think of that. I do have Conkin filters from a older powershot camera… would have to get lens adapters. I could do that in a pinch and could be good enough to tide me over until I get better stuff?
I agree, Im of the same school of trying to do as much in the camera and less in PP. My L lenses are 67mm & 77mm, so Ill give Hitech a look. Thanks guys for the comments
from memory the hitech also fit in the cokin P holders as well for those sizes.
not near my gear to check.
teamworkphoto has kits on special every now and then you could check out.
ebay has cheap copy holders as well you could try with before you splurge
I’d see if what you have works and go from there.
heads up though all brands smudge easy and be careful cleaning em at the beach. salt spray is nearly impossible to see if you shoot on rocks near the ocean but can damage real easy if it dries on them and you’re not super careful cleaning them.
i learnt the hard way…..
simon