# B&H discontinues the LEE 105mm Circular Polariser (as per B&H email)



## J.R. (Jul 26, 2013)

I received a mail from B&H today to the effect that LEE has discontinued the 105mm Circular Polariser. Anyone has any information as to why this has happened.

I guess the way forward is with Heliopan / B+W. Will look into these options now that I've been on the wait list on B&H for the past four months. Any suggestions between the two options?

Cheers ... J.R.


----------



## applecider (Jul 26, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*

JR amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Lee-105mm-Circular-Polarizer-Filter/dp/B00009R7US/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374872841&sr=8-2&keywords=lee+polarizer says they have three in stock for $300 each.

Go grab one?


----------



## J.R. (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



applecider said:


> JR amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Lee-105mm-Circular-Polarizer-Filter/dp/B00009R7US/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374872841&sr=8-2&keywords=lee+polarizer says they have three in stock for $300 each.
> 
> Go grab one?



Thanks!


----------



## GMCPhotographics (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*

Here's the irony....all of the ND grads can be replaced with a tipod and mutilple exposures and then a simple layers / mask blend in PS. In fact it's a better solution and offers a wider dyanic range. As a technique, it's also truely neutral with no colour balance issues....but the only filters which can't be replicated or improved upon in the digital space is a Polarizer....which Lee are now droppping....go figure!


----------



## wopbv4 (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*

Guys,

bought one this morning in Perth, West Australia.
They had just received a fresh shipment of ~ five Lee circ polar, but they forgot to order the matching 105 rings.
As always, we pay a premium in OZ, 475AUS $, which is just over 400 US$


----------



## neuroanatomist (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



GMCPhotographics said:


> Here's the irony....all of the ND grads can be replaced with a tipod and mutilple exposures and then a simple layers / mask blend in PS. In fact it's a better solution and offers a wider dyanic range.



Yeah, that works just great if there's motion in the image, trees in a breeze, etc. Maybe you don't mind ghosting and halos, I'll pass, thanks... :


----------



## Kernuak (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



neuroanatomist said:


> GMCPhotographics said:
> 
> 
> > Here's the irony....all of the ND grads can be replaced with a tipod and mutilple exposures and then a simple layers / mask blend in PS. In fact it's a better solution and offers a wider dyanic range.
> ...


I'd rather spend an extra couple of minutes adding some grads than half an hour or more blending. Sometimes grads aren't an option, it's about using the best tool for the job. Besides, call me old fashioned, but I prefer to get it as right as possible in camera and consider it a bit of a challenge.


----------



## J.R. (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



Kernuak said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > GMCPhotographics said:
> ...



+1


----------



## RLPhoto (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



GMCPhotographics said:


> Here's the irony....all of the ND grads can be replaced with a tipod and mutilple exposures and then a simple layers / mask blend in PS. In fact it's a better solution and offers a wider dyanic range. As a technique, it's also truely neutral with no colour balance issues....but the only filters which can't be replicated or improved upon in the digital space is a Polarizer....which Lee are now droppping....go figure!



Let me ask... How would multiple exposures work with a situation like this?


----------



## GMCPhotographics (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



RLPhoto said:


> GMCPhotographics said:
> 
> 
> > Here's the irony....all of the ND grads can be replaced with a tipod and mutilple exposures and then a simple layers / mask blend in PS. In fact it's a better solution and offers a wider dyanic range. As a technique, it's also truely neutral with no colour balance issues....but the only filters which can't be replicated or improved upon in the digital space is a Polarizer....which Lee are now droppping....go figure!
> ...



If you chose the right time to shoot your image, where crossover light in concearned, then you wouldn't need an ND grad:






Here is an example of a two shot (and very natural looking) digital blend:


----------



## RLPhoto (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



GMCPhotographics said:


> RLPhoto said:
> 
> 
> > GMCPhotographics said:
> ...



Motion destroys Multiple exposures. It would be very hard to pull off without a ND grad and HDR would be useless.

If your at the right place at the right time, No need for HDR or ND Grads but that's not the point you brought out earlier. : : :


----------



## neuroanatomist (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



RLPhoto said:


> GMCPhotographics said:
> 
> 
> > Here's the irony....all of the ND grads can be replaced with a tipod and mutilple exposures and then a simple layers / mask blend in PS. In fact it's a better solution and offers a wider dyanic range. As a technique, it's also truely neutral with no colour balance issues....but the only filters which can't be replicated or improved upon in the digital space is a Polarizer....which Lee are now droppping....go figure!
> ...



+1. If he'd said that exposure blending can replace ND grads _in some situations_, that's fine. But the sweeping generalization was nonsense. 

His statement that, "_the only filters which can't be replicated or improved upon in the digital space is a Polarizer_," is also incorrect. Maybe his magic Photoshop skills can recover highlights that are totally blown by several stops in the RAW file, but us mere mortals need a solid ND to shoot a fast lens wide open on a bright day, or to knock down the shutter speed for a powerful enough fill flash, to give just a couple of examples.


----------



## GMCPhotographics (Jul 30, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



RLPhoto said:


> GMCPhotographics said:
> 
> 
> > RLPhoto said:
> ...



I didn't mention it earlier....becuase it was pretty obvious. 
I'm not sure if you are grasping the concept properly here....two shots taken with different exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground. Motion is generally in the foreground (I'm talking landscapes here), so this can be captured with a specific shutter speed to render the amount of motion / movement needed to make the photo work. The sky, generally brighter usually needs a different exposure (or solid ND) to get either cloud movement or a sun star. These two files are loaded in to photoshop, over layed as layers and then using a large soft brush the lower or upper half is gently removed revealing a natural looking image without any loss of contrast. This takes second in photoshop and is a technique I've been using for well over 8 years. 
Here is another example....lots of movement in this photo:






Here's another:






This image used a 5 stop range using two exposures. 





You are welcome to look though my flickr photos and see a history of stong landscapes many using this technique. I used to use a lot of lee filters (I had all the grads, colour grads and stripe sets) but sold the lot and bought a very nice 16-35mm f2.8 II with the money! I only use a set of ND's and a single polariser now.

In many cases, being in the right spot at the right time of day provides the opportunity for the photographer to capture the contrast in the range of the camera's DR. But if not a simple two exposure burst with a 2 - 3 stop difference will do the trick. Sometimes more shots are needed. 

I'm not really fussed if people don't belive me or not. I've a history of very strong photographs which I have taken with this technique...regardless of your opinion, it works, it's fast and it's produces better techniques (IMHO). I'm happy to share my experiences and techniques...but unfortunatly I think I am butting against people's opinion and website learnt mantra.

Here's another crossover image which was all in the DR of the camera....by being in the right place at the right time:




Naturally I was using a sturdy tripod and using careful Manual metering, and live view for focus accuracy


----------



## RLPhoto (Jul 30, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*

Don't forget your the one who brought up "being at the right place at the correct time" which I concur with but GNDs aren't only about fixing blown out sky's. They can be used for other things like the photo I showed as it was rotated to cover the city, giving the sky more exposure time and the lights time to draw out lines. Try to blend the example I presented and you'll have a hard time cloning/blending single pixels into lines from multiple exposures. Multiple exposure won't work in that situation, a grad ND however will work. 

I agree that HDR will work in many situations but when motion is involved heavily, it doesn't work well.


----------



## rumorzmonger (Jul 30, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*

Perhaps the title of this thread should be corrected to read "B&H Discontinues Lee 105mm Polarizer" as this and other Lee products are still available everywhere else.


----------



## J.R. (Jul 30, 2013)

*Re: LEE discontinues the 105mm Circular Polariser*



rumorzmonger said:


> Perhaps the title of this thread should be corrected to read "B&H Discontinues Lee 105mm Polarizer" as this and other Lee products are still available everywhere else.



I agree ... Only in hindsight though ... Made an appropriate change to the title. 

Cheers ... J.R.


----------



## sturdiva (Jul 31, 2013)

Got in touch with Henry Posner at B&H, seems to have been a mixup in their inventory system, both the big stopper and 105mm CPL are back on the B&H website now.

Here was his response:

Henry Posner ‏@h_posner 13m
@sturdiva Possibly the buyer miscoded an out-of-stock item accidentally as being DIS


----------

