# Lee Big Stopper Discontinued by B&H?



## tiger82 (Jul 28, 2013)

Got this e-mail from B&H:

"Thank you for your interest in the following item:

LEE Filters 4 x 4" Big Stopper Filter
(B&H # LEBS44)

You are receiving this message because you asked to be notified when this item becomes available. We regret to inform you that this item has unfortunately been discontinued. Please check back on our website for similar or possible replacement items.

We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding."

What are other option? Formatt? Cokin? Others?


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

Same thing was posted about the Lee 105mm CPL. 

Both B&H, so is this actually Lee discontinuing them, or is B&H going to stop carrying them because Lee can't produce them fast enough?


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## tiger82 (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

Still looks alive on Adorama's site


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## RLPhoto (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

Good thing I got mine a few weeks before this.


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



RLPhoto said:


> Good thing I got mine a few weeks before this.



Ditto...


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## Rienzphotoz (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

I got the same email today from B&H ... Shame that such a popular filter is being discontinued.


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

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

Strange that LEE continues to list the big stopper on its website. This isn't being shown as discontinued in any other online retailer. Maybe B&H are discontinuing it on their website.


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



J.R. said:


> Maybe B&H are discontinuing it on their website.



Exactly what I suggested above. Same for the 105mm CPL. Seems like a B&H thing...


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## shutterwideshut (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



tiger82 said:


> What are other option? Formatt? Cokin? Others?



You may also check the new Singh Ray 10 Stop Mor-Slo ND Filter. 
http://singh-ray.com/index.html

I'm currently using the Lee Big Stopper for LE work but I'm seriously looking into replacing my Lee Big Stopper with its Singh Ray counterpart. :


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## tiger82 (Jul 28, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



shutterwideshut said:


> You may also check the new Singh Ray 10 Stop Mor-Slo ND Filter.
> http://singh-ray.com/index.html
> 
> I'm currently using the Lee Big Stopper for LE work but I'm seriously looking into replacing my Lee Big Stopper with its Singh Ray counterpart. :



Why, pray tell?


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

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



tiger82 said:


> shutterwideshut said:
> 
> 
> > You may also check the new Singh Ray 10 Stop Mor-Slo ND Filter.
> ...



I'm curious too ... LEE sells its 10x filter for $140 while the Sing Ray is for $415 ... Ouch!!!


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## sanjosedave (Jul 29, 2013)

*Lee's Big Stopper discontinued*

Received email from B&H that Lee's Big Stopper is discontinued, no mention of replacement


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## GaryJ (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

I had occasion to contact Lee about the availability of the Big Stopper here in Australia mid last year. I received a reply saying they were having problems with the supplier of the glass, apparently 2 shipments of glass last year failed Lee testing,this was why there was shortage last year.Maybe the probs continue.


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

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

I have written to LEE seeking a clarification about the "discontinued" filters... await a response.


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## King Eyre (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



J.R. said:


> I have written to LEE seeking a clarification about the "discontinued" filters... await a response.



The big stopper is definitely not being discontinued.
There have been supply problems which are currently being addressed, and I believe that by the end of the year availability should be much better.

This was also the information being issued at Focus exhibition in the UK.


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## GMCPhotographics (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



King Eyre said:


> J.R. said:
> 
> 
> > I have written to LEE seeking a clarification about the "discontinued" filters... await a response.
> ...



Lee drives me nuts with their availability. Ok folks...supply at the end of the year...lets not take any photos until then ok?

I've moved over to Photodiox with their Wondapaner system. It allows me to use a CPL and ND filters with my TS-e 17mm. It works and has availability. Sure the ND filters are far from neutral....but I've yet to fine one which is. I've tried B&W/Helliopan/Lee/Sing Ray/Hi-Tech/Tiffen and they all are far from neutral.


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## Dimson (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



GMCPhotographics said:


> Lee drives me nuts with their availability. Ok folks...supply at the end of the year...lets not take any photos until then ok?
> 
> I've moved over to Photodiox with their Wondapaner system. It allows me to use a CPL and ND filters with my TS-e 17mm. It works and has availability. Sure the ND filters are far from neutral....but I've yet to fine one which is. I've tried B&W/Helliopan/Lee/Sing Ray/Hi-Tech/Tiffen and they all are far from neutral.



i'm sorry if this is a kind of a thread hijacking, but could you please shed more light on the color cast you get from photodiox compared to lee? i've recently purchased a nikkor 14-24 as an upgrade for my 17-40L and ordered a complete filter kit from photodiox. i know for example that lee GNDs tend to give a brownish cast to the photos, how are the photodiox in that respect?

thanks


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## rumorzmonger (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

I've had much better luck in the past ordering Lee products from Robert White in the UK (http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/shop-by-brand/lee-filters/filters.html?dir=desc&order=price) although the prices fluctuate quite a bit with the currency exchange rates.


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## sturdiva (Jul 29, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

From the LEE twitter feed:

Contrary to misinformation, the Big Stopper has NOT been discontinued. Due to an extremely high demand we're filling backorders asap


https://twitter.com/LEEFilters/statuses/361917539690889216


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

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*

Got this official response from LEE -

"That is incorrect. We are still experiencing serious delays due to the popularity of the filter but we are still shipping them as fast as we can make them!"

still makes me wonder why B&H stopped selling them.


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## 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 DISC.


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## GMCPhotographics (Aug 5, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



Dimson said:


> GMCPhotographics said:
> 
> 
> > Lee drives me nuts with their availability. Ok folks...supply at the end of the year...lets not take any photos until then ok?
> ...



The Lee ND grads seemed to have a magenta cast on mine (it got progressively worse in the darker densities). Their ND filters are a very poor quality gel and seemed far from neutral too. The photodiox ND filters seem to have a pinky / gold cast:


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## rumorzmonger (Aug 5, 2013)

*Re: Lee Big Stopper Discontinued?*



GMCPhotographics said:


> The Lee ND grads seemed to have a magenta cast on mine (it got progressively worse in the darker densities). Their ND filters are a very poor quality gel and seemed far from neutral too.



I've never seen this with any of my Lee (or Singh-Ray grads or ND filters, and I've been using their filter system for 15 years now. Maybe you're just having some WB issues with your camera?


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## winglet (Aug 7, 2013)

Hmmm. One of the reasons Lee is an industry standard is due to their consistent quality, also partly why they command a big price. If you are getting colour cast problems like that I can only think that either you got a bad copy, or as they say..."you're doing it wrong!" ;D

As far as Lee, well...they are LEGENDARY for their supply problems. Not just for the Bigstopper, which took off in popularity I'd say a few years ago and made an item already produced in small numbers, incredibly hard to find. I received my copy from Robert White in the UK (link is shown earlier in the thread) about eight months after ordering. And that was because B&H, Adorama, Amazon, every US supplier I Googled didn't have it in stock during that entire time! I'm sure some did, at certain times, but with only 1 or 2 arriving in stock they would be gone instantly, so it would only be sheer luck to find one somewhere.

It has also taken me literally a couple of years to assemble the bits and pieces of filter gear I wanted for my various lens sizes, I have a one stop and a two stop ND, 105mm circular polarizer, Foundation Kit (also notoriously hard to obtain) and the low-profile rings to adapt for 72, 77, and 82mm filter rings. I had to use different suppliers and hunt them down, one by one. I would source one ring from one random supplier in the US, another in the UK - a virtual treasure hunt!

So why all the issues? Lee is a bit of a throwback company, they literally make every filter by hand in England. If you want to see a really interesting video that _may_ relieve a bit of the frustration of waiting forever for their products to ship, or at least answer a few questions, check out this link:

Mike Browne visits Lee Filters

There is no Cheap Chinese off-shoring here, they are *hand-dipping* each filter to dye them and then individually testing each one manually! 

And this is expected to supply behemoths like B&H! 

Having said that, the effort made the success of getting them all the more sweet, as well as the pleasure of using high-quality, truly handmade products with beautiful results. But if it's instant gratification one wants, better to go with a cheaper (and nearly as good) competitor.


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