# Lee Filters



## ray5 (Feb 17, 2015)

HI,
I have been toying with the idea of getting Lee for a long time. After a lot of reading and some good recommendations from you guys here is the list I came up with.

Lee FK Holder 
Lee 77mm Wide Angle Adapter Ring 
Lee 82mm Wide Angle Adapter Ring 
Lee Front Accessory Ring 
Lee 105mm Landscape Polarizer 
Lee 4x4 ND 0.9 
Lee 4x6 Grad ND 0.9 SE 
Lee Big Stopper 

I mainly do recreational landscape and cityscape photography and anticipate a trip to the Southwest US this summer( Page,AZ, Monument Valley, Lake Powell area).
I think I might drop the solid ND for now but thought I'd ask you folks what you think?
Thanks,
Ray


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## Zeidora (Feb 23, 2015)

I have the 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 ND grads in both soft edge and hard edge. I don't think I ever used the soft edge, the edge is just too diffuse. With wide angles, be sure that you get the recessed wide-angle adapter as otherwise you can get vignetting. On my Zeiss 21 mm with 82 mm front thread, I can use a single slot plus the polarizer without vignetting on the FF 5dmkii.

The 0.9 ND grad cuts three f-stops, which is a lot. I frequently use the 0.3 and 0.6, and if need be, they can be combined (remember multiplication [not addition] of extinction factors). In digital that is not too much of a problem, but shooting LF film, you better get your filter factors right. If I remember correctly, the set is cheaper than the individuals.
You can also use the pol filter as a solid ND 0.6 filter. You don't have to cut reflections out, so depending how you turn it, you can get specular highlights, if desired. The ND grad have sufficient large ND area to use them as a solid ND filter (without gradation). If you do not use -10 stops too often, you can combine ND and Pol to get close to -10 stops. You get additional surfaces, but if budget is a concern, give the combo approach a try.

Last but not least, consider getting a compendium hood. Added filter surfaces invite reflections to creep in. Hood and Pol cannot be use together. In that case, I use a piece of cardboard to shade the lens. I haven't looked for a 105 mm hood.

Have fun!


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## ray5 (Feb 27, 2015)

Zeidora said:


> I have the 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 ND grads in both soft edge and hard edge. I don't think I ever used the soft edge, the edge is just too diffuse. With wide angles, be sure that you get the recessed wide-angle adapter as otherwise you can get vignetting. On my Zeiss 21 mm with 82 mm front thread, I can use a single slot plus the polarizer without vignetting on the FF 5dmkii.
> 
> The 0.9 ND grad cuts three f-stops, which is a lot. I frequently use the 0.3 and 0.6, and if need be, they can be combined (remember multiplication [not addition] of extinction factors). In digital that is not too much of a problem, but shooting LF film, you better get your filter factors right. If I remember correctly, the set is cheaper than the individuals.
> You can also use the pol filter as a solid ND 0.6 filter. You don't have to cut reflections out, so depending how you turn it, you can get specular highlights, if desired. The ND grad have sufficient large ND area to use them as a solid ND filter (without gradation). If you do not use -10 stops too often, you can combine ND and Pol to get close to -10 stops. You get additional surfaces, but if budget is a concern, give the combo approach a try.
> ...



Thanks.


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## degies (Apr 8, 2015)

Quick newbie question
I am looking to move to the Lee system, but the hard edge seemed to me not worth it. I would think you can only use it if you have a horizon line , but the soft edge diffuses that line 
I currently use Tiffen ND grads and often if I move from landscape to portrait I forget to turn the filter and in the shot you can see the line even that makes. I would think the hard edge would be worse? Or do you fix that in post ?


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## Zeidora (Apr 9, 2015)

I use hard edge filters more with WA lenses, so your observation may be related to the focal length you use it on. I can easily see that on an 85 mm lens a hard edge will be overly harsh, but on a WA a soft edge is often too flimsy. 
Forgetting that it is on, well, that's on you, sorry!
You can try to fix a shot with a gradient filter in PS, but that is a salvage, not proper technique.


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## sanjosedave (Apr 9, 2015)

I picked up my filter holder and adapter rings from the filter dude on ebay.


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## Hector1970 (May 5, 2015)

I think if you are buying Lee you'd be nuts not to buy the Big Stopper (10 Stops) or the Little Stopper (6 Stops).
It changes the picture you can take. 
After that the 0.3 , 0.6, 0.9 Graduated filters are a great set.
I seldom use the Hard Filters as the you need a very straight horizon which I don't tend to have in this country.
The sunset filter is a nice filter.
Get some cleaning fluid for them too.
Salt water coats them. They are easily scratched and Big Stoppers don't bounce.
Its the saddest think to pick up a broken one.

They are great and still the best.
There is another UK company Hi-Tech which are making very nice filters too.


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## dppaskewitz (May 6, 2015)

I have been using the Little Stopper more than the Big Stopper (smoothing moving water). If you are going wide, consider getting the B+W wide angle CPL rather than the Lee one. It's another $150 or so (frightfully expensive), but the Lee CPL will vignette slightly at 21mm and definitely at 20mm and wider (on a 70-40).


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## grahamclarkphoto (May 16, 2015)

ray5 said:


> HI,
> I have been toying with the idea of getting Lee for a long time. After a lot of reading and some good recommendations from you guys here is the list I came up with.
> 
> Lee FK Holder
> ...



Hey Ray,

I've been using Lee for 10 years or so and love their GNDs - you can't get much better in terms of sharpess and color neutrality between Lee and Singh-Ray.

My go-to setup is:

[list type=decimal]
[*]6-stop Circular - X3 ND
[*]3-stop Hard Reverse GND - Singh-Ray
[*]2-stop Soft GND - Lee
[/list]

My advice is completely useless or somewhat relevant depending on what you shoot, this is what I shoot:

http://www.grahamclarkphoto.com/new-work-by-graham-clark-photographer/

If you're into landscape, sunrise and sunset stuff then the 2:00 - 4:30 minute mark is definitely a fun range to stay within at ISO 50-100 / F8-18, which is where the above setup puts you.

I've used the Lee Big Stopper for years with a reference card for WB (since it's really blue) with great success, and only noticed the corner sharpness as a problem when I got my Canon 16-35 F4 IS (super sharp on corners) on my Sony A7R:







Light being bent at a right angle upon entry into lens barrel is all I can think of when it comes to explaining why the loss of sharpness occurs on all my square ND filters, regardless of quality or manufacturer. Being a fair distance away from the front lens element is probably part of the equation too.

In short: 6-stop circular, 3-stop hard reverse GND, 2-stop soft.

Singh-Ray is the only one who makes the hard reverse GND as far as I am aware, but it really adds dynamic range to the top 20% of 16mm-20mm veridically composed landscape images

Graham


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