# What are the best ND Grads? No circular!



## Mork (Sep 26, 2014)

What should i buy? 

5D MK3 with 16-35mm f4 and 24mm f2.8 lenses.


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## neuroanatomist (Sep 27, 2014)

Lee or Cokin Z-Pro holder, Lee grads or Singh-Ray reverse grads for filters.


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## Valvebounce (Sep 27, 2014)

Hi Mork. 
A bit more info might help, are you pro or amateur? Looking to experiment or sure you need them? What do you mean by no circular, no circular polariser? Do you want best cheap ones, best for a budget of x local currency units, or just the absolute best and cost be damned?
I have Cokin Z Pro, they do what I want, did not break the bank and were available immediately, I didn't have to wait on a production batch then try to beat everyone else that was playing the same game! 
Lots of the members here don't like the colour cast they have, I can live with it as I'm not trying to make money off my images. 

Cheers, Graham.


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## nda (Sep 27, 2014)

LEE 8)


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## Phenix205 (Sep 27, 2014)

I sold my Singh Ray and use exposure blending to achieve the same effect. Most of the time, I like the exposure blending results more. Save your money for a good solid ND filter.


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## Halfrack (Sep 27, 2014)

Easy, the 100mm square ones. Or the 100x150mm hard or soft grads. 

I've got both the Hitech and the Lee version of the rings and holders - the Lee stuff is more expensive but it's worth it.

Having used both filters, get what you can - Hitech makes a reverse grad - really important for a sunset on an ocean. I tend to get a color cast with the full ND from Hitech, but haven't put down the money for a Lee version yet. My soft ND Grad set is a champ though, so a Little Stopper is in my future.


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## jrista (Sep 27, 2014)

Personally I prefer the Lee system...it's fairly compact and extremely flexible. Lee, Singh-Ray for the filters. 

Hitech makes some decent filters...but you gotta know what your purchasing. I own a Hitech ND filter that ended up being an "IR" version. I'd purchased it and then ended up not being able to take the trip I'd planned, and never knew that the filter was IR until too late. It wasn't labeled clearly as such, and there were multiple products with very similar names. I'm now stuck with a rather expensive filter that I have no use for.  I find Lee and Singh-Ray have clearer filter names.


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## TexPhoto (Sep 28, 2014)

I had a nice set of Singh-Ray filters, but gave it up to just shoot bracketed photos and do my filtering in post. If shooting landscape on a tripod, and the wind is not whipping the trees, shooting a bracket set of three photos lets you combine them after the fact in any way you please. 

The Singh-Rays were very nice though.


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## Coldhands (Sep 29, 2014)

Phenix205 said:


> I sold my Singh Ray and use exposure blending to achieve the same effect. Most of the time, I like the exposure blending results more. Save your money for a good solid ND filter.



+1 

Exposure blending in post is much more flexible (hardness, EV, position) and doesn't put another piece of glass in front of the lens to degrade IQ. To put it bluntly, I consider ND grads to be a legacy of the film days.


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