Cokin/Kood filter systems

I fancy a dabble into these filter system and want to get a graduated ND filter - but can you get a straightforward Graduated ND or are they all tinted in some way? I looked on 7dayshop and eBay and they both seemed to offer graduated in anything but ND.

Looking forward to your expert advice.

Are the Cokin filters 3 times better than Kood? Or is that unanswerable?

Mike

Cokin has them. Here is some info. Scroll down to nr.960 0n the left side. It says:Cokin ND Grad Kit with 121L ,121M and 121S ND grad.

They should be neutral grey. But I have heard they have a slight magenta cast over it. The best ones seem to be from Lee filter systems. Real glass instead of resin. But very expensive. If you get the typical ND grads (3 strenghts, hard and soft edged) you are talking about $ 1000,-

Since L.R. 2.0 came out, I sold my cokin grads. L.R. has now a grad. tool which can be applied locally. Very nifty and non destructive.

Martin.

Just wondering now but ND filters are always colourless right or else they aren't called ND (neutral density) or am I wrong here?
You mean with "tinted" colour right?

I've bought a cokin Z-pro set with 3 types GND filters.
So from clear to gray, the densities are ND2, ND4 & ND8.
Don't know anything about kood.
There is a difference between the Cokins btw, the Z-pro for example are higher quality filters then the P ones.
When looking over the internet not very much seem happy with there Kood filters though

These www.formatt.co.uk seems to be pretty good but the price...
Anyone have experience with them?

That nothing compared to Schneider, $370 for a GND filter 4"x5.65"
But hey you've a Schneider then

ps. here is the link link

The Kood are cheaper Stefan so I'm not surprised they're not as well thought of.

Martin - As for post processing graduation I'm not sure that's really what I want it for. I want the exposure to be right in camera for sky and land.

It's not worth me spending much but I'd certainly have a pop to see if I used them at modest cost.

On a different tack, I wasted money on a cheap polarising filter - it seems to wreck the image quality without adding anything but maybe it's operator error. So that's one reason I'd rather not get Kood if they're not sufficiently good quality.

Mike

I had the P-set from Cokin. Made of resin and all of them had a slight magenta colour cast. The way it showed depended a lot of the light.
The were absolutely Not Neutral. Maybe the Z-pro series was better. I don't know that from experience.

Martin.

I expect you can correct the colour cast OK in PP but Cokin are quite expensive if you don't know you'll use them and you sold yours so that tells me something

Mike

I sold them only, because L.R. provided me a more precise and Non destructive way to use it on my raw files, Mike.
The Colour cast wasn't a big problem, because I do my landscapes always around the golden hours of the day.
Sky's tend to have a strong colour cast any way that time.

Martin.

Ps, if you think Cokin is expensive, please don't look at the arguably better other ones like Lee or Sing Ray.

The Z-pro are a bit better Martin, didn't notice a cast with my photos but when looking through the filter you see they aren't truly black.
Will test them tomorrow if we have some sun.

Mike about the Cokin, I hardly use them only with landscapes and I got the Z-pro set with 3 GND for €60 (£52) so can't complain.
I only use them for the GND filter also have an infrared to try that out.

I'm currently replacing my Cokin filters due to the colour cast..I've heard good things about Hi-Tech, I'll be buying them shortly

simon

Hi-Tech is a part of Formatt. I ain't so sure about their holder though but the filters should fit in the Cokin holder as well so let me know how they are, Simon

These are taken with the Z-pro GND filters.
It really isn't my type of photography so don't comment on the photos and yes the horizon isn't straight with one






So do you see a colour cast or not?

No, not particularly.

Hmm, I think you guys have persuaded me that I should keep my money in my pocket for now.

Mike