Filter System - Advice please

Hi All

A distinct lack in my photography gear is a filter system & associated filters. I'm not entirely sure what I should be getting. My interests are mainly in landscape and I have a K5, DA15, FA43, FA77 & DFA100 and will hopefully add an FA31 at some stage.

The advice I can "generally" see is to go for Lee or maybe Hitech but what technical pieces do I need?

Any constructive advice is much appreciated.

Hello

I use the Cokin A system - not sure it will be large enough for all of your lenses without checking the filter threads but they cover up to either 72mm or 77mm

I hear that the Hitech nd grads have a colour cast but the one I have has not shown this - I bought an A size nd hard grad from SRB Gritturn/ SRB Photographic and when it arrived it is a hi-tech)

I find the cokins are fine and the 'a' size filters take up a lot less room in your bag than the larger types

The technical pieces are the filter holder, adapter rings for each lens/filter thread size and after that the only items are you choice of filter, personally I have nd grads hard and soft, a blue grad and a much less used tobacco/sunset grad

Cheers


Stu

It does really depend on a couple of things..budget & how often you're likely to use them.

If you have a decent budget then no question in my mind, go with Lee..I've been the Cokin & Hitech route before and there is some truth in the saying "you get what you pay for", Lee are very good quality and don't produce casts like my previous filters did. If you are on a budget then Hitech are the ones to go for, still decent quality and behave a little better than Cokin when it comes to color casts.

If you're starting from scratch get a wide filter holder as it will cover all your lenses, prsent & future, without vignetting. To get you started go with the Hard edge NDgrads, on crop sensors they are ideal for 90% of situations, I rarely use my Soft grads...a 2 & 3 stop will cover most things too, don't bother with a 1 stop.

Simon

The full size Lees are large. Using them on small lenses such as yours means that you use very little of the graduation. I think the Lees are much better suited to larger lenses. There is a smaller Lee system which suits the smaller lenses down to a certain point. I enquired at Teamwork and they were convinced that they would cause vignetting on the DA15mm. The DA15 has a built in hood and you have to put a spacer in order to attach the filter holder. On the other hand I heard a report somewhere else of someone successfully using Cokin A's with the DA15.

You could do worse than start off with Cokin A's, they are cheap as chips.

I use the Hitech 85mm grads. They are very good and fit in the Cokin A holders. There are however two downsides to the Hitechs IMO:

1. They vignette in the Cokin holder on some lenses (DA 17-70 causes problems at the wide end, whereas strangely the DA 16-45 has no such issues)

2. They do introduce a slight blue / cyan cast, but it is very easy to remove all traces of this in PP and you end up with a very neutral looking image

I have solved the vignetting issue with helpful suggestions from Shaun Wilson, i.e. I now use the filters holding them by hand in the correct position in front of the lens - this is actually an easier method as you can adjust the position infinitely and get just the amount of graduation to suit.

Other than what I've mentioned above, the Hitechs get my recommendation, although they are clearly not as good as Lee filters they cost less than one third of the amount. Also they're resin, so won't shatter if you drop one.

Regards
David

HI All

Thanks for the responses.

IF I've got this correct, a wide angle (DA15) requires a wide angle adaptor ring to fit it's thread size? (potential issues with the in built hood on DA15) and I'd need a standard adaptor ring for every different thread size of lens I wish to use?

Thanks
John