Reverse Nd Grads

Hi all... I tend to take a fair number of sunrise/sunset seascape type shots, so thinking of investing in a reverse nd grad. Prefer not to shell out for the Singh Ray option unless very highly recommended due to cost/availability. Looks like the Hi Tech is pretty much the only other way to go, aside from combining upside down/right way up grads. Any other options out there that anyone's come across? Anyone with any experience of the Hi Tech reverse nd? And if so, which one would you head for if you bought only one? The 0.6 or 0.9?

Thanks very much

Although the Singh Ray option is not cheap, they are very good and worth the money if you do a lot of sunrise/set photography. I think Hi Tech is the only other option I know of.

Stupid Q: What is a *reverse* ND grad?

They have a clear bottom half and then a fairly harsh dark section getting progressively lighter to the top.

Tricky to use without the line showing I'd imagine.

This is worth a read..

http://leefilters.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/124041-reverse-nd-grads

Simon

That makes a lot of sense.

And here was me thinking to myself 'why don't people just turn the filter the other way round?

Ive actually done that.

Thanks all for your replies thus far... Simon, I know you take a lot of landscapes yourself... And actually any one else out there who does as well... What's the best way you've found of controlling the very thin band of extremely bright (+ 3ish stops) light you get around the exact moment of sunrise/sunset on the horizon without over exposing the highlights or under exposing the rest of the frame? Do you use the method Lee/Tim Parkin suggest? Or stack normal grads and fix in post? Or bracket and combine in photoshop? I generally try to do as much in the camera as I can... But any suggestions on the best way to solve this (inc reverse nd grads !) would be gratefully received...

Thanks vmuch...

So, an ND stripe with a hard edge at one side and soft edge on the other?

Presumably the idea is to align the hard edge with the (utterly flat ) horizon?

Isn't that just like using an ordinary grad with the top edge in the middle of the frame?

This thread is very helpful - thanks!
Never really thought about this problem before. The link to Tim Parkin's article via Lee filters is really worth reading
Andy