Lee Filters - Polarizers and Grads

[Bruce MacNeil]

Hello -

What is the recommended setup for a polarizer and grad? I know what I wish to achieve but am unsure which to buy.

Want a large Lee polarizer and a couple of soft grads - ideally to work with a standard lens shade.

Thanks - B

[Scott Hargis]

I know a lot of folks like the Lee GNDs, but I find that they have a distinct magenta-ish cast, noticeable when I'm shooting interiors with white walls/ceilings. I spend the extra $$ and get the Schneider 4x5.65 -- they're $325 at B&H but they're really, really nice....and fit into the Lee Foundation if you shim them slightly. (How do I know to shim them, you ask? Because one fell out this summer....an expensive 'oops'. I kept it for a while, thinking it would be fun to make fine art images with blurry spider-web lines all over, but then I found that it just depressed me whenever I looked at it.)

And I use a B+W circular polarizer.

[torger]

How wide your widest angle lens is matters a bit. As a tech cam user with the widest lens being a Schneider SK35 I use Lee's Seven5 system for grads, a small 75mm system.

I was thinking about the Schneider MPTV grads, but when looking closer at them their grads are actually not anti-reflection coated (unlike their other glass filters), and then I thought I could save money, weight and size and just use high quality resin instead. But yes, Lee Filters do have a slight color cast, not to severe for my uses though.

[Paul2660]

Lee works very well, it's very dependent on your setup.  What lens, what back, camera etc. 

For example, Lee currently makes a Wide angle hood and standard hood. Many sites show a 3rd hood, but I have been told by LEE it's no longer made, however it might be in stock in Europe still.  The Standard hood will work on many wides, unless you are planning to shift.  I would feel that you can get it to work on about a 35mm or less. 

Lee makes an all glass CL-PL that they claim has some IR reduction in the coating.  It's in the 100 x 100, (4 x 4) size and I believe in the newer smaller filters for the micro 4/3's cameras. 

My setup:  When working around water where I need longer exposures of 1 to 10 seconds.

Lee wide angle hood, with one filter slot.  If I need polarization I add the 105mm circular polarizer to the front of the hood (Lee makes an adapter ring for this).  The 105mm allows for about 10mm of shift with a 35mm SK before I hit the edge of the filter and 15mm with a 40mm on .  With the 1 slot I use a ND solid 0.6 or 0.9. 

If I am just trying to adjust for a sky and or sunlight brightness on leaves (CL-PL can make a huge difference) I will still use the Lee wide angle hood and the 4 x 4 CL-PL in the one filter slot. 

I feel the wide angle hood is much more versatile as it's a must have for wides and shifting and will still work on my 60mm and 105mm.  Lee makes the hood with no slots, 1 slot and 2 slots.  I would get the hood with slots as you can always take off the slots and just have the hood, but you can't add the slot to a hood that is sold slot-less. 

After using screw in ND and CL-PL for years, I find that the Lee system is much more convenient and gets the job done with a lot less to carry.  Only big consideration is which adapter ring to use, wide angle or standard to mount the hood to your lens. I use all wide angle adapter rings.

Paul Caldwell


 

[markmullen]

As Paul I use the wide rings, the 105mm CPL and the 100mm filters.  I use the standard hood with grads but not with the CPL which I'll shade by hand if necessary. The square CPL is a lovely piece of kit (I've got that too) but not ideal to use in conjunction with grads.

I use the above setup on a Technikardan 23 with super angulon 47mm (the only issue being the foundation kit fouls the recessed board a touch), on an AFDII down to 45mm, both on an aptus 22 and on 35mm down to 17mm, if using the CPL you get a touch of mechanical vignetting down to about 19mm but nothing that can't be sorted out with a touch of content aware fill.

[Professional]

I ordered 1 4 x 5.65" glass GND from a brand not LEE or Schneider or Hitech, once i get it and test it i will confirm here about the quality, and i hope if it is very good quality then i buy more because it was so cheap, less than $90 per filter for a glass one, LEE or another high name brands will charge over $150 or $200 for glass GND 4x5 and larger filters.

[alatreille]

I'm using a Lee System with much of what has been said to date.

The Schneider 4x5.65 CPL is a magical piece of glass....
The wide hood is fantastic - I wish I had one with a 2mm filter slot and one with a 4mm filter slot....But that's just too much to carry!

You can achieve pretty much full shift with the CPL on the Canon TSE 24mmII.  Sometimes there is a little vignetting if the filter holder is turned at 45degrees.

And I've done as Scott has.....crack, but I only lost the corner.  A convenient bit of duct tap gives a regular place to hold the filter and some on the sides shims it very well.

Using this with Grads will definitely limit your shifting possibilities.  Especially if you're using a glass grad as you've then got 2x 4mm filters on.  I'm using resin grads to reduce the size.

I've recently purchased a series of Filter Rings from Hody_Cameraparts on Ebay.  At $12 per ring they are fantastic, though I did notice one of my 82mm rings became very sticky in close to freezing temperatures.  I'm not sure if it was the Lee or the Hody/Serk ring.

Hope that helps.

[Bruce MacNeil]

I have a standard lens shade and ring for my one lens I like to use.


Am looking for a circular polarizer and a few grad ND's to muck around.

Funny - but I owned two previous sets of Lee filters and shades and rings.     One set stolen 2006. One set stolen 1992.

Time flies.    I never owned Lee ND or circ polarizer filters.

[Rob Whitehead]

Hi,

Ive recently started using the lee wideangle hood with my phase kit.

Get the one with two filter slots and the attachment for the cpl.

Ive got the 105mm cpl from lee, a good piece of glass.

Use the wide angle lens adapters.

I've been using lee grads plus lee ND (proglass) and the circ polariser stacked over the last few days (on the phase one df, mainly with a 45mm lens). It's a good, versatile system.

And i finally got the 'big stopper' today - hurrah! First shots this evening. They were in stock at camera electronic in perth earlier today (i think - i preordered mine last week and the shipment arrived yesterday, not sure if they're all spoken for but these are still like hen's teeth. I've been trying new york and canada so was stoked to finally find one down the road in western australia!)

[Paul2660]

On the CL-PL, be care to keep the Lee lettering to the outside or facing the scene.  If you don't the effect is different almost like a blue/gold filter has been used.  I had been noticing this for a few months, never sure that was happening as the problem was not happening all the time, but I was sometimes placing the CL-PL the right way others not.  Graham Welland on the Getdpi forum noted the same issue and pointed out that the filter has to have the lettering outwards to be a true CL-PL.  I tested this on my setup and found the exact same results. 


Paul Caldwell