Lee filter kit

[cc143]

I am looking at upragrading my ~£20 piece of crap filter kit I go to see if I actually need some good high quality filters or if I'd never use them. I've looked it all the ways possible, and understood that I can't spend less than ~£200 for even the basic kit and a single grad filter. 

 

I have however found this deal: http://srb-photographic.co.uk/exclusive-lee-filters-starter-kit-8690-p.asp which is the holder, adapter ring and 0.9 grad for ~£140. 

 

Now, obviously that is far from complete, and tbh, I find the 1.2 grad to be my most used filter and don't know if it would actually cut it...

 

What I mostly do is landscapes and city scapes which needs a grad... In the future, a polariser, bug stopper and 1.2 grad would be nice acquisitions. 

 

This is for 2 reasons, a to see if this would cut it, (if there's something I'm missing out of impulse) and b, I think its a good deal that I could share. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

25 minutes ago, cc143 said:

 

Formatt-HiTech also sells beginner kits I believe, and they can be a bit cheaper than LEE.

http://www.formatt-hitech.com/kits/

 

Pair this kit of 3 ND filters

http://www.formatt-hitech.com/kits/neutral-density-3-filter-kit

 

with maybe a starter kit like this (though both kits will include the 3 stop ND filter)

http://www.formatt-hitech.com/kits/nd-starter-kit

 

And you can stack a 3 stop and 1-2 stop ND filter to achieve the ND 1.2 (which is a 4-5 stop ND).

[cc143]

2 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Formatt-HiTech also sells beginner kits I believe, and they can be a bit cheaper than LEE.

http://www.formatt-hitech.com/kits/

 

Pair this kit of 3 ND filters

http://www.formatt-hitech.com/kits/neutral-density-3-filter-kit

 

with maybe a starter kit like this (though both kits will include the 3 stop ND filter)

http://www.formatt-hitech.com/kits/nd-starter-kit

 

And you can stack a 3 stop and 1-2 stop ND filter to achieve the ND 1.2 (which is a 4-5 stop ND).

I am aware of them, and this kit is cheaper than I remember, however,  I'm not entirely certain their holder has the expandability the lee holder has. 

 

Also, lee's filter system has 100x150mm grads vs. 100x125mm. 

 

Also, it is not sepcified here wether the spacer provided is suitable for 77mm wideangle lenses

 

 

[AkiraDaarkst]

3 minutes ago, cc143 said:

I am aware of them, and this kit is cheaper than I remember, however,  I'm not entirely certain their holder has the expandability the lee holder has. 

 

Also, lee's filter system has 100x150mm grads vs. 100x125mm. 

 

Also, it is not sepcified here wether the spacer provided is suitable for 77mm wideangle lenses

 

 

The holder system should be expandable though you probably do not want to be able to stack more than 3 filters together.  3 is the max I would use.  100mmx150mm filters are available with Formatt too, I own a few.  Formatt also makes lens adapter rings to mount the holder onto various sized lenses.  Contact Formatt-Hitech, they are located in the UK.

[cc143]

I did speak with them, 

 

1. Their adapter ring they include is actually only suitable for up to 24mm before there is vignetting. 

 

Small question here, does it mean you'd have to use a non wide adapter if you go over say 30mm? i.e. do I need to buy both?

 

2. Their prices actually don't include the VAT, so the price is also at ~£140 for this kit. 

 

So is it worth it getting the lee system over this given the extra included ND filter, even at the same price? 

[AkiraDaarkst]

58 minutes ago, cc143 said:

 

OK then buy the Lee holder and starter kit, and you can still buy the perhaps slightly cheaper Formatt filters to complete your kit.  The Formatt ones can be mounted on the Lee holder.

[cc143]

20 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

OK then buy the Lee holder and starter kit, and you can still buy the perhaps slightly cheaper Formatt filters to complete your kit.  The Formatt ones can be mounted on the Lee holder.

I was also wandering if you have any idea at what focal length you can notice vignetting on the lee wide angle adapter ring, I seem to be unable to find anything on that, except a small note on wex's website that says up to 24mm. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

26 minutes ago, cc143 said:

I was also wandering if you have any idea at what focal length you can notice vignetting on the lee wide angle adapter ring, I seem to be unable to find anything on that, except a small note on wex's website that says up to 24mm. 

Lee has two types of adapter rings used for mounting the holder.  The normal one and a wide angle one which recesses the holder a bit back and moves the filters closer to the lens.  I can't test it right now but I do recall using them with my 16-35 Nikon lens on Full Frame without vignetting, on the 16mm end.

[cc143]

I just received the Formatt kit today. It's at £120 from amazon with a  ND0.9 soft grad and 0.9ND, the holder accepts 3 filters as is and has options to expand included with the kit. 

 

The holder seems to be of great quality and filters also look very good. I haven't had a chance to shoot with it yet. 

 

Vignetting appears @ 21mm, so the wide angle adapter will at some point be necessary, but I can get by with the standard at the moment.

 

What I'm about certain I'll need is a filter case, since the platic the filters come in is much less durable than I expected, Packaging in general was a bit crap on Formatt's side, thankfully, amazon are known for overpackaging though. 

 

 

[AkiraDaarkst]

41 minutes ago, cc143 said:

What I'm about certain I'll need is a filter case, since the platic the filters come in is much less durable than I expected, Packaging in general was a bit crap on Formatt's side, thankfully, amazon are known for overpackaging though. 

Yep, you'll need a pouch.  To protect them and to keep them together so that you don't have one filter here and another filter there spread all over the place.

[link955]

I personally own  Formatt-Hitech  ND grad filters and use there filter holder and love it! Only small thing is since they are in UK there is substantial  waiting period for shipping. Took over a month for me to receive my set ( I live in California) Other then that quality is great. However I do recommend LEE 10 stop filter over Formatt's.  And regarding vignetting I have the wide angle adapter and my Tokina 11-16mm has no vignetting at all with this setup so pretty much any focal length beside a fish eye will work with the wide angle adapter.

[cc143]

34 minutes ago, link955 said:

I personally own  Formatt-Hitech  ND grad filters and use there filter holder and love it! Only small thing is since they are in UK there is substantial  waiting period for shipping. Took over a month for me to receive my set ( I live in California) Other then that quality is great. However I do recommend LEE 10 stop filter over Formatt's.  And regarding vignetting I have the wide angle adapter and my Tokina 11-16mm has no vignetting at all with this setup so pretty much any focal length beside a fish eye will work with the wide angle adapter.

I live in the UK, so it was basically next day delivery with amazon prime. I haven't tried the filters yet (too busy atm), but I do aim to go shoot once I get the chance.  

 

I did calculate the big stopper when I was looking at how much an entire kit would come to. An issue I found is their grads are actually 125x100mm vs lee's 150x100mm, which gives some versatility, but given the additional cost of the lee system...tradeoffs. 

 

The wide adapter thing is good to know. Currently, my 17-40mm is kinda useless with these since vignetting basically starts at ~22mm, so the 24-105 has kinda the same range in that respect. I should pick that up at some point. Although, is that 11mm in FF or APS-C? 

 

I also got the lowepro filter pouch. It fits up to 9 filters and the holder, is sort of water resistant and can be attched to my protactic's molle outside if its more convenient/ I don;t have enough space inside the bag, which is nice. It is also considerably cheaper than other alternatives in amazon and ebay. 

[link955]

48 minutes ago, cc143 said:

I live in the UK, so it was basically next day delivery with amazon prime. I haven't tried the filters yet (too busy atm), but I do aim to go shoot once I get the chance.  

 

I did calculate the big stopper when I was looking at how much an entire kit would come to. An issue I found is their grads are actually 125x100mm vs lee's 150x100mm, which gives some versatility, but given the additional cost of the lee system...tradeoffs. 

 

The wide adapter thing is good to know. Currently, my 17-40mm is kinda useless with these since vignetting basically starts at ~22mm, so the 24-105 has kinda the same range in that respect. I should pick that up at some point. Although, is that 11mm in FF or APS-C? 

 

I also got the lowepro filter pouch. It fits up to 9 filters and the holder, is sort of water resistant and can be attched to my protactic's molle outside if its more convenient/ I don;t have enough space inside the bag, which is nice. It is also considerably cheaper than other alternatives in amazon and ebay. 

the 11mm is on a APS-C (nikon d7100)

[cc143]

1 hour ago, link955 said:

the 11mm is on a APS-C (nikon d7100)

its good to know that there is no vignetting at the ~16mm equivalent since unfortunately FF ~10mm lenses are pretty pricey, even though I'd love to get one at some point. 

 

What filters do you currently have/ find yourself using the most? I found myself only using the 12nd ones mostly, the big stopper would be nice, but I'm not sure I'd use it that much. A CPL would also be nice, but its quite costly to get if you include the cost of the necessary adapter. Do you have that? Have you noticed any vignetting when using it on the system with 1 filter on? 

[link955]

1 hour ago, cc143 said:

its good to know that there is no vignetting at the ~16mm equivalent since unfortunately FF ~10mm lenses are pretty pricey, even though I'd love to get one at some point. 

 

What filters do you currently have/ find yourself using the most? I found myself only using the 12nd ones mostly, the big stopper would be nice, but I'm not sure I'd use it that much. A CPL would also be nice, but its quite costly to get if you include the cost of the necessary adapter. Do you have that? Have you noticed any vignetting when using it on the system with 1 filter on? 

I manly use the .9 soft grad ND and the LEE 10 stop ND.