Lee, Formatt, Cokin??? Soft or Hard? ND or ND Grad? 1, 2, 3, or 10 steps? 0.4? 0.6? 0.9?Although this was, and is, one of the secret tools of trade for landscape photographers, not many ventured that far in their photographic endeavours. The truth is they can make the difference between great and crap photo. If you not convinced - try and see for yourself. Soon you will be buying your filters, wondering how could you do landscape before...
My first encounter with filters was during a photo workshop with Jeremy Walker up north in Scotland and since then I got hooked: how could I take landscape photos without them before? So after the workshop I spend countless hours looking for the "perfect" filter set for my needs. Jeremy is a big advocate of Lee filters - and although they felt good during my initiation, the price tag and the huge choice of filters made it rather difficult to decide. Plus there were others: Cokin, Formatt or a countless number of no-name filters on eBay. So what do you really need and what would be the value for money?
Jeremy's famous saying during the workshop was that if he was to go on a trip with just one filter, it would be 2-stops hard graduated ND. But what would be the other filters you will need? I learnt it the hard way by getting a number of filters, than realising that I never use some of them. Thanks God for ebay as I actually made a bit of a profit through that lesson...
So what are the filters that you definitely should have in your bag? And which brads would perform the best?
I tried Lee (ND, hard ND Grads and Circular Polariser), Cokin (2 stop soft ND Grad), Formatt (ND) and happily skipped any "no-name" stuff shipped from China. After a chat with somebody at Lee I got convinced to buy the Lee Digital Starter Kit which contains holder, 2 stops hard ND Grad and 2 stops ND filter. This still is the core of the set I keep, however, as every curious novice, I needed to try for myself what the other filters were offering. So I soon got myself Lee circular polariser and, wondering about the hard / soft differences, Cokin soft 2 stops ND grad.
Cokin was first to be out from the bag and back on eBay: the material it is made from felt plastic compared to Lee, there was quite obvious colour cast and, as I soon found out, I hardly ever used soft grad filter. I still may give soft grad another go in the future but for sure it will not be Cokin... Although they are slightly cheaper than Lee, I found them inferior in both the performance and built quality.
So I was back to Lee and happily snapping away. However, I soon realised two things: I was not entirely happy with the circ polariser (having been using them before it seemed that Lee had somehow weaker effect than I was expecting). The other thing that became apparent was that 2 stops ND was just not enough in bright daylight. Although I could always use polariser and ND filter, this still was not always enough. I decided that would be happier with 1 stronger glass at the font so could keep the aperture at reasonable level without too much diffraction.
That's when I came across Formatt filters, as they offer 4 stops ND as standard (although you can order stronger one as well). The built quality is great, there is no colour cast and being about 1/3 cheaper than Lee, they are a definitely worth considering. The extra stop gives you that extra little bit flexibility when it is really needed - so if you tend to shoot in bright light and want to get some more blur into your photos, that's what you need.
Lee circular polariser ended up on eBay being replaced by Sigma 105mm polariser. Being about half the price of Lee it is much better value for money. The built quality and performance are great and again, this is one of the most useful filters to have in your bag.
So if you wandering what to invest into this is a free piece of advice I can give you:
Digital Starter kit by Lee offers superb quality and flexibility: whatever lenses you are using this is the only set you would need. Forget about screw-on filters as you would end up spending and carrying more in the future. This would also give you the two most useful filters you'd ever need: 2 stop ND and 2 stops ND Grad.Cokin Z-Pro series costs almost the same but the quality is far inferior compared with Lee or Formatt.
Circular Polarisers are not cheap. The best value for money I found was SIGMA 105mm (from Bristol Cameras). Great built, great performance.
If 2 stops ND is not enough - have a look at the superb Formatt 4 stops ND. Great for shooting in bright light when you need to introduce some more blur.
It is probably worth having a look at Formatt filters before you invest into Lee set as they may come cheaper but the quality is equally good. But since I never used their holders I can't say much about them.
nother handy gadget for your filters is the Lee 3-filter pouch as it just makes your life so much easier!
The Perfect combination: Lee Digital Starter Kit (Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard; Lee 0.6 ND, holder, pouch); Formatt 1.25 ND; Sigma Circular Polariser, 67mm Wide angle adapter and Lee soft cloth pouch for 3 filters.
From the top: Formatt 1.25 ND; Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard; Lee 0.6 ND.
From the left: Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard; Lee 0.6 ND, Formatt 1.25ND
Cokin 2 stops ND grad, Medium (soft) transition. It feels thinner, more plasticky than the rest. Gone on eBay...
Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard + Sigma Circular Polariser coupled with the Lee holder.
