Cokin vs Lee

[cirks]

sorry for another filters thread .....

I'm off on hols very shortly and want to sort out some filters before going. I know several posts have been made here stating how wonderful Lee filters are but I'm trying to see whether a) I can justify spending that sort of money and b) whether I would really notice the difference between Lee and say Cokin. I'm not a bad photographer but I still need to do lots of practice to match some of the work on here.

The two filters I definately want are ND and Polariser.

So, for my Canon 20D with 10-22, 17-85 and 70-300 (ignoring macro lens), I would need to spend the following if going with Lee:
- Starter Kit - £126.89
- Adaptor 10-22 - £34
- Adaptor 17-85 - £17.23
- Adaptor 70-300 - £17.23
- 105mm Polariser ring adaptor - £30.48
- 105mm Circular Polariser - £205 (gulp)

That means (ignoring hoods etc) for effectively 2 filters £430

I haven't finished finding prices for the equivalent in Cokin but based on the prices of the bits I've looked at I'd make a BIG saving going that route.

Finally, I'm assuming that I can't use standard lens hoods in conjuntion with the filters. With Lee that means really silly additional costs. Don't know the options with Cokin.

So, thoughts, comments?

[le gravy noire]

I had some cokin ones and then moved up to lee filters. The lee's are in a different league basically. The cokin nd grads arent neutral and the photos always looked a bit muddy to me...

You can use a simple screw polariser like a hoya that goes into the thread on the front of the lens then mount the lee holder on that.. I'd say go for a lee holder with a 0.6 nd hard as a starting point. If you love your photography lee are the only choice. Its like any piece of camera kit.. you can repeatedly buy cheap versions or you can just get the lee's and be done with it!

Matt

[scalper]

interested in some used cokin filters?

Cokin P020 Blue (Wratten 80A) €7,00
Cokin P027 Warm (Wratten 81B) €7,00
Cokin P184 Circular Polarizer €30,00
Cokin P 72mm adapter ring €5,00
Cokin Filter Holder: modified to allow it to be used on wideangle lenses (I've cut off the two front slots) €4,00
Lee GelSnap filter holder €10,00
pictures on www.xflowsupersprint.com/filters

although I'm not so sure the price would still be convenient once you factor in the cost of international shipping

[flameop]

where is the best/cheapest place for the Lee stuff ? uk.. after going through my holiday shots I think I could do with a ND grad

[scalper]

don't know if it's the cheapest, but I'd try www.robertwhite.co.uk
I recently bought some stuff from them and I've been really pleased with their excellent service

[flameop]

ta, found www.morco.uk.com as well.. starter £114 inc vat..

[cirks]

le gravy noire said:

You can use a simple screw polariser like a hoya that goes into the thread on the front of the lens then mount the lee holder on that.. I'd say go for a lee holder with a 0.6 nd hard as a starting point.

If I got a simple screw polariser though, I'd need 3 of them wouldn't I? Hoya 'cheap' ones are £50+ each so not a million miles off the cost of the Lee.

I know the starter kit has the 0.6 hard in it but I've also seen suggestions that a soft is a better bet for general use where there isn't a hard horizon line in the shot. Do you not agree?

[flameop]

I got the Kenko Pro from ebay.. digital 77mm circ pol for £27 Hoya Pro are Kenko rebranded for outside Asia market..

S

[poah]

I just got a kood CP for the cokin P system for £18. the Lee stuff is bigger so better suited to ultra wide angles and is better made (you would hope for the price it costs) the big Lee CP can be bought cheaper than £200 but its still costly. I've had good results with cokin P (they also do a Z which is lee quality stuff and price). I've found jessops to be the cheapest for the cokin stuff strangely enough

[Arif110]

name said:

but I've also seen suggestions that a soft is a better bet for general use where there isn't a hard horizon line in the shot. Do you not agree?

Hi!

This actually depends on the shooting situation. The delineation of the filter is more visible the more stopped-down (smaller aperture, bigger f-number) your lens is at the time of shooting. A hard grad is therefore not quite so obvious when using a lens wide open or nearly wide open.

To the extent that you're going to want to 'hold the sky back' in classic landscape shots - hard grad is going to more likely be of more use to you.

Of course as you say - when the horizon isn't neat - a soft grad might on the face of it make more sense - but you can often find that the gradient is so mild that is starts to darken whatever it is you'd meant to keep out of the dark part. Hard grads generally give you a bit more control - and you can always control the delineation further by being aware of where your aperture's set - and using your Depth-of-field preview button to actually see what the lens is seeing at the time of exposure.

I have both!

[cirks]

I hate you lot sometimes... Everytime I ask a question I end up spending loads of money as a result of the answers.

flameop said:

ta, found www.morco.uk.com as well.. starter £114 inc vat..

Thanks for the pointer. Very impressed with them - nice and helpful on the phone and as long as Royal Mail keep to their guaranteed next morning delivery service then I'll have the following Lee filters tomorrow:
Starter Kit
Circular Polariser
+ adaptors etc

Best price of anyone I found.

[GetCarter]

You did the right thing... just look after them - we had a bit of a moment yesterday (no names) and my ND grad got scratched... so today I'm £50 worse off for the replacement.

[crmcatee]

cirks said:

Thanks for the pointer. Very impressed with them - nice and helpful on the phone and as long as Royal Mail keep to their guaranteed next morning delivery service then I'll have the following Lee filters tomorrow:
Starter Kit
Circular Polariser
+ adaptors etc

Best price of anyone I found.

I'm in the market for exactly the same thing - and came across these folks Studio Kit Direct

What was the total from morco if you don't mind me asking...

[crmcatee]

Well mines turned up this morning.. oooooooooooooooooo very nice.

I opted for the thinner heliopan Circ polariser which is only 7mm thick...



I'm impressed with the quality.. now to get out and do some shooting..