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Filter System

GMB

Active member
I am thinking about getting a filter system for the S2, in particular gradual ND, ND, and perhaps big stopper (I already have screw in polarizers). I am looking at the Lee system or the Schneider 4x5.6 system. Any recommendations? Thanks.
 

torger

Active member
I have just recently started to use grads so I'm not very experienced with it. However as usual I have researched the market quite thoroughly and the conclusion is that if you want the best it is Schneider 4x5.65" filters.

One problem is that nearly all grads are uncoated resin filters. Schneider 4x5.65" is coated glass filters, and there are no other that are among those easy to get. I have resin filters myself, surely cheaper and lighter and you can get smaller sizes (portability was a key feature for me), but filter reflections (due to no coating) is a real problem in some situations.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
I am thinking about getting a filter system for the S2, in particular gradual ND, ND, and perhaps big stopper (I already have screw in polarizers). I am looking at the Lee system or the Schneider 4x5.6 system. Any recommendations? Thanks.
Yes - :thumbs: for the LEE system with either LEE resin, Schneider glass and/or Singh Ray filters. A superbly flexible system. I'm totally biased towards this system because I've used it for years and so have all the rings/grad NDs/NDs/Big Stopper/reverse grads etc.

Some folks prefer the flexibility of the Cokin P series which arguably have a better holder system, particularly for things like polarizers. The Singh Ray filters are excellent and if I didn't have my LEE system I could have been tempted to go Cokin P/Singh Ray instead.

Ultimately though you might want to also consider availability. I built up most of my LEE system over literally decades and in particular when I was in England where it was readily available. In the US availability of some LEE gear can be somewhat akin to finding Ferrari parts for your 308 GTB. :thumbdown:
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Btw, for folks in the US here's a shameless plug for a supplier that has always been excellent for me. They seem to be able to have either have stock or faster availability than anyone else I know and this is all they do:
Camera Filters, Sales Tax Free, 2filter.com

:thumbs: for the small guy vs the big NYC giants.
 
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fotografz

Well-known member
I currently use the Lee system because at the time it was the only one that could be used with W/A lenses. Lee uses a set of adapters to mount their holders to the lens, and offer an adapter type which reverses back on itself to mount the filter holder on which moves the actual filter closer to the lens to avoid vignetting. They also offer different accordion type shades, including one for super wide lenses. I haven't experienced flare with the Lee resins because I use the full system including their shades.

That said, the Schneiders are probably better because they are MC glass and less prone to damage I would think. In either case pouches are essential because you don't want to be touching the surface of either. I use Pec Pads to handle any of these filters.

What is used to hold the Schneider filters?

It may be that the combination of the Lee holder/shade and Schneider filters may be the best of both worlds ... depends on the thickness if the Schneiders and if they will slide into the Lee holder slots and be moveable.

-Marc
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
I agree with Marc. Btw, be careful because like MF in general it's very easy to suddenly find that you've got $1k+ of filters in your filter bag ... particularly if you have the Singh Ray specialized reverse ND's and Schneiders.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
The Lee system is very widely used by many top photographers. Their resin filters are very high quality. I use the ND grads and also their glass Big Stopper and 0.6 pro glass ND filters, and really cannot see any point is spending silly money on something "better", assuming it even exists.
 

Zerimar

Member
Lee system here… very good quality glass and resin filters, have the glass CPL, big stopper, and resin soft grad set. Very nice and versatile setup, also the wide angle bellows hood is great!
 

GMB

Active member
Thanks for all the helpful responses.

Schneider has a kit that apparently fits well on the S2 via adapter rings and some shops in the US seem to have the kit and filters on stock.

Availability of Lee seems to be scarce. Robert White in the UK operates a pre-paid waiting list, with expected delivery of some filters, including the big stopper, of 6+ months (no gurantee). I have not checked other sources.

I have not yet compared the prices.
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
If you do look at the Cokin system, I'd opt for the larger Cokin Z-pro. Otherwise, the comments I've seen seem to give the nod more to the Lee system over the Cokin Z-Pro. I use mostly Singh-Ray filters, 4x6.

Same as Graham, I've had good experiences with Camera Filters, Sales Tax Free, 2filter.com, camera filters for digital cameras,IRND camera filters for HD video, B+W 77mm XS Pro Nano filters, B+W 77mm MrC on sale, Tiffen Variable ND, Marumi DHG Vari ND Filters,deals on MPTV camera filter tools, Ca

ken
 

torger

Active member
Lee makes a special-made version of their holder to fit the 4mm thick Schneider glass filters.

Compared to the cost of the rest of a MF system Schneider 4x5.65" filters are not that bad. It is quite rare in the MF world that "the best" is this cheap :)

If portability is not a problem I see no reason why not getting the multi-coated glass filters (unless you just want to try out the concept or something). No-one with high-end photo gear would buy a normal ND filter made of uncoated resin, right? That we get resin grads is because it has been poor availability of glass ones, but now they exist.
 

yatlee

Member
I have used Lee GND before Schneider. While Lee is not a bad filter, but it's easy to get scratches if not handled with extreme care. It may not affect the image, but I prefer my filters to be spotless. So, after my Lee filters got some obvious scratches, I decided to go for schneider. It's thicker and heavier filters, but the quality is much better than the Lee resein and I don't have to worry about getting scratches. I like them so much and ended up getting the 4"x4" schneider polarizer and ND to simply my filter setup. On the GND, you need a 2 stops (which come in with the landscape control kit) and 3 stops. Highly recommended.
 

torger

Active member
I have a question too.

I currently use a Cokin P holder with Hitech resin filters, since I wanted portability. However, having occassional softening problems from filter reflections in scenes with bright highlights (backlit leaves in trees etc) I'm considering getting a Schneider set anyway.

I use Schneider Digitar lenses, often longer lenses, so the filter thread is typically only 40.5mm. With step-up rings I could attach the Lee filter holder and Schneider glass filter, but is it ok concerning weight?
 

jotloob

Subscriber Member
Lee makes a special-made version of their holder to fit the 4mm thick Schneider glass filters.
Can you please give more details on this LEE 4mm holder ? ? ?
I tried a lot but could not find that item .
Thank you .
 

Marlyn

Member
Yes they do.

But...

The Lee system for the holders is a 'pancake' setup, held together with some long screws. The but is, you may not have screws long enough to account for the extra length as standard.

The second problem, the Lee B&H 4mm holders are not very tight so the glass 4mm filters have a tendency to slip out of them as the filters are heavy.

The Schneider kit includes a 4mm holder that has a screw tension knob on the side of the slot, that allows you to lock the filter in place, or at least, increase the tension on the slot. These work better for the scheider holders.

The second problem with the 4mm slots is vingnetting on wide angle. I found I couldn't have two 4mm slots on a Canon 24-TSE without them becoming visible. (One polarizer, one grad as a rule). So I went back to the 2mm grads.

Regards

Mark.
{Owner of WAY too many bits of the Lee system sitting in a draw...}
 

jotloob

Subscriber Member
Thank you Jae and Mark .

Looking at the given information , I doubt that my idea will be possible .
Have a look to the rear of the bellows hood .
There are two slots for 2mm filters . My intention was to replace these slots by one or two 4mm slot(s) to be able to use a Schneider Optics ND filter .
These slot holders can't be removed . I will have a detailed look to that again tomorrow . Screws are no problem as I got many of these UNC screws in different length . And even in black .

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