Cokin P holder?

I am interested to know if this holder hold a singh Ray warming polarizing(for cokin P) + the linear graduated ND.Does it hold a circular and/or square/linear filters?My intention is to have both in future but I don't if it is the holder for there is another one to hold the above filters.thanks
--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Hi, if your lens share the same diameter, I would suggest getting the polarizer threaded for your lens. That way you can easily walk around with it. I used it on vacation in the Bahamas on the beach just walking around, no tripod.

The Cokin holder with the squared off ND filters is a useful but awkward contraption and I find mobility very limited.

However you can easily use both by attaching the polarizer to your lens and putting the Cokin holder on top of that with an ND grad. Kind of clunky to adjust everything but that's a classic landscape setup so you probably won't be in a hurry or moving around too much.

Alcineia said:

I am interested to know if this holder hold a singh Ray warming
polarizing(for cokin P) + the linear graduated ND.Does it hold a
circular and/or square/linear filters?My intention is to have both
in future but I don't if it is the holder for there is another one
to hold the above filters.thanks
--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Click to expand...

Hi Alcineia,

I have the Singh Ray warming polarizer and the Cokin P. The Singh Ray polarizer is circular (it needs to be so it can rotate), and there is a place in the P holder for a circular filter. The holder can also hold a few linear filters at the same time in their own slots.

I'm working a little bit from memory here, since I don't have it in front of me, and after getting the stuff I only used them a time or two. Filters are something I feel change the photograph too much in unnatural ways. But that's just me...

My best,

Ed

--
http://www.blackmallard.com/cal_ls/
California Light and Structure

ksadz said:

The Cokin holder with the squared off ND filters is a useful but
awkward contraption and I find mobility very limited.

However you can easily use both by attaching the polarizer to your
lens and putting the Cokin holder on top of that with an ND grad.
Kind of clunky to adjust everything but that's a classic landscape
setup so you probably won't be in a hurry or moving around too much.

Alcineia said:

I am interested to know if this holder hold a singh Ray warming
polarizing(for cokin P) + the linear graduated ND.Does it hold a
circular and/or square/linear filters?My intention is to have both
in future but I don't if it is the holder for there is another one
to hold the above filters.thanks
--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

An alternate view.

I find the P series holder to be very convenient. If your lens is the type that does not rotate during focus or zoom, you could easily adjust polarisaton and the position of the grad without moving the holder. If the holder was on top of the polariser, you would have difficulty adjusting the position of the grad without affecting the position of the polariser. Mine holds the cokin round pola and 2 square filters simultaneously. I use the modular hoods also. You may have trouble if you shoot very wide, I have used the cokin pola without the holder on my 15-30, held in front.
a.

Alcineia,

I have the Cokin P holder and I use a Galen Rowell ND Graduated 2 Stop, Soft Step filter with it. It works great. I purchased from the filter from Singh Ray. I haven't tried their circular, but I am planning on getting a couple more squares (warming and color instensifier).

jeanette...
--
'Communication is the cornerstone to understanding.'
Jeanette Butler
http://www.communityzero.com/pug

Alcineia,

The Cokin P system is OK, but not great. The back of the holder where the filters sit should be taped over to prevent flare & Cokin's lens shades should be used if possible. The Lee system seems better, but any of them are going to add weight & bulk.

You are are a novice & you would be best served with the simplest equipement right now. You can use PS or CWB cards to alter the color balance of your pictures exactly, without the need to use any filter which might degrade your optical path.

Polarizers, ND & graduated NDs allow effects not obtainable with PS, but even these I extremely rarely use. I almost never use polarizers on images where skin is important because it deadens it.

If your intent on getting a polarizer, then get a round, circular polarizer to fit the lens you intended to use it with the most. You probably need a "circular polarizer" & not a "linear" one. The term "circular polarizer" refers to the way the filter polarizes the light & it is not a description of the filters shape.

Regards,
Bern Caughey

Bern Caughey said:

Alcineia,

The Cokin P system is OK, but not great. The back of the holder
where the filters sit should be taped over to prevent flare &
Cokin's lens shades should be used if possible. The Lee system
seems better, but any of them are going to add weight & bulk.

Click to expand...

I did not hear about taping there yet.Did you had to do that?
I know that Lee could be better but it is also much more expensive.

Bern Caughey said:

You are are a novice & you would be best served with the simplest
equipement right now. You can use PS or CWB cards to alter the
color balance of your pictures exactly, without the need to use any
filter which might degrade your optical path.

Click to expand...

You are right,I am a novice now but in order to get the effects that I want for my lanscapes,nature pics, I think this will be usefull to me,at least to get my hands on.I just want to get the right acessories now and not need to buy all over again when I am not a novice anymore because I have a different lens size or something.

Bern Caughey said:

Polarizers, ND & graduated NDs allow effects not obtainable with
PS, but even these I extremely rarely use. I almost never use
polarizers on images where skin is important because it deadens it.

Click to expand...

I am not going to use this for portraits.

Bern Caughey said:

If your intent on getting a polarizer, then get a round, circular
polarizer to fit the lens you intended to use it with the most. You
probably need a "circular polarizer" & not a "linear" one. The term
"circular polarizer" refers to the way the filter polarizes the
light & it is not a description of the filters shape.

Regards,
Bern Caughey

Click to expand...

--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Alcineia,

I use my Cokin ND system with landscapes. I have never (so far) had any problems with flare. If I did have probelms I would probably look for another system. I do use other Cokin filters for portraits from time to time. The Cokin system I have does not add any more weight to my camera (Canon D30), which is heavy enough with the battery grip.

I too have to watch how much I spend. I would love to be in the position to buy the best the market has to offer, but alas, I don't have that kind of money.

You are doing right by asking questions and finding out what other people use. I have found this method has worked for me.

Keep up the good work and keep asking questions.

jeanette...

--
'Communication is the cornerstone to understanding.'
Jeanette Butler
http://www.communityzero.com/pug

I have a couple of complete sets of Sinar 4" filters & holders, which is as good as they get, but I almost never use any of them with digital or color negative. These large filters pick up a lot of reflection, especially when stacked. If color balance is your concern, you'd be better off doing it digitally.

As I stated in my post, NDs, graduated NDs & polarizers are filters that are capable of effects not possible digitally. But a large polarizer is also more prone to flare & reflections than smaller ones. If your using graduated NDs, then any system will have the same problems, so Cokin may be fine for this application.

Another option is to get the larger sample books of lighting gels from Roscoe, Lee & such. Yoiu can cut these to fit your scene giving you much more control than graduated NDs allow. Cut the edge in a small zig-zag pattern in order to blend it better into the scene. You can stack these right against each other, but cut the filters seperately so the zig-zags don't match exactly. This will further feather the edge of the effect. These are slide into filter holders & tped in place with paper tape.These gels are not optical quality but are designed for lighting, but they work fine in areas of low detail such as skys & clouds. The price is low, but the flexibility is great, so at least try this first.

Regards,
Bern Caughey

Equipment can be as much more of an inhibitor to creativity than a facilitator. I knew a photographer that wanted a camera hat that was triggered when he winked his eye. If such a tool was available, I'd happily sell all my equipment in order if need be to afford it.

Unless I am mistaken, you are trying to go pro eventually & I had no ill intent when I called you a novice. As a buisness person, it's important to spend your money wisely. I still own a Cokin system I bought when I was a novice. If I had it to do again, I'd buy good glass filters in all the various sizes of my lenses. My Sinar system was bought for medium & large format work & I find it too large for working with most 35mm lenses.

Optically, the very best filters are the wratten gels. Up to three of these can be stacked right against each other without much worry. The effects of flare reflections & distortion are exagerated by the space between the stacked filters.

Most filter holders need to be taped the way I mentioned earlier. Imagine direct Sunlight hitting the edge of the filters. It will cause incrediable flare. Take a drinking glass, turn it upside down so you looking at the bottom. Imagine this is your filter & shine a flashlight at it from the side. Know imagine taking a picture through that flare. I've seen this ruin photographer's shoots who should have known better.

With graduated NDs, the best you can really do is to flag off the filter.

Regards,
Bern

...circ-pol; use a Cokin in a Cokin holder. But to answer your question, yes, the Cokin-P holder holds the round Cokin circ-pol and THREE rectangular filters.

I have a Cokin-P ring and slide-on cap on each of my lenses. I keep the circ-pol in the holder and slide it on virtually every lens I mount. A circ-pol is the most-important filter you can use.

BTW, after accumulating various Hitech- and Sing Ray-brand grad-NDs and a couple Cokin blue-grads, I no longer use any graduated (or color-balancing) filters. Dynamic-range enhancement is MUCH easier to do with 2 digital frames and Fred Miranda's $8.50 Photoshop action, and Photoshop is always optically perfect in its color rebalancing. If you have time to put your camera on a tripod, you have time to mount a Cokin circ-pol AND shoot 2 frames.

--
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr

...and save your money. Do NOT spend your money on any grad-NDs or color-balancing filters.

--
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr

...feel so strongly about an issue and 99.9% of the time just butt out. But not now.

I shoot landscapes, ALWAYS use a tripod, and virtually always use a circular polarizer. Do understand that the color-saturation increase one gets from a circ-pol cannot be duplicated in Photoshop, while color balancing and dynamic-range enhancement can be. As I said above, I no longer use grad-NDs because PS and 'Fred' do the job much better and quicker.

Buy one Cokin-P holder and #164 circular polarizer and then rings and caps for all your lenses. I have 2 Cokin modular shades you can have for the shipping charge if you want them* because I never use them. If your camera is on a tripod, your head or your cap/hat or your hand is the sunshade.

You talked about not wanting to waste money on filters you won't use when you're more experienced and smarter. When I started this obsession 3 years ago, I bought and then lost or sold hundreds of dollars of screw-on filters. If I knew then what I know now, I would have started with the Cokin-P system and saved hundred$. Do not waste your money on screw-on filters (other than excellent-quality UV or haze filters that double as protectors). For the latter, I use HOYA HMC Super UV(0) filters; get those from Delta. Get all the rest of this from The Filter Connection at http://www.2filters.com .

• Since this site's automatic e-mail link no longer works, contact me at [email protected] if you want them.

--
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr

Thanks Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Behr said:

...and save your money. Do NOT spend your money on any grad-NDs or
color-balancing filters.

--
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr

Click to expand...

--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Jeanette,

My idea is just buy only one filter right now(polarizing) but I just want make sure the holder system is the right one for what I an doing now and what I should be doing in the future.A good filter is very expensive so I need to make sure I can use it for a long time if I don't scracth it.

jeanette... said:

Alcineia,

I use my Cokin ND system with landscapes. I have never (so far)
had any problems with flare. If I did have probelms I would
probably look for another system. I do use other Cokin filters
for portraits from time to time. The Cokin system I have does not
add any more weight to my camera (Canon D30), which is heavy enough
with the battery grip.

I too have to watch how much I spend. I would love to be in the
position to buy the best the market has to offer, but alas, I don't
have that kind of money.

You are doing right by asking questions and finding out what other
people use. I have found this method has worked for me.

Keep up the good work and keep asking questions.

jeanette...

--
'Communication is the cornerstone to understanding.'
Jeanette Butler
http://www.communityzero.com/pug

Click to expand...

--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Bern Caughey said:

Equipment can be as much more of an inhibitor to creativity than a
facilitator. I knew a photographer that wanted a camera hat that
was triggered when he winked his eye. If such a tool was available,
I'd happily sell all my equipment in order if need be to afford it.

Click to expand...

I do agree that in same cases this is right but a I think that in this case how could I avoid reflections without a polarizing filter.

Bern Caughey said:

Unless I am mistaken, you are trying to go pro eventually & I had
no ill intent when I called you a novice.

Click to expand...

Novice is right. I wrote here so I could hear from the pro's not because I thought I was one.I know you did not have a ill intent.
As a buisness person,

Bern Caughey said:

it's important to spend your money wisely. I still own a Cokin
system I bought when I was a novice.

Click to expand...

If I had it to do again, I'd

Bern Caughey said:

buy good glass filters

Click to expand...

What do you think about singh ray's?
in all the various sizes of my lenses.

I respect your opinion but after researching a lot about this you are the only one that do not agree to go to the cokin route.Do you think the flaring problem is the holder itself or the combination holder with not good filter ?

My

Bern Caughey said:

Sinar system was bought for medium & large format work & I find it
too large for working with most 35mm lenses.

Optically, the very best filters are the wratten gels. Up to three
of these can be stacked right against each other without much
worry. The effects of flare reflections & distortion are

exagerated by the space between the stacked filters.Don't you think 2/3 filters inside the cokin holder would not be more closer to each other than 2/3 filter stacked in the other way?

Most filter holders need to be taped the way I mentioned earlier.
Imagine direct Sunlight hitting the edge of the filters. It will
cause incrediable flare. Take a drinking glass, turn it upside down
so you looking at the bottom. Imagine this is your filter & shine a
flashlight at it from the side. Know imagine taking a picture
through that flare. I've seen this ruin photographer's shoots who
should have known better.

With graduated NDs, the best you can really do is to flag off the
filter.

Regards,
Bern

Click to expand...

Apreciate that you share your experience.

--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z

Well said, Jeff,

I do have lots of filters. It's a matter of experimenting to see which filter(s) you like. Since I've discovered the Graduated ND, it is what I use most of the time. It is special hard plastic and I have not seen any glare.

As I stated before, it's a totally personal thing to filter or not, to use circular or not. The Cokin system is inexpensive and you'll still get excellent result. Then you can move into some of the filtering system Bern mentioned.

Good luck,

jeanette...
--
'Communication is the cornerstone to understanding.'
Jeanette Butler
http://www.communityzero.com/pug

Alcineia said:

I respect your opinion but after researching a lot about this you
are the only one that do not agree to go to the cokin route.

Click to expand...

I have never used Sing-Ray filters & I've never seen even a single one on a job. Are they new?

In your research did you find a lot of pros are using the Cokin system? Wonder why? In all my years, I've never worked with another photographer who used Cokin. There not horrible, but the system has issues.

The thinner the filter the better. The more plano-parrellel the filter the better. The smaller in diameter, the better. In all these areas, there are better options than Cokin.

You have two lenses. If you bought two polarizers you'd be covered, with the additional benifit that they fit inside your current efficiant lens shades. The Cokin polarizers are quite thick, especially when compared to Nikon. Nikon makes some of the thinnest, most plano-parrellel filters made & they are an excellent choice.

Regards,
Bern Caughey

Jeffrey Behr said:

...feel so strongly about an issue and 99.9% of the time just butt
out. But not now.

I shoot landscapes, ALWAYS use a tripod, and virtually always use a
circular polarizer. Do understand that the color-saturation
increase one gets from a circ-pol cannot be duplicated in
Photoshop, while color balancing and dynamic-range enhancement can
be. As I said above, I no longer use grad-NDs because PS and
'Fred' do the job much better and quicker.

Buy one Cokin-P holder and #164 circular polarizer and then rings
and caps for all your lenses. I have 2 Cokin modular shades you
can have for the shipping charge if you want them* because I never
use them. If your camera is on a tripod, your head or your cap/hat
or your hand is the sunshade.
You talked about not wanting to waste money on filters you won't
use when you're more experienced and smarter. When I started this
obsession 3 years ago, I bought and then lost or sold hundreds of
dollars of screw-on filters. If I knew then what I know now, I
would have started with the Cokin-P system and saved hundred$.

Click to expand...

How are you loosing all these filters? I believe I still own every filter I've ever bought in the last twenty years, except for the ones I discarded after they became damaged.

I haven't blended multiple exposures yet, but I clearly see the benifits of this technique over graduated NDs. My subject matter is usually animate & I prefer not to use tripods as much as possible, so multiple exposure are not normally an option. I do shoot only RAW, so it is possible to extend the dynamic range in a similar manner by blending multiple conversions instead of exposures, but the multiple exposure technique is likely better.

Regards,
Bern Caughey

Jeffrey Behr wrote:
thanks Jeff!

Member said:

...feel so strongly about an issue and 99.9% of the time just butt
out. But not now.

I shoot landscapes, ALWAYS use a tripod, and virtually always use a
circular polarizer.

Click to expand...

I do have a nice steady tripod that I shoot with it all the time.I do agree that todays we can simulate a lot filters in PS but I also think(like you) for the way I want my pics a polarazing will be essential.

Do understand that the color-saturation

Member said:

increase one gets from a circ-pol cannot be duplicated in
Photoshop, while color balancing and dynamic-range enhancement can
be. As I said above, I no longer use grad-NDs because PS and
'Fred' do the job much better and quicker.

Buy one Cokin-P holder and #164 circular polarizer and then rings
and caps for all your lenses. I have 2 Cokin modular shades you
can have for the shipping charge if you want them* because I never
use them. If your camera is on a tripod, your head or your cap/hat
or your hand is the sunshade.

You talked about not wanting to waste money on filters you won't
use when you're more experienced and smarter. When I started this
obsession 3 years ago, I bought and then lost or sold hundreds of
dollars of screw-on filters. If I knew then what I know now, I
would have started with the Cokin-P system and saved hundred$. Do
not waste your money on screw-on filters (other than
excellent-quality UV or haze filters that double as protectors).

Click to expand...

This is what many people is telling me.

Member said:

For the latter, I use HOYA HMC Super UV(0) filters; get those from
Delta. Get all the rest of this from The Filter Connection at
http://www.2filters.com .

• Since this site's automatic e-mail link no longer works, contact

me at [email protected] if you want them.

--
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr

Click to expand...

--
Alcineia Frank
http://www2.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=665
D100 Nikon 28-105 F3.5
Nikon AFS 80-200 F2.8
Olympus C3000Z