Graduated ND Filters

shamlyn

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For over a year, I have liked my Canon T3i with my Canon EF-S 18-55mm, and also my Canon EF-S 55-250. I plan on upgrading to a 70D within the next year and also two more lenses. A Sigma 10-20 and also a Canon 100mm Macro Lense.

I am planning on buying Graduated Neutral Density Filters, but I am not sure which ones to go with. So far, I am looking at both Cokin and Hitech. I have heard of Lee, but they are super expensive.

A few questions I have are:

1) Is there any difference between Cokin and Hitech? Is one better than the other.


2) What is the difference between Hard and Soft Grad ND Filters? Is it better to have both just in case?


3) Should I also invest in a Reverse Grad ND Filter, are they worth it?


4) I was also thinking about buying a .6 and a .9 lense, but how often do people use a .3 or even a 1.2.


5) I have noticed that on the B&H Photo Website, they have some filters that are resin and others are not. What is the difference between a Resin filter and a non-resin Filter besides the price.


6) Since I will be using a Sigma 10-20 lense, I'm assuming that Filters that I will be buying in the future need to be bigger than 77mm, so I'm assuming a 100mm.

One last thing, It will be extremely helpful since I am new to Grad ND filters is for someone to post what the correct retanglular sizes (Grad ND Filter) I should be using for my 10-20mm since there are a variety of sizes.

Thank you for your help.
 
The traditional use of ND grads is for landscape scenes with high dynamic range. These days I'd tackle those with HDR ( and some modern sensors have such good dynamic range that in all but the most extreme cases a single RAW image can be developed to a good image ).

Personally I'd not bother with ND grads unless I was shooting e.g. action shots or scenes with movement in them that's critical. Otherwise I'd use HDR techniques and multiple exposures.
 
I agree graduated ND filters can be duplicated in post processing by simply bracketing the exposure when you take the photo.

You can then either do an HDR merge, or simply stack two exposures in Photoshop, Paintshop, etc. and paint in the less exposed photo where your GND filter would have been.

I understand the desire to be able to use old film techniques, but, hauling around all the extra gear gets old fast.
 
All sorts of grad filters are available in PP. The advantage is that you can vary the opacity, vertical location, blend, etc., very easily in post, so that the effect is fine tuned just as you want it. NIK has a variety of great grad filters that are very effective. Plus, if you have a large number of lenses of varying filter sizes, getting filters can be expensive. I used too use the Cokin system to get around that, but switched years to digital grads and have never looked back. The other suggestions about bracketing and HDR are excellent as well.
 
For over a year, I have liked my Canon T3i with my Canon EF-S 18-55mm, and also my Canon EF-S 55-250. I plan on upgrading to a 70D within the next year and also two more lenses. A Sigma 10-20 and also a Canon 100mm Macro Lense.

I am planning on buying Graduated Neutral Density Filters, but I am not sure which ones to go with. So far, I am looking at both Cokin and Hitech. I have heard of Lee, but they are super expensive.

A few questions I have are:

1) Is there any difference between Cokin and Hitech? Is one better than the other.

2) What is the difference between Hard and Soft Grad ND Filters? Is it better to have both just in case?

3) Should I also invest in a Reverse Grad ND Filter, are they worth it?

4) I was also thinking about buying a .6 and a .9 lense, but how often do people use a .3 or even a 1.2.

5) I have noticed that on the B&H Photo Website, they have some filters that are resin and others are not. What is the difference between a Resin filter and a non-resin Filter besides the price.

6) Since I will be using a Sigma 10-20 lense, I'm assuming that Filters that I will be buying in the future need to be bigger than 77mm, so I'm assuming a 100mm.

One last thing, It will be extremely helpful since I am new to Grad ND filters is for someone to post what the correct retanglular sizes (Grad ND Filter) I should be using for my 10-20mm since there are a variety of sizes.

Thank you for your help.
the Cokin P series with holder is good but are you planning on doing long exposures? want to shoot with large apertures in full sun? Some of the effects can be done with photoshop
 
I have a couple of grad NDs, 72 and 55, I got them because usually when I buy filters for my lenses I buy ND, grad ND, UV, CPL and FD, though I dropped the FD after I found out the white balance settings in digital cameras are enough. I don't mind having the NDs, I prefer things on my camera to things in post, but that's just a preference.
 
I took a basic photography class and the instructor said that there are three filters that cannot be duplicated with software:

1. Circular Polarizer

2. ND (Neutral Density)

3. Enhancing
 
I took a basic photography class and the instructor said that there are three filters that cannot be duplicated with software:

1. Circular Polarizer
True.
2. ND (Neutral Density)
Sometimes true, sometimes false. If he meant you need uniform NDs to lengthen exposure time there are ways of blending multiple exposures for the same effect.
3. Enhancing
This is too wide a description to understand what you're saying.
 
This might help you get an idea. ...

--
Good luck and happy shooting!
 
What that link shows should be fairly easy to duplicate in PP. Just increase red saturation, maybe play around with the other HSL sliders a little.
 

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