Lee Holder vs Cokin Z-Pro Holder

Note: To see all future reviews please note this blog is no longer active, please visit me over at oopoomoo.com

If you have a full frame camera and plan to use and combine filters for your photography then you’ll likely want a filter holder. The two primary options are:

The Lee Holder – available in the USA at B+H photo and in Canada from The Camera Store

The Cokin Z-Pro Holder – available in the USA at B+H photo and in Canada from The Camera Store

To learn which holder I think is more practical watch this video:

Now the only problem is that the future of Cokin filters is up in the air – there may or may not be new product made, so buy your Cokin holders while you can just in case… and even if you don’t use them someone out there will want to buy your filter holders.

For more on filters see these links:

Essential Filters for Digital Nature Photography

Advanced Filters for Digital Nature Photography

©Darwin Wiggett - no filters

©Darwin Wiggett - Singh-Ray LB Warming Poalrizer and Singh-Ray 2-stop hard-edge grad filter

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New eBook – Advanced Filters for Digital Nature Photography

Note: To see all future ebook releases, please visit us over at oopoomoo.com

Samantha and I have just released our latest eBook on Advanced Filters for Digital Nature Photography.

This eBook continues where our last eBook, Essential Filters for Digital Nature Photography, left off and introduces photographers to advanced filter techniques that lead to creative imagery often impossible to replicate in software.

Learn how to use in-camera filters to create unique and desirable effects. Darwin and Samantha cover the Gold-N-Blue and Blue/Yellow polarizing filters, the 1.5 stop hard-edge grad filter for reflection photos, the Daryl Benson reverse ND grad filter, and specialty ND filters like Lee’s Big Stopper and Singh-Rays trio of Vari-ND filters.

Learn how to correct colour casts caused by filtration in post-production, see why a 1.5 stop ND grad is the solution for perfect reflection photos, discover why the Daryl Benson reverse ND grad is an essential filter for prairie and desert photography, and be creative by using ND and Vari-ND filters to ‘paint with time’. Finally, Darwin and Samantha show you the creative power of combining two or more of these filters for expressive and creative photography. The eBook costs $10, is 49 pages long and is available here.

Lee SW150 Filter Holder

For anyone who owns a Nikon 14-24mm lens or a Canon 17mm TSE lens (both have the bulbous rounded front element),  Lee now has the SW150 (superwide 150mm) filter holder available for order.The SW150 Filter Holder has been designed to specifically fit the Nikon 14-24mm lens, but will also be adapted to fit on other super wide lenses after its initial launch. The SW150 is available as a Starter Kit containing a Filter Holder, Adaptor Collar for the lens, a 0.6ND  (2-stop) Hard Graduated filter that is 150mm wide x 170mm long, and a Neoprene Lens cap that fits over the collar when the holder is not attached.

The full range of LEE resin graduated and standard filters are also available to order for the SW150 but there will be no Polarizer or Big Stopper available for this system. A separately sold custom fitting called the “System Adaptor” allows you to fit the SW150 onto an existing LEE Adaptor Ring enabling it to be fitted to other lenses.

The SW150 Starter Kit is now available to order from any store that sells Lee Filters, like The Camera Store in Calgary

Lee SW150 Filter Holder on the Nikon 14-24mm lens

The Weekly Photo – May 28

©Darwin Wiggett - 4 minute exposure

This is a shot of Glacier Lake and Mount Outram in Banff National Park taken in mixed overcast light with spots of sunlight streaming through the scene. For this photo I used a Singh-Ray LB Warming polarizer and a Singh-Ray 2-stop hard-edge grad over the sky and mountains to help even out the exposure. Base exposure was 1/4 of a second with my 24mm TS-e lens. I also added the Lee Big Stopper 10-stop ND filter to bring exposure time to 4 minutes. Having this long of an exposure gave me two advantages; first it made the clouds streak through the sky in a painterly manner and secondly it allowed the quick spotlights of sun coming into the scene to paint light onto the photo over time. For reference purposes, the shot below was taken without the Big Stopper at 1/4 of a second.

©Darwin Wiggett - 1/4 second exposure

ND Filter Tests

I am in the middle of extensive comparison testing of five different ND filters. These filters allow very long exposures in bright light so you can play with ‘painting with time’ effects, where anything moving in the scene becomes an ephemeral blur. The five filters I am testing are three Singh-Ray Vari-ND filters (the Vari-ND, the Vari-n-Duo and the beta version of the Vari-n-Trio – yet to be released). As well I am comparing these three vari-filters to the Singh-Ray George Lepp 5 stop solid ND filter and the new Lee Big Stopper (10-stop ND filter). Just to whet your appetite are the two shots below:

Shot with a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and 2-step hard-edge grad

Singh-Ray LB polarizer, 2-step hard-edge grad and Lee Big Stopper

Stay tuned near the end of May for a complete report on these five different filters!

New Article, New Gear

Singh-Ray now has a larger version of its sprocketed LB Polarizer that will drop into either a Lee holder or a Cokin Z-Pro holder. If you are using one of these larger filter holders this means that you now have more choices in polarizers beyond the Cokin Z-164 Circular Polarizer or the Lee Polarizer. I find the Cokin polarizer to be very dark and it has a stong blue cast. I find the Lee polarizer to be a pain to use with the Lee holder. The Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer solves both problems (it is bright and warm) and slips easily into the Cokin Z-Pro holder. This larger filter works great with the large holders to use with lenses that have a large front filter thread (e.g. 77mm or larger) and to use with ultra wide angle zoom lenses like a 16-35mm lens on a full frame camera or a 10-22mm lens on an APS-sized camera. To learn more about my thoughts on this new filter and to see the latest images I made with the filter go here.

Also related to super wide angle lenses, if you have a Canon 17mm TS-E or a Nikon 14-24mm (both with bulging front lens elements), Lee has announced plans to make a filter holder that might work with these lenses – check it out here – hmmm looks interesting but would involve buying another size of grads – my wallet is already thin enough! Some other filter holder inventions for these lenses include this one for Nikon, this one for Canon… and I am sure there are lots more out there… heck I am messing around with my own MacGyver rig for the 17mm TS-E. Stay tuned.

Cokin Z-Pro Holder on left with LB Polarizer and Grad (P-holder on right)