Cokin filter recommendations

311

Just started getting into the cokin filter thing ,can anyone recommend a few essential ones as there seems to be loads to choose from.

I wanted to get different colours ,but I'm not sure which ones to go for.

Carrigman

Avoid all the gimmicky stuff. I'd suggest a UV/Skylight, Polariser, and Neutral Grad.

311

Will do ,they only had one dark grey gradual when I got it.
It seems to be an easy way to get good landscapes .

Thanks

Brian

JMcL

Definitely a polariser, most useful filter on the planet. Not sure if I'd go for Cokin though, have a look at Hoya instead.

Neutral density (non grad) are also very useful for getting long exposures, and are on my shopping list

I can't make up my mind about ND grads. I shoot in raw, which almost always gives me enough dynamic range to process twice and/or shoot multiple exposures, and then merge the results as a HDR. This gives more flexibility than grads, which are limited to straight lines, at the expense of more time at the computer. I know all the arguments about getting it right in camera, but I'm fairly satisfied with the results I get.

With the possible exception of a UV filter (I don't bother personally), I don't think there's a need for any of the other filters. Warm-up fllters etc which are very useful on film cameras to compensate for the colour temperature of the film aren't necessary on digital, as the white balance can be set either at the tome of taking the photo, or later if shooting raw.

311

My main benefit from the filters ,I hope will be calming down the dynamic range when I have the sunlight in shot . I also hope to develop with them to get some nice night shots .At the moment I only have a neutral density 8 gradual filter ,which is fairly dark.
I'll get the other ones aswell ,it works out cheaper to go the cokin route as I have a lens thats a 77mm .

heffsarmy

I heard that the ND grad from the cokin filters actually colour cast the pics, I use singh ray my which I find excellent. They can be got for the p cokin filter holder.

311

Top man ,I'll have a look into that .

Thanks
Brian.

311

them singh ray filters are very expensive ,the examples of the results are what I'm looking for though .I'll try the cokin ones first and see how far I get.

Thanks Heff

Brian.

elven

I've found that quite a lot recently i could have done with an ND because I've been shooting in bright sunshine and am limited to smaller apertures because it maxes out the shutter speed. If there's a colour cast with some ND's, surely that can be altered using the colour balance in RAW processing, just the same as you can add the effect of a cool/warm-up filter?

Owenw

heffsarmy wrote:

I heard that the ND grad from the cokin filters actually colour cast the pics, I use singh ray my which I find excellent. They can be got for the p cokin filter holder.

Yep, I have a few Cokin ND grads and the stronger ones give a noticeable (pink) colour cast to your images.

I'd suggest any one looking into filters first read Lee Frosts' Filters book.

heffsarmy, can I ask you where you got your singh ray filters from?

heffsarmy

Owenw I got them from bhphotovideo.com

311

elven wrote:

I've found that quite a lot recently i could have done with an ND because I've been shooting in bright sunshine and am limited to smaller apertures because it maxes out the shutter speed. If there's a colour cast with some ND's, surely that can be altered using the colour balance in RAW processing, just the same as you can add the effect of a cool/warm-up filter?

Could a certain coloured grad filter not add to the image and also keep the image within range. I'm thinking a green or yellow filter inside a forest to calm the sun.
By the way Elven thanks for telling me about the filters;)

L8r's
Brian.

Owenw

heffsarmy wrote:

Owenw I got them from bhphotovideo.com

thanks heffsarmy.

Did you get them while in the US or buy online and have them shipped over? It's a PITA getting stung for customs for stuff coming in from non-EU countries.

heffsarmy

Owenw I bought them online and got shipped via standard airmail, 90% of the time I get away without paying customs and exise duties usually takes about 2 weeks. Getting them shipped via ups or fedex your gauranted to pay duites and charges and they collect the monies on the goods for the revenue themselves. The only thing is that bhphotovideo won't send hight value equipment via standar airmail, I got a canon 1d mii from them, got hit with the customs chagres here but still alot cheaper than the street price in Dublin

Owenw

Thanks for the info heffsarmy, especially the tip about using airmail.

_brian_, yes you can get a slight reduction in light levels with some colour grads, depending on filter density. You're only looking at between 1/3 of a stop and 1 stop. The more dense the filter, the more obvious the effect.

You could use an ND grad to control the light, then add a colour grad to give effect you want. You can also get combined warm-up (yellow) or cool (blue) filters with an ND grad all-in-one - handy for wideangle lenses where vignetting is an issue when using filters.

The P system holders can take 3 filters at once (i think there is even a 4 filter holder) and a slim single (or dual?) filter holder for wide-angle lenses which i am after for my ef-s 10-22.

311

Owenw wrote:

Thanks for the info heffsarmy, especially the tip about using airmail.

_brian_, yes you can get a slight reduction in light levels with some colour grads, depending on filter density. You're only looking at between 1/3 of a stop and 1 stop. The more dense the filter, the more obvious the effect.

You could use an ND grad to control the light, then add a colour grad to give effect you want. You can also get combined warm-up (yellow) or cool (blue) filters with an ND grad all-in-one - handy for wideangle lenses where vignetting is an issue when using filters.

The P system holders can take 3 filters at once (i think there is even a 4 filter holder) and a slim single (or dual?) filter holder for wide-angle lenses which i am after for my ef-s 10-22.

I didn't realize I couldn't use my 10-20 lens with the P holder ,s**t .
I still have to get a 77mm adapter ,I might get away with it as I'm only using it to kill the light in the top of the image.

Owenw

TBH, I only know of their existance. No idea where to lay my fingers on one. So, I bought a second standard 3x holder and plan to take a stanley knife to it one of these days.

elven

Would you maybe fancy an IR filter? Looks like you can get them for the 'P' holder, but not sure where... there are different strengths but one I saw was the 89B. Apparently there's a test you can do with a TV remote control to see what strength you need for your particular camera.

Was it Fenster who just did some IR stuff recently?

311

Infrared sounds interesting ,might pop into town later and see what I can get .