B&W filters for Cokin P series?

Greetings folks,

I have been using a Cokin P series filter holder and adapter rings for my travel kit for many years now, and it has worked out reliably, with no complaints. I have used the Lee P Series compendium hood attachment also for many years, and it still seems to be gong strong.

I have decided that the resin filters I have need replacement due to age and wear, and would like to get a full set of resin filters in the P size to use with my current system. I was hoping to get Lee filters, but they don't appear to make the B&W filters in the P size.

Does anyone make P sized B&W resin filters other than Cokin? I supose I can have some 100mm filters cut down if I have no other choice. Polyester (and glass, for that matter) filters won't hold up to the travel I do, so the resin filters seem to be the only viable solution.

Any suggestions for sources would be appreciated.

---Michael

Michael,
B&H carries Hitech resin filters in a number of colors, cc values and grad's to fit the Cokin P holder. They are also reasonably priced. I've used and abused one of the ND Grads over the last 4-5 years and it has held up well...

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for the note. For some reason, I was thinking that Hitech had gone out of business, so I didn't look around for them.

I received an email from a friend in the UK who sent me a link for Teamwork Photo, with the entire Hitech line, include a B&W kit with four filters for a very low price. It doesn't apear that any of the retailers in the US have the filter kits, so I may go through Teamwork for my purchase.

---Michael

The Cokins are the best and cheapest option I know of.

I tried the Hitech filters and they are actually a tad larger than the Cokin slot. The Coken P filter is 84mm and the Hitech filters are 85mm. Now that might not seem like much but I found them to be a real pain to get into and out of the filter holder. I felt like you had to use too much force on them and that was very disconcerting-especially in colder weather. They will work but for the same price range the Cokins fit better.

For the B+W filters, the Cokins work great. For filters like grads, ND's and warming I think the Singh-Ray filters are better (but alot pricier too).

SRB of Luton in the U.K. also offer a range of "P" size filters. The company has a web site

Michael,

Before you order from the UK, you may want to check out The Filter Connection. I use a Cokin P sysem almost exclusively and I have ordered a number of Hitech filters from them. They offer a number of kits, though I don't know whether the B&W kit is among them.

Sorry about that. Here's the actual link.

Pete,

Thanks for the info on SRB. That's a company I hadn't heard of before. I looked thorugh theit website, and it appears they produce a large array of products for photographers.

I have one problem with the SRB B&W filters, and it is the same problem I have with the Cokin filters. They make no indication of the actual filter factor for the filters, and make no indication whether their B&W filters are standardized to the traditional filter numbering system (yellow is a #15, etc.). While this is not too much of a problem, in the case of the Cokin red filter, I suspect it is nowhere near the traditional 23 red, and is definately not a tri-color (29) either.

Part of the reason I wanted another maker then the delightfully cheap Cokin filters is due to my belief that I am not getting much of a red filtration effect with the Cokin red filter. Looking at the filter, it appears to be a cool red, and it doesn't seem to drop blue skys down as much as it should, and only slightly more than the orange filter does.

Melchi, the filter connection has the same range of filters as B&H, and they also do not have the filter kits. Individually, they are competitive with B&H it appears. Those prices do not compete with the value of the filter kit from Teamwork, however, even considering the exchange rate.

Thanks everyone for the input, I'll probably replace my filters this winter and I think I'll probably try the Hitech filters this time around.

---Michael

Michael,

Hitech don't put filter factors on their filters as Lee do but, as you can see from the Teamwork website, they do use the filter numbering system.