just ordered the 72mm XL. rented one and loved it for my aircraft hangar interio r work. the 95mm filter format presents an interesting question. how best to fil ter if needed? not sure it is a requirement, though I do love my #25 filter for cloudscapes? my thinking is to merely hold the Lee/Cokin filter in front of the lens. the Cokin holder vignettes with my 110mm XL, so I see no need to attempt t his. even the X-series most likely does the same.
suggestions?
If you decide you want to use the Schneider center filter for this lens, the filter thread becomes 110 mm. What I do is tape 100 mm square polyester filters (Lee or Calumet) to the lens.
I just hold the filter in front of the lens, careful not to get it in the way when using front tilts. Tape will work, too. The problem w/ the Lee holders is that you risk vignetting w/ a wide lens.
Try taping the filter across the rear element. Attach one end of the tape strips the tape on the barrel of the lens. This works well with polyester, gel and res in filters Alternately: cut a polyester/gel filter to fit inbetween the c.w.f. fil ter and the front element.
There are some related threads discussed under Filter. Try this for example.
the previous threads reference a wide-angle holder that isn't listed in my Lee catalogue. further investigation yields a divided opinion as to whether or not the 95mm adapter ring will work with the standard foundation kit. I was told 'no worries mate' by my Australian pro-photo buds, but I tend to believe otherwise from photo.net posts.
trying to standardize on my filter system, and need one that will support all lenses. not an easy choice apparently.
I doubt Lee would have gone to the trouble of making the FK-100 foundation kit for the 72XL & 90XL if a standard Lee adapter ring would have worked. Apparently the part is fairly new, and isn't in any of the catalogs. I've used a Lee WA adapter ring & foundation kit holder with the 75 SA, and could see where it started to vignette. Since the 72XL has a vastly larger image circle, I find it hard to imagine that the standard 95mm adapter ring could work effectively in all situations. If you don't use many movements, the 95mm adapter ring is probably OK (but if that's the case, why use the big & expensive 72XL?).
For the 72, 58 and 47 XL lenses, I constructed cardboard holders for 100mm square filters. They hold the gels against the front rim, so have no vignetting.
thanks for the advice. the lens arrived and is beautiful. can't wait to find some great light. I checked the Lee dealer, and the FK100 was not listed in latest catalog. also, there wasn't a 95mm WA adapter ring available. like Alan mentioned, a homebrew solution shouldn't be too difficult to come up with. might as well put that machine shop of mine to good use, instead of just working on airplanes! in addition, after polling many 72XL owners about their solutions (some of them quite comical), if I stumble onto something cheap that worke well, I will publish the details.
Daniel, B&H sells FK100 for about $150. I use optiflex resin filters (0.3mm thick?, great for wide angle lenses) and recommend them.
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