95mm filter LEE / B&W

[rich caramadre]

I need an orange filter for a nikor 150SW. I've always used screw on filters but noticed the LEE filters while searching. Any thoughts on the Lees? I read they are made of resin. Would this be as good optically as a B&W glass filter?
Thanks for any info, Rich

[Dave Gesell]

I can't say that the resin that Lee uses is as good optically as the Schott glass in a B+W filter, but a lot of people use Lee filters (and I sold a lot when I worked in retail), and nobody complained about optical quality. Some things to keep in mind are the resin will scratch more easily, and it seems to attract dust more than glass does. The price at B&H at least is about the same, so that's a wash, but only if you plan to hold the Lee filter in front of the lens, otherwise you'll need an adapter ring and Foundation Kit (holder). If you really just need a single filter for one lens, I'd go with B+W, but if you want to build a kit of filters including ND grads that can be used on a bunch of lenses (and formats), you might want to investigate the Lee system further.

[Bob Salomon]

We do have a 95mm Orange 22 Heliopan in stock. As you probably know, Heliopan is the only filter manufacturer that only uses Schott glass exclusively for all of their filters. Of course they also only use brass rings as well and all non-rotating filters, like an orange, are in slim mounts with front threads. The one in stock has the standard Heliopan coating.

[Drew Wiley]

Is this for field or studios use? I'd far rather have coated glass filters in the field both for durability and flare-resistance.
It appears to me that the selection of B&W has thinned out considerably. Don't know what's going on there.... but as Bob
suggested, Heliopan makes it.

[Neal Chaves]

Be carefull. I have a 150/8 Nikor SW. Many filters, including Nikon, will hit the glass on the front element. I have several older B&Ws that are safe to use, but when I recently bought a new medium yellow B&W from B&H I found it would hit the front element if screwed down tight (flunked the lens tissue test). Maybe Bob knows if Heliopans will clear the front.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

My experience is that the Lee resin filters work very well so long as you can control the light falling in them. They are however very flare prone when not used with a hood.

[Bob Salomon]

Be carefull. I have a 150/8 Nikor SW. Many filters, including Nikon, will hit the glass on the front element. I have several older B&Ws that are safe to use, but when I recently bought a new medium yellow B&W from B&H I found it would hit the front element if screwed down tight (flunked the lens tissue test). Maybe Bob knows if Heliopans will clear the front.

Heliopan places the glass in their filters further forward in the mounting ring then B+W does.

[Cletus]

I used to have a "full set" of B+W and Heliopan screw-on filters in two sizes for black and white work. Nearly $1K worth. On the used market I think I fetched about $250 for the lot when I switched to Lee. I am currently a big proponent of the Lee system and would never switch back to screw-on filters for several reasons -

Lee (or Hitech or Formatt or Tiffen) all make a wide variety of resin (and glass) filters which cover the gamut of filter needs are all compatible with the Lee Foundation holders. (Or Hitech or Formatt or Cokin Z-Pro holders)

In my opinion, the 4x4 type filter system is overall much more versatile - and less expensive in the long run - then trying to keep up with screw-in filter for all your lenses. The workaround if you are dead set on screw-ins is to buy one set of very large filters - 86mm? 105mm? and a set of step-up rings for all your lenses. Glass filters this size can run $300 a pop though, so not necessarily a less expensive alternative to Lee system. And most importantly, the Lee Shade, which is an excellent, almost universal design has slots for two or more filters and I've never had a single flare issue that I can recall.

It can be a bit of a pill to swallow spending over $100 for a single "plastic" filter, but if you take care of them and keep them in the pouches and treat them like lenses, I don't think you'll have problems with scratches. Every one of my Lee filters is still like new and many are used on every shoot.

Decide for yourself, but you can do worse (and definitely spend more) for a far less versatile filter setup.