4x4 Lee polarizer on 4x5 Chamonix?

[zack kl]

Does anyone have experience using the 4x4 Lee filter system on a 4x5 Chamonix. I am concerned that with a 4x4 polarizer in it there might not be enough room to rotate it.
Thanks Zack

[GSX4]

IT all depends on the mount to your lens and what lens thread you have right?

[DuncanD]

If you are asking about the Lee 100mm square polarizer, it mounts in a Lee Foundation Kit (fancy name for the filter holder). The holder clips onto a Lee adapter ring which screws into your lens. So the filter holder is universal; the adapter ring is specific to the lens diameter.

Once you have the filter holder in place, you slide the polarizer filter into one of the several filter slots in the holder. The filter holder itself rotates on the Lee adapter ring. The filter stays put in the filter holder.

Now to your question. If the front standard of your camera, which holds the lens board, has any structures which protrude beyond the lens board (as is the case on many monorail cameras) then rotation of your filter holder may be restricted if any part of the Lee setup touches the camera. However I doubt this will be a problem with a square Lee filter. It may be with a 4" x 5" rectangular graduated ND filter.

If so, here is one simple trick. The Lee filter holder has a stack of filter retaining clips, which form the filter mounting slots, attached with a pair of screws on each clip stack. Since the Lee Foundation Kit base has holes on each of its four sides, you can unscrew those clip stacks and re-attach them at 90 degrees. This might give you clearance from any interference with the camera body.

Remember that you only need to rotate the polarizer 90 degrees from minimum to maximum effect.

Hope this helps.