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View Full Version : Resin or Poly filters?



Jason Greenberg Motamedi
17-Apr-2002, 15:17
I am about to buy the lee hood with double filter holder and was wondering about differences between resin and polyester filters. Obviously, the resin filters a re 4x the price--are they worth it? Are they more scratch resistant? Better opti cal quality? Any feelings about these filters versus multi-coated B&W or Hoya sc rew-in filters? Thanks in advance.

John O'Connell
17-Apr-2002, 16:57
I use the poly filters right now and I've used gelatin in the past. They're fine for contact printing 8x10, but I've blamed them for some less-than-perfect 35mm negatives. (Gelatin-filtered small format negatives were never a problem.) The good thing about the polys is that they're cheap. My #8 is all scratched up and I'm not upset about it at all.

As I recall, you shoot 4x5. The polyester filters aren't my long- term solution for anything I have to enlarge...

Ted Harris
17-Apr-2002, 18:01
For portraits in the studio I generally use gels over the lights. Wghen I am using a Lee holder, either in teh studio or outdoors, I use either resin or glass. Polyester, while cheap, is too prone to getting damaged and it does have a higher possibility of degrading the image.

Ellis Vener
17-Apr-2002, 20:25
I've been using high quality optical resin filter for about ten years; first Sinar and now Lee. Optical quality is excellent, you have to be a bit more careful than with glass filters about scaratching but otherwise i prefer them over polyester or wratten gel filters.

I tbecause to f the filter holder system, I find them more useful than glass filters, especially for graduated density filters.

Charles Krebs
20-Apr-2002, 22:07
Jason,

I like the Lee holder and shade a great deal. My biggest dissapointment with this setup are the "resin" ND grads. I have three HiTech and one Lee (and I've tried others). When used with long lenses they seriously degrade image quality. I consider them unusable for focal lengths of 450mm and up. The only ND grad I have that I can use with these lenses is a glass Tiffen. Optically it's good but the "ND" portion is not neutral... quite warm.

Charlie