Screw-in (round) grad filters for LF?

[Steve Goldstein]

I'm thinking that some kind of grad filter would be a useful thing to add to my kit, and the choices boil down to screw-in versus square/rectangular, the latter requiring an appropriate adapter. Screw-in would seem much more convenient to use compared to something like the Lee system (and less expensive), but it seems to me that constraining the dark-clear boundary to the center of the lens limits rise/fall composition options.

Does anyone use screw-in grads for LF? What's your experience?

[Corran]

I don't use them because I have a LEE system, but, 90% of the time my GND is centered on the lens anyway, because that's where the horizon is (it's real flat here, obviously!). If you need to move the composition, you can do it by rise/fall, which makes the horizon stay in the same place and therefore the GND doesn't have to be adjusted. If you are using a wide-angle or want to tilt the camera way up or down, obviously that doesn't work.

So I guess it depends on how you use it. I've been thinking about adding a screw-in GND to my kit due to how much I use the LEE kit centered on the lens anyway.

[StoneNYC]

I do, I don't understand the problem. Or rather what's your concern?

[IanG]

Graduated filters aren't ideal as screw in filters because you can't alter where the graduation takes place, the earliest I've seen advertised (around 1910) were similar to modern Lee/Cokin etc slot in square filters but glass in those days.

Ian

[Jac@stafford.net]

I don't know what camera you are using, but I find a compendium with two differently placed slots for rectangular filters the very best in the long run. It lets me slide the filter to the best placement for the subject regardless of rise/fall.

If your camera does not have a ready-made mount for a compendium, then one option is to make one which we can discuss separately. (For difficult cases it involves an extended lens board - a reversed recessed board.)