Heliopan circular or Lee filter system

[Eric Leppanen]

Lee also sells a 115mm press-on filter holder which supports their standard 100mm filters:

https://www.robertwhite.co.uk/filter...lder-1935.html

Using this holder plus a doughnut adapter (to accommodate lenses with barrel diameters smaller than 115mm) you should be able use the 100mm Lee filter system on a great many large lenses. On something like the 360 Symmar you shouldn't get vignetting unless you use some fairly extreme movements; the scenario you'd have to be most careful of is a square polarizer oriented such that the filter rails start to vignette when movements are applied. I used this setup on a 360 Sironar-S on 8x10 and it worked fine for me, and allowed me to standardize on 100mm filters even with large lenses.

A drawback, of course, is that the holder is pricey.

Regarding filter durability and flaring, Breakthrough Photography is coming out with ND grad filters made from coated Schott glass:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...nd/description

No word on colored grads, though.

[Corran]

Eric, do you have a good source for the "donuts?" In the USA preferably. I have been needing a 90-100mm donut for years but haven't found one.

[Eric Leppanen]

Eric, do you have a good source for the "donuts?" In the USA preferably. I have been needing a 90-100mm donut for years but haven't found one.

Lee does indeed sell a 90-100mm donut:

https://www.robertwhite.co.uk/lee-fi...-100-90mm.html

Apparently they are no longer selling it in the USA (the usual retail suspects don't seem to be stocking it). I would suggest calling Lee USA (they are located in Burbank) and see if they will sell it to you directly (I've purchased from them in this manner in the past). Otherwise Robert White ships to the USA and I have always found them easy to deal with.

Another option is to have donuts custom made by SK Grimes. I don't recall how much these cost me, but I had Grimes make several donuts for my Lee 115mm diameter (100mm filter size) filter holder.

[Corran]

Thanks, perhaps I will call Lee USA. I looked on the Robert White site and found the one you linked, but shipping is more expensive than the item. That was my problem in the past - when I found someone selling them it was always in the UK and shipping was exorbitant. So I put it off and made due. Honestly a lot of times instead of using a GND I use a matte-finish darkslide to "dodge" the sky.

[angusparker]

Yes, the adaptor ring is one of the main reasons for considering the Lee; the ability to buy just one £40 adaptor ring instead of four new Heliopan filters. The hood is something that I hadn't thought about but, after reading your reply, I have had a look at some YouTube vids on it.
Are graduated coloured filters, like red and orange, any good as that would seem an ideal solution for B&W where I could just emphasis the sky without negatively effecting the rest of the image?

Yes, there a quite a few specialized filters that go beyond the regular yellow, orange, red, green - more options that the regular screw in filter especially when combined with grads.

I'd go with the Wide Angle hood rather than the regular as it protect against vignetting and give you similar flare protection.

[Sweep]

Just a word of thanks for everyone who posted a reply.
Not sure which way I am going to go with the filters as I don't think there is a decisive argument one way or the other. I do like the Lee wide hood which is something I hadn't considered but as funds are now running very low I might have to go for one or two Heliopans first
That being said I have just bought a box of Provia 100F, as I have to see what 10x8 slide film looks like before it becomes extinct, and which would benefit from Lee grad, but I cant really justify the Lee grad system just for one box and I don't think I would be able to make regular purchases of that stuff due to the huge cost.

...Sweep

[Corran]

Here's one more tip. Buy a nice padded case for your grads. I just dropped my soft case a couple days ago and my favorite GND ($120) shattered .