Deciding between Hitech resign filters or small glass colored filters for backpacking

[tgtaylor]

Difficulty with "graduated" ND filters, they are made with essentially a straight line across which tends to produce a manufactured look that is more often than not quite different than the way Nature presents an environment.


Bernice

There is two types of grads: one with a "hard" straight line separating the zones and the other with a "SE" where the transition between the two zones is gradual. Learning when to use the hard vs the soft edge version and careful placement is the key to successful results which are unnoticeable in the final output. Correctly used they are indispensable for photographing scenes where, for example, part of it requires several stops of additional exposure than the other part.

BTW, the step-up ring for the 95mm Cokin adopter ring was delivered on Monday and was used for the first time yesterday to place a Schneider glass haze filter on the 610 Apo-Nikkor. So within the next few days I will be placing an add in the FS section for Cokin P system which includes at least one adapter ring, several resin filters (Cokin and HiTek) and a Cokin circular polarizer. Also an 82mm adapter ring for the Cokin Z-Pro will be offered. If you would like to get in early, send me a PM. The price will be "right."

Thomas
Thomas

[LabRat]

Bernice is correct that there are situations where the grad line just won't match... If one were photographing a simple horizon, a strip can be made to work, but if the mountain range is vastly different heights, or severely angled (for example), or for an even sky above, one would just see that broad area that might not blend naturally, so more likely to have issues...

Commercially, we would "pull" chrome film by underdevelopment/overexposure to produce a much flatter film result when there was an excess of contrast in a "landscape" or architecture outdoor shot... (Now it would be fixed in post with maybe multiple exposed sheets of different densities...)

Unless one wants to have that overdone "Peter Lik" kinda tonality, it is an art to blend them... (But not impossible...) :-0

Steve K

[ottluuk]

You could shave off ~100g by swapping your 150/5.6 lens for a 150/9 G-Claron. You may be able to get a cheap barrel version (I payed about 30€ for mine) and swap the cells into the shutter of your current 150 (or maybe not if your lens is not in a standard Copal 0). Filter size is an odd 35.5mm but adapter rings exist.

Minor savings but this is what the thread seems to be about. Spend time & money on tiny modifications like this only if you are happy with the big stuff that can make a lot of difference: camera, tripod, the backpack itself, footwear, etc.

[Drew Wiley]

Peter Lik uses special filters that can remove an entire row of beachfront condos, power lines, parked cars, volleyball nets, and turn a gray beach flaming
orange, with a mismatched sunset in noon-day illumination, and change the camera perspective from south to north, all at once.