GND and center filter on Schneider wide angle

[David Bradley]

I've recently purchased a Schneider Super Symmar 4.5/80 XL and am using it for 4 x5. Under certain situations I want to use the center filter AND my existing Si ng Ray graduated neutral density filters at the same time. The Sing Ray filters use Cokin P-system mounts. The problem is that the center filter has 86mm thre ads but the P-system supports thread sizes only up to 82mm.

In the end I may have to invest to larger GND filters (perhaps the Cokin XPRO sy stem), but that's expensive and bulky. I've got an investment in the P-size Sin g Ray filters and would like to try to make them work, even if it means living w ith a slightly smaller image circle due to vinetting.

The obvious solution is to use an 86mm -> 82mm step down ring, but so far I have n't been able to find such a beast. Another possibility might be some sort of g izmo that allows one to use a Cokin P-sized filter inside a Coking XPRO-sized mo unt (which easily supports 86mm filter threads), however I have been unable to f ind this kind of thing either.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Most of the Schneider center filters have acc essory threads that are 86mm or larger, so surely I'm not the first person to en counter this problem?

Thanks.

[Bob Salomon]

Heliopan makes brass step down as well as step up rings.

An 82 to 86 would be a special order and would not be recommended as you will probably have a problem with vignetting.

[Ellis Vener]

Besides the Cokin X-pro series which have filters that seem really thick to me, look at Lee or Hi-Tech 100mm width filter systems. The 100mm width is much more popular (i.e, easier to find) than the X-Pro series

[David Bradley]

I had a "reality check" and realized that if I'm going to be shooting wide and ultrawide 4x5 then my current P-system-sized GND filters are simply not big enough. Thanks to your suggestions I started researching alternatives and discovered that Sing Ray now makes larger versions of their GND filters that fit the Lee system. I'll give them a try and see how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestions!