Cokin Filters in LF???

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

I'm a Newbie trying to set things up. I have a lot of Cokin Filters and I'm wondering if many photographers use them with LF?
Do you have to have a step up filter for each lens? Or is there another way to mount them to the variety of lenses that LF uses?
What is the generally considered opinion of Cokin Filters? Are they considered a quality item?
Thanks,
Bill

[vinny]

I had a cokin P set up but not cokin filters. step up rings stay on all my lenses (up to 82mm) too cheap for me to trust. I had glass filters and singh-ray brand. quality? try them and see. I wouldn't use their grads at all.
Lee Filters makes nice holders, hoods, filters.

[TheDeardorffGuy]

Cokin are fine. They have been around years. I machined adapters that Cokin did not make.

[lenser]

I've got two sizes on things like red, yellow, 81A and Polarizers,. Adapter rings for each of my large format lenses work with the two sized mounts and make it simple to do what I wish.

My print sharpness is just fine at well above 16x20 prints including when I stack the Polarizer with either the 81A for warming transparencies or with either of the colored filters for ultimate sky/cloud contrast in black and white. I think they're terrific.

They even make adapters that mount with a three point padded thumb screw system for lenses without front threads.

[Eric James]

I used the Cokin P system of rings and holders for LF and found the quality to be adequate, but I ran into some vignetting problems with some lenses and step-up rings. The outer slot of the Cokin holder can be cut off with a hacksaw but you may still run into problems with vignetting. I've never used Cokin grads or ND filters because they are widely reported to have a color cast. Aside from my investment in Colin P sized Singh Ray grads, I'm glad that I switched to the Lee System.

[jp]

You may also attach the filters to the back of the lens if it doesn't fit the front. cuts out the increased probability of flare and glare, but it's not always convenient.

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Thanks everyone, I've still got a couple of questions, where do you get the step up rings? Does Lee filters fit in the Cokin holder? I do not have filters for B&W yet, what specific filters should I pick up? Should they be glass? Is Lee filters the way to go, for the filters I do not already have?
How do you factor the reduction in light? Do you actually meter thru the filter or do you use the manufactures published correction factor?
Does the 3 point friction point attachment for lenses that do not have threads... does this system really work well?
Thanks, Bill

[lenser]

Bill,

The three point system works quite well for me, but I'm always cautious about bump it it too hard, and to be sure that it is square to the lens. For black and white, my kit consists of red,k yellow, green, Polarizer, Neutral density, and graduated if I need to control a sky. I use the Polarizer as described in my earlier post. I combine it with either the yellow or red to really punch the contrast between sky and clouds. I almost never ue the polarizer alone except for color. I also have hacksawed off the front slot from one (of each size) of my filter holders to help avoid vignetting. I often use a 58mm XL extreme wide angle and by using the cut of holder and avoiding much rise or fall (with just that lens), I am safe even with stacked filters. The step up rings are available from any store or supplier that carries the Cokin products. Just measure your thread size for the lenses, decide on the size Cokin system(S) you will need, and then order the rings, holders and filters. I'm not sure whther the Cokin holders work with the Lee filters. I think the only Cokin filter that is glass is the Polarizer (?). Like the Lee filters, the Cokins are made of a resin plastic. I''m careful, so in about 35 years of using them, I have only had damage to one and that was when I got clumsy with a Polarizer on a concrete sidewalk. I am now over twenty years into a second polarizer with not even a scratch. I use the know filter factors (added when stacked) and seem to find no problems so long as my metering is accurate. I think you find a Cokin catalog on line and see the various mounts, adapter rings, and holders including the three point mounts.

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

lenser, thanks, there was a lot of information (which I needed) about Cokin Filters, I'll have no hesitancy about using them. I have a bunch, for 35mm digital color, mostly special effects and ND and of course the polarizer. I never used the polarizer, because I always used the circular one that fit my lens. In fact after I bought the Cokin filters and tried a few, I did not use them again. I learned that in the 35mm digital world, I got great results with Photoshop. I have not attempted B&W in Photoshop yet. But I do remember along time ago using the dark red filter to darken the sky and make the clouds really stand out. I'll be doing it again real soon. All my lenses are at Flutot and Carol is working her magic on them. If she calibrates the shutters and gives me the speed charts....OMG what will I have to blame it on???
Thanks again,
Bill

[Louie Powell]

I've standardized on Cokin P for LF work.

Cokin filters aren't the absolute best, but they are pretty good. I do exclusively black and white work in LF, so I'm not concerned about absolute color accuracy. The real advantage is storage - I keep them in a CD case, where they occupy much less space, and weight much less, that a comparable set of glass filters in metal rings. And I don't use filters all that much, so I can't justify the cost of more expensive options.

In my case, I only have two lenses (LF photographers generally don't have the extensive lens collection that 35mm shooters accumulate), and both of my lenses have the same front diameter. But even if they were different, taking along a second mounting ring would not add much additional weight to the bag.