Filter : what to choose ?

ghelary · 09-16-2009, 03:05 AM

Hi,

As I am preparing a 3 week trip to Thaïland, I plan to bring with me my K20D along with 21mm/3.2 ltd, 31mm/1.8 ltd and 70mm/2.4 ltd to keep things relatively compact.

As I expect to get plenty of light during this trip, that will mean extreme dynamic range, and a need for filters as a result.

The 21 and 70 are 49mm filter thread, while the 31 is 58mm filter thread.

My plan is to get polarising, neutral density (4 or 8 stops) and graduated ND filter on both filter thread. I made a few research on the web, and it seems that Cokin P system seems to be the most adapted to those needs.

Can someone tell if they are as easily usable on field as screw in filters ?

Best regards,
Guillaume

*pxpaulx* · 09-16-2009, 04:45 PM

The cokin filters are held in front of your lens with a bracket, that attaches to a threaded mount - unless you have a bracket/mount for each lens, it is essentially the same as using threaded filters. The convenience comes when you have the same lens on and want to change filters - they do slide out fairly easily. Do keep in mind the cokin line (I could be wrong about the polariser) are a resin filter, so you are essentially placing a high quality piece of plastic in front of those very nice lenses.

A good polariser will on the other hand darken the sky, so for landscapes (which it sounds like you will be shooting), the sky is more vivid while the exposure overall stays more within the dynamic range (as far as I understand it, could be completely wrong, someone can correct me!). If you are thinking about ND filters as well, do you want to shoot and blur moving water? (ocean, waterfall long exposures). I am also guessing you stick with the limiteds mainly - I think a good 58MM or larger (if you have/intend to have bigger lenses in the future) CPL with whatever necessary step down rings will suit the landscapes you want to shoot, and ND filters only if you want to take extended exposures of moving water (if you have a K10/20/7d you can also use the multi-exposure setting to achieve a long exposure).

I have owned a set of the smaller cokin filters, and while they did their job (used way back when I had a pansonic fz30), the grad filters are really limiting unless the horizon is flat. If I recall the cokin filters are made in France, if they are inexpensive it could be worth a try, but at full price I would probably lean another route (got/sold my set on ebay).

Hope that helps some without too much rambling!

ghelary · 09-17-2009, 03:10 AM

Thanks for the reply.

A polarizing filter is very different from a graduated density filter, it will darken the sky depending on the position of the sun as compared to the direction of the lens. The maximum effect is obtained when the picture is taken at 90° from direct Sun.

Therefore a polarizing filter won't have much effet when taking a sun-set. Also another propertu of the polarizin filter is to eliminate reflection, an effect that can be unwanted.

Regards,
Guillaume

dycz · 09-17-2009, 06:07 AM

Originally Posted by ghelary

Thanks for the reply.

A polarizing filter is very different from a graduated density filter, it will darken the sky depending on the position of the sun as compared to the direction of the lens. The maximum effect is obtained when the picture is taken at 90° from direct Sun.

Therefore a polarizing filter won't have much effet when taking a sun-set. Also another propertu of the polarizin filter is to eliminate reflection, an effect that can be unwanted.

Regards,
Guillaume

Hi. I use my cokin p series with my 49mm thread lenses and works great! I have this landscape filter set which I purchased from ebay and they are good as the original cokin filters. Plus they are way cheaper than the original. However, as regards to CPL, I prefer the hoya pro d 1.

Cokin filters are very flexible.... you can use all your cokin filters to any of your lenses as long as you have the right adapter.

By the way.. Im lovin the IR 720nm filter (3rd party) for cokin P series.

D W · 09-17-2009, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by dycz

Hi. I use my cokin p series with my 49mm thread lenses and works great! I have this landscape filter set which I purchased from ebay and they are good as the original cokin filters. Plus they are way cheaper than the original. However, as regards to CPL, I prefer the hoya pro d 1.

Cokin filters are very flexible.... you can use all your cokin filters to any of your lenses as long as you have the right adapter.

By the way.. Im lovin the IR 720nm filter (3rd party) for cokin P series.

dycz;744819:

Can you advise me where were you able to score the Cokin P size IR 720nm filter? I visit PH two three times a year on business so local availability is not a problem.

Salamat Po, Danny

ghelary · 09-17-2009, 09:05 AM

I ordered the P set from cokin with grey ND8 filter and ND4 graduated filter.

I also ordered 2 screw in Polarizing filters (49 and 58 threads) as they were cheaper combined than the P version. (and they are still Cokin branded)

I'll keep the forum updated with my results.

Regards,
Guillaume

*davidvcd* · 09-20-2009, 11:47 AM

For polarizers I went with step up/down adapters(inexpensive) since i have quite a few lens, which lets me get some nice CPLs and switch between lens fairly easily.

For graduated ND filters I'm going the Cokin holder way (forgot which size, it accepts the 85mm filters though), but looking at the hitech filters for better quality. Cokin is very inexpsensive.

But i also learned that you can put together a CPL and a linear polarizer to get your own ND filter cheap.