vivian92676 Loc: Silverado, Ca.

Reading about these and ready to purchase. Any thoughts on circular vs. the other slides on? I have the polarized filter and like it. Some photographers are using both for a shot.
Appreciated any thoughts, or point me to the article if this has already been discussed.
Thank you.
Vivi Wyngaarden

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Circular or linear becomes only a concern with POL filters used with af systems, you do not have to worry about that with any other kind of filters!! With ND filters, the decision becomes going full or grad and if grad, going soft or hard and what strength!

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

With the "slide on" ND grads you can control where in the image you want the graduation to start.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

The big problem with the round, screw on graduated neutral density filter's is that the graduation line is always in the middle of the filter which gives you very little leeway in composition. Most photographers find that the square graduated neutral density filter's are much easier to work with because you can adjust where that graduation line is in the frame. Look up the Cokin filter system in order to see what and how the square filters work. Many have their own preferences as to which brand. I, for instance, prefer Hitech brand filters, although I have a few made by Cokin and I've had no problem with that them. I also prefer the larger size filters, normally 110mm x 110mm, because they work the best with many of today's lenses. Almost all of my filters are 77 mm and I find the larger filters work the best.

Roger Lee

I use the rectangulars hand held as I've found the holder to be of limited advantage, it's gathering dust now.

Just my 2 cents.

For graduated ND, go with the "sliders".

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

What camera are you using?

GAS496 Loc: Arizona

Photographing in Arizona with the harsh sun most of the time and other places in the Southwest almost demand a neutral density graduated filter system. Unless of course you like almost white skies in you prints, which I don't. Still shooting with film further exasperates this problem of getting detail in your subject with a nice looking sky/clouds. As some have already stated circular grad filters would be too restricting. I looked at many systems and decided on ProgreyUSA filters. I was attracted to the quality of the product and then sold on how easy it was to use. With a rectangular filter in a holder you can move the density any where you want it. Don't buy a cheap system to put in front of your expensive lens and camera you will be sorry.

bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

I sold my Cokin filter system and bought a Formatt Hitech system which is much better and not that expensive. Both the holder and the filters themselves are better in my opinion.

BFS Loc: Queen City, MO

So where does the Lee Filters fall into line here? My understanding is the Cokin filters are not glass where the Less filters are. Or are the Formatt Hitech system better than Lee's too?

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

In my opinion, if you are shooting digitally, Graduate Neutral Density filters are not worth buying. The same or better results can be accomplished with several relatively easy post-processing techniques. Grad ND were necessary with film, but my set of them has been gathering dust in recent years, now that I rarely shoot any film.

If you still are inclined to buy Grad NDs, you definitely don't want the round, screw-in type. Those position the horizon/transition line the same place in every shot you take, limiting your composition options. The rectangular type that can be slid up or down to match the scene you're framing in your viewfinder are absolutely the only type of Grad ND that might useful for most purposes.

The problem even with those is that the line of transition from clear to filtered is still a straight line across the filter. I don't know about you, but I virtually never take a shot where my horizon line is perfectly straight... where there isn't a tree or a mountain or a building or something else that extends above the horizon line, even if the horizon isn't uneven rolling hills or something. Also, most of the rectangular filters are optical plastic, which is pretty easily damaged. The only glass Grad NDs I'm aware of are made by Tiffen (for the movie industry) and are pretty pricey. None I'm aware of are multi-coated, either, and they're all pretty difficult to shade very effectively with a lens hood.

So I still come back to the fact that the same or even quite a bit better results can be accomplished easily in digital post-processing.

Today, by far the most useful filter for digital is the Circular Polarizer. A C-Pol can do things that are difficult or impossible to emulate digitally.

Standard ND filters in different fixed strengths are a rather distant second for still photos. They're necessary for some specialized types of shots, such as using large apertures or very slow shutter speeds in brighter light conditions. (Videography has more limited exposure adjustments and post-processing so may greater need for ND and Graduated ND filters, possibly even Variable ND.)

Even lower priority, but still sometimes useful are so-called "protection" filters... Not really helping images in any way, but used when out shooting in particularly inclement conditions or working with subjects where there's risk of something striking the lens. The mistake people make, IMO, is leaving them on their lens all the time.

There are a few others types of filters that might be wanted for special effects purposes (such as to adding stars, or fog, or flare.... or to reduce fine detail... or to control contrast), but most of those, ND Grads and other filters are largely unnecessary now... with digital photography.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Most Lee, Formatt/Hitech, Singh-Ray, etc. are optical plastic "resin" without any coatings.

Formatt/Hitech "Firecrest" series are Schott glass (4", 5.65" and 6.5" sizes).... just be sitting down when you look up the prices of the 4mm thick ones!

The 2mm thick Schott glass, 100mm wide Formatt/Hitech Firecrest are more affordable, but still far from cheap.

In the past Cokin were lower quality optical plastic... "okay" and an inexpensive way to experiment with Grad ND.

But under new ownership Cokin are now offering premium quality filters. In fact, Cokin's new "Nuance" line includes a series of Schott glass, multi-coated Grad ND. Those are available in sizes to fit their "Creative" filter holders in 86mm, 100mm and 130mm sizes.

Tiffen also makes a lot of glass Grad ND in their "Pro100" series for 100mm/4" as well as 5" and 6.6" series.

I don't know if the Formatt/Hitech or Tiffen glass filters are multi-coated. The new Cokin series are.