Digital BW, The Print

I am sorry for the length everybody, but I just wish to do this once . . . anything further, email me off-list.

You will not find a better quality system than Lee. They have for years been a major supplier to the motion picture industry, and believe me, film DP's are a thousandfold more picky and demanding than their still photography counterparts. I purchased a modular hood on eBay for roughly $50 US. It was new "old" stock (had a bit of dust), as I already had the modular filter holder. Look regularly on eBay and you will find some good deals. For the hood your best search would be LEE + BELLOWS + HOOD.

If you wish to save a few dollars, buy the largest adapter ring you need, but get a wide angle one. They are twice the price of the normal ones but for what I am about to suggest, it makes sense to eat beans for just one more day. By getting the largest ring then you can use step-ups and they won't add that much forward movement because the Lee wide angle ring is recessed. Not too much of a problem with normal to tele, but as you get into the wider lenses you need the thinnest adapter set-up available.

If you shoot a lot of wide-angle stuff, then Lee also has a wide angle compendium hood. I am still kicking myself for missing one on eBay a few months ago . . . it went for about $110 (new they are near the $250 mark . . . worth it, but, ouch!).

NOW, the big kicker . . . how to save a little on the filters. Lee has three series of filters, the resin group, the acetate, and the corrective group. The resins are the best. A lot of whiney photogs will pooh-pooh them for one simple reason, they cost a heck of a lot of money (but again, they are worth it), the acetates are very servicable as long as you don't use a polarizer. If you use a pola frequently, it has to go in FRONT of the filters, the Lee model will require you to sell your soul to the devil, give your children up to the slave trade, AND take out a second mortgage . . . yes, it IS expensive. It is a 105mm job, and sit down before you look at the price. The other alternative, and it is a very reasonable one and is NOT widely publicized by Lee or others, is to use Cokin filters in the holder (the "P" series are resin filters). While Cokins are perhaps not quite up to the quality of Lee, they more than suffice for the average working-stiff photographer. Lee has available cardboard holders for the Cokin "P" series. There are two different types, P and P1, one for the square, P, and one for the rectangular filters, P1 (grads, nets, etc). By using these cardboard holders you reduce your cost at least fivefold (a cokin "P" grad can easily be had for about $20, while a Lee resin grad is over $100). Going this route will also allow you to use a Cokin P164 (circular polarizer) . . . Lee does not offer a circular pol if my memory serves me well enough.

A point to be very careful about . . . Lee does not label the carboard holders very carefully in their packaging (they come in a baggie) . . . they come three to a packet and frequently a dealer will seperate them and try and sell them to you, single unit, at the price for three . . . i.e. $18 a piece instead of $6. If your dealer is too stupid, call Lee, bitch a lot about how stupid your dealer is, and they will finally agree to sell you the frames directly . . . believe me, it is worth it . . . or at the very least, get your dealer to call Lee (in front of you . . . so you know they really have), and get the matter straight.

The only other alternative for high quality filters is custom made glass . . . Harrison, Lee, and a few motion picture suppliers can help you, but the price is beyond prohibitve, it is vulgar.

I shoot over 80% of my work in medium and large format, most of it with a zoom holder on a Sinar and I have used this filter set-up for a long, long time. I use a mix of Lee (grads . . . I bought them before I started to look for a more economical set-up), and contrast, nets, and colour grads from Cokin. My customers are happy, I am happy, and life goes on. The only solution that I would pick over this would be a filter set from Sinar . . . the cost would be in the thousands, and I doubt that the image quality would be that much of an improvement.

good luck

Paul Aparycki
  I hope this is not too off-topic.  I am looking at picking up a filter holder system.  I need 
  something that I can use with both my Canon 35mm gear (77mm lenses) and Contax 645 
  (72mm lenses) albeit I guess with different adapter rings.  I was looking at the Lee filter 
  systems on the B&H website and focusing in on the graduated ND filters.  I have some 
  questions.  Is this a good brand?  Are there other good brands I should consider? In all 
  practicality, am I likely to need to use more than two filters at once?  The reason I ask this 
  is Lee make a bellow hood that can take 2 4x4in filters - it would be nice to have an 
  integrated bellow/holder system.  I would also like some advice on which filters to buy as 
  a "starter kit".  The Lee filters don't seem to be cheap!  I will be shooting either color film 
  or digital and converting to B&W in PS CS.  Hence my focus principally on graduated ND 
  filters and perhaps a few for colour work (eg warming).  Finally, how does one use a 
  circular polariser with these?

  Thanks in advance

  Steve

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