Q. What’s the difference between hard and soft grads ?
A. The terms hard and soft relate to the rate at which the graduated filter changes from full colour to clear. Hard changes quickly, over about 5mm. Soft Grads change more slowly, over approx 15mm.
Q. Should I use hard or soft grads ?
A. This depends on, the type of photography, the type of equipment, and the requirements of an individual situation. There is no simple answer, most profesionals will carry a selection of both. Hard Grads tend to be used on smaller format cameras (DSLR or 35mm) and are used for general landscape shots with a definate horizon. Soft Grads tend be used on larger format cameras or on very wide angle lenses and are used for balancing exposure evenly, when there is no definate horizon i.e. in cities or other situations when you may have an uneven skyline.
Q. When should I use a wide angle adaptor ring ?
A. On any lens wider than 24mm ( on 35mm ) or the equivalent on Digital or larger formats, using a wide angle adaptor ring will greatly reduce the chances of vignetting.
Q. Will a Wide Angle Adpaptor Ring work on any lens ?
A. A Wide Angle Adaptor Ring will have no detrimental effects if used on standard or telephoto lenses.
Q. How wide will the LEE Filter System go without vignetting ?
A. Again there is no hard and fast answer to this, lens specs and designs change all the time, as do the filter holder requirements. However, as a rough guide, using a simple holder setup with 2 filter slots, and no lens shade a DSLR (small chip) will go down to 10mm. A 35mm & Full chip DSLR will go down to 17mm. A medium format 645 & 6x6 will go down to 35mm. A medium format 6x7 will go down to 45mm. A larger format 5x4 camera will go down to 70 – 90mm.
Q. What does 0.3, 0.6 etc. mean ?
A. When referring to Neutral Density (ND) filters, the density of the filter is measured in optical absorbance. 0.3abs is 50% transmission ( 1 stop ) 0.6 is 25% ( 2 stops )
Q. What ND Grad filters should I buy, I cannot afford the set ?
A. For general outdoor use, 0.6ND Hard grad is a good starting point. Even if not the ideal filter for every situation, it will make a noticable improvement to almost every picture on which it is used.
Q. Which lens hood should I choose ?
A. At the moment, the Universal hood is a good choice for most landscape photographers, as it offers a wide angle of view, and has the flexibility of being configerable by the end user. For portrait / wedding type photography, on longer focal lengths, the slotted hoods are very popular, offering more efficient shading on longer focal length lenses, as well as a slot for vignettes.
Q. Why can’t I use a lens hood with my polariser ?
A. LEE filters have recently introduced hoods that will take the 105mm screw in polariser. Both the Universal and Wide Angle Lens Shades now have the option of a polariser.
Q. Can I use filters on a digital compact ?
A. Most digital compact cameras have no provision for attaching filters. Filters can be hand held in front of the lens, but this is likely to affect the camera's auto functions, such as focus & exposure. SLR style digital cameras can usually be used with filters in exactly the same way as regular film cameras.
Q. How can I use Grad filters on my rangefinder camera ?
A. Graduated filters can be used on rangefinder or twin lens cameras, although their use is complicated by the fact that you cannot see the filter effect through the lens before exposure. The way to get around this problem is to mark your filter holder with alignment marks that match the filters position on your particular lens / camera. This can be done by trial and error, or more accurately by opening the back of the empty camera, opening the shutter on a bulb exposure and checking the filter position through the lens – you may have to focus onto a piece of ground glass or similar material – you can then mark the filter holder to show when the filter is ½ way down, 1/3 or 2/3 ( some people just mark a halfway point ). This only needs to be done once for each lens and will make using your filter system on rangefinder cameras much easier. LEE Filters now offer callibrated rangefinder blades to help with this.
Q. How much exposure compensation do I give Grad Filters ?
A. As a general rule, Grad Filters are used to balance the exposure across the image, therfore the clear portion remains correctly exposed, and the coloured area affects the brighter portion of the image – the exposure should be set before the filter is fitted, and should remain unchanged when the filter is in place.
Q. My lens has a non standard fitting – How can I use the LEE System ?
A. Custom adaptor rings can be made to fit any non standard screw sizes, we have also made many custom push on rings for lenses without a screw thread.
Q. Can I use a polariser & coloured filters together ?
A. Yes. On very rare occasions Polyester Filters can have a detrimental effect when used with a polariser in bright sunny conditions but Resin Flters will have no such effect and can be used at any time.
Q. Can I use a polariser and ND grad in the filter holder ?
A. The 105mm polariser system allows ND grads and the pola filter to be used together. The important thing is that the filters can move independantly of each other, which is obviously vital for the filters to work correctly.
Q. What is the difference between Resin, Polyester & Glass filters ?
A. LEE Resin filters are individually hand made, the 2mm Optical Resin is cast in our factory, hand dyed and cut to give a very high quality product both in colour accuracy and optical quality. They are hard wearing and ideal for use on location. Polyester Filters are made on a master roll, the colour being coated onto the surface of the clear polyester base material. Because the filters are very thin (0.1mm) the optical quality is high. Polyester is a good, low cost alternative to Resin, but because of the manufacturing process polyester grads are not available. The Glass Filters that LEE offer tend to be specialist filters that are not available in other materials, such as the enhancer or polariser. They are hard wearing and scratch resistant but tend to be expensive. Do not drop !
Q. Can my scratched Resin Filters be polished ?
A. No, unlike Glass, Resin Filters cannot be polished to remove scratches.
Q. Can I use the system on my Hasselblad CF40mm ?
A. Yes. The CF 40mm has a built in filter holder to take circular drop in filters 93mm in diameter, this can unscrew and there is an 86mm thread behind which will take a standard LEE system. We can also make custom 96mm rings to fit the front of the drop in filter holder if necessary.
Q. What is the difference between a Linear & Circular polariser ?
A. There is no difference in the effect on the final image. The difference is in the technical way that the filter manages the light at wavelength level. Linear polarisers provide standard polarised light with all lightwaves vibrating in the same plane, whereas circular polarisers will polarise and then spin the lightwaves. The internal optics that control focussing or metering in some modern cameras cannot work with standard polarised light and therfore a circular polariser is required. The information on which type is needed can normally be found in the instruction book for your camera.
Q. Can you make filters in sizes other than 100mm ?
A. The standard size for the LEE Filter System is 100mm wide, however, as the filters are made by hand we can make any size that is needed.
Q. I have just bought a Standard Hood from you, and it slides through the Holder !
A. The metal slides on the rear of the Standard Hood have a slight bend in them, sometimes this needs to be bent a little bit further to ensure the hood stays in the desired position. Slight pressure with the balls of your thumb in the centre of the slide will suffice – the more bend, the tighter the fit will be.
Q. What is a stop ?
A. As a unit of measurement for exposure, a stop signifies an increase (or decrease) of the amount of light reaching the film by 2. Therefore a one stop increase will allow twice the exposure, and a one stop decrease will signify half as much light is reaching the film. ND filters tend to be rated by their average optical density – 0.3 is 50% - ie. It will reduce the amount of light tramsmitted by the filter to 50% of its original intesity – a one stop reduction.
Q. How do I clean my Resin Filters ?
A. LEE Resin filters are made of an optical polycarbonate resin, and should be treated as you would a lens, or a pair of spectacles. Clean with a lint free cloth for general use, and if necessary a lens cleaning solution to remove greasy fingerprints. Salt spray should be dissolved in warm water ( not hot ) and the filter dried and cleaned as usual.
Q. How do I clean my Polyester Filters ?
A. Polyester filters have a surface coating, which is affected by solvents such as acetone or ethanol. Ensure any cleaning solution is water based and use a lint free cleaning cloth.
Q. Can you produce a colour temperature filter as a grad ?
A. Yes, any colour temperature conversion filter is also available as a grad in either hard or soft gradation. Warm-up grads such as the 81 series are very popular for use in landscape photography – they are often used inverted, to warm the foreground.
Q. My lens has a built in “petal type” lens hood, can I use a filter holder ?
A. In most cases, when a lens has a fixed “petal” type lens hood (often on extreme wide angle lenses) use of a filter system is not possible – hand holding the filters is the only option.
Q. How many filters can I use before the image quality suffers ?
A. Most photographers will use the minmum number of filters possible to obtain the image – up to three filters should not have any major detrimental effect, but bear in mind that anything on the front of your lens will decrease the image quality to some degree.
Q. Can I use the LEE System on my Rangefinder camera?
A. You can use the standard system on rangefinder cameras, using the callibrated front plates to position the grad line where necessary. LEE Filters are also launching the RF 75mm System especially for cameras where the large system interferes with the view throuh the viewfinder. This new holder will have all of the benefits of the 100mm system, but in miniature.
Q. Can I use the LEE System on 617 cameras ?
A. The LEE System will cover down to 90mm on 617 and is very popular with users of such cameras. Wide angle adaptor rings are or course, essential.
Q. Can I use my existing screw in polariser with the LEE Filter Holder ?
A. Providing your polariser has a repeat thread to accept the LEE adaptor rings the there is no reason why you cannot use existing screw-in polarisers with the LEE System. Bear in mind however that polyester filters, if used in the holder in front of polarisers, will stop the polariser working correctly. Also vignetting problems may occur on wide lenses in the system is not as close to the lens as absolutely possible.
Q. Can you make filters with two colours (i.e. ND & warm up) ?
A. Combination filters are very popular for landscape photographers as they allow the exposure to be balanced whilst adding a touch of colour to the foreground. Combination filters are generally made to order to your specification – please see the section on Combinations on the main site.
Q. Do LEE make centre ND filters, for wide angle lenses ?
A. Unfortunately, LEE do not make centre filters to correct light fall-off at the extreme edges of wide angle lenses. These filters are exactly matched to the particular lens in question and are generally supplied by the manufacturer of the lens.
Q. Do LEE make a filter for infra red photography ?
A. LEE Filters make visibly opaque, infra red transmitting filters for IR photography on both film and digital. Please see the Technical Filter section of the site for more information.
Q. Do the bayonet adaptor rings fit the inner or outer bayonet ?
A. Bayonet adaptor rings for such cameras as Hasselblad and Rollei fit into the inner bayonet lens fixing.
Q. Why is 82mm the largest Wide Angle Adaptor Ring ?
A. Wide Angle Adaptor Rings have a countersunk thread to allow the filter to be positioned as close to the lens as possible, maximising angle of view. 82mm is the widest we can manufacture that still allows the filter holder to attatch and be effectively behind the adaptor ring, any wider and the holder could not attatch.
Q. What is the 100mm Push On Filter Holder ?
A. The 100mm Push On Holder has been developed to allow standard 100mm filters to be used on lenses that will not take the standard holder without vignetting. Originally developed for Super Angulon XL lenses that have an outer diamter of 100mm, the holder slips over and tightens onto the outer barrel of the lens. We have since made many ‘donuts’ to allow fixing to lenses of narrower diameter although any sizes below 82mm are equally well served with the standard system and wide angle adaptor rings.
Q. I have lost the brass finger bolt / wedge from my holder – help ?
A. All brass parts are available as spare parts either from your LEE Filters dealer or from LEE Filters direct.
Q. Can you supply Black & White Grads ?
A. The Black & White filter colours are available as graduated, however, some of the darker colours have to have the resin predyed yellow to achieve the deep saturated colours and because of this the ‘clear’ portion of the filter is actually yellow. On most Black & White images this will have a negligable effect.
Q. I use SLR, Medium and Large Format cameras, does LEE have a system that can be used on all three?
A. The idea of a system such as ours is that you only need one set of filters to fit many types and sizes of camera. The LEE Filters System can cover wide angle lenses on nearly all formats, and ther are very few camera lens conbinations that it will not work with.
Q. Do you have a lens cap for your system?
A. Lens caps that fit the adaptor rings are available in packs of three from your LEE dealer – please see the accessories section of the main site for more information.