Neutral Density Filters

[conropl]

Does anyone have experience with the 4x6 handheld ND graduated filters by LEE and SINGH-RAY?
Not for extended exposures but for lanscapes to bring out detail in the sky?
If you do 'for most purposes' how many stops would you recommend on this type of filter.
They are about $100 each (Lee has a soft ND grad filter kit .3 .6 .9, 1-2-3 stops) for about 240.
The Lee are not glass (some type of resin) but that means they are less likely to break.
I like the 4x6 so you can adjust the soft area to the scene and not the scene to the filter.

Other recommendations?

For sunsets/sunrises the DR (dynamic range) is large and you will need the 3 stops to get decent results, and at times it does not seem enough. I have 0.3, 0.6, & 0.9 and use them mainly early morning or evening (low light / high DR situations), so I use the 3 stop 99% of the time. The only time I have used a 2 stop was mid-day to get a little more detail in the sky, to get more of the blue in the sky, and yet get the blue water refection. I am not sure I would buy the 1 stop again if I had to do it over unless it was part of a kit and it was basically free (which was the case when I bought them).

By the way, Grad ND's really make a big difference in the quality of a sunset/sunrise shot. There is a lot of talk about being able to do the same thing in PP, but with the filters you can do it without the noise associated with pushing your DR in PP... so the results are much cleaner.

I do not have Lee, but would like to some day.

[HDNitehawk]

I have to say +1 for conropl's advice for sunsets. Most of what I do falls in the area that he referred to as "mid-day" so +2 is seems to be the most used. Ideally a person would have all three filters, and then you could stack the 1, 2 or 3 and have combinations up to 6 stops.