"Lee Big Stopper" and Lee Foundation Kit now Available at B&H

[Richard Lane]

Hi Brant,

I'm new to the filter game, but it's been taking me a really long time to acquire the entire kit since the Lee products appear to be scarce in the United States. I'm liking Lee because after doing all of my research by scouring many internet reviews and forums. My findings guided me to Lee and Sing-Ray as being the best. I've never tried the Cokin filters, but there are many users out there claiming that they have the worst color casts of this bunch.

So, I bought the Lee Soft and Hard filter kit which was also a lot cheaper than buying a full set of hard and soft Singh-ray filters. I also bought one Singh-ray 3-stop reverse ND Grad.

When I hold both filters up to the sky, the lee filter appears totally neutral to me, in that it just seems to block out the light and increase exposure, the sky looks bluer and the clouds look whiter, when I hold the sing-ray up to the sky, the sky appears bluer however the clouds appeared a little bluer as well. The Singh-ray pretties up the picture a bit, which can be a very nice feature, but if you're truly after "neutral" Density than in my opinion the Lee filters are more neutral, especially when looking at the whiter clouds or whiter breaking water of the ocean surf. The differences are very subtle. I would definitely buy more Singh-Ray filters, especially the revere ones which Lee doesn't offer. You can always add saturation later.

I'm an audiophile as he may recall. There are some speakers and equipment that warm up the sound and make it sound darker or brighter, however as a true Audiophile, I'm always looking for the Absolute Sound and truest, most neutral reproduction of the music to start with, just as it was recorded in the studio or on the stage.

Rich

[HDNitehawk]

When I hold both filters up to the sky, the lee filter appears totally neutral to me, in that it just seems to block out the light and increase exposure, the sky looks bluer and the clouds look whiter, when I hold the sing-ray up to the sky, the sky appears bluer however the clouds appeared a little bluer as well. The Singh-ray pretties up the picture a bit, which can be a very nice feature, but if you're truly after "neutral"

I had noticed this to with the Singh-Ray graduated, but you get a similar effect when you decrease the exposure in post. Really I thought they did a fine job, in that usually the camera looses some of the beauty of the sky that your eye see and the Singh Ray tended to put it back in. I could see any kind of color cast might be a negative in the ND's but if were talking graduated I kind of liked the effect they give.

I need to grab one of the 105mm adapter rings if they haven't sold out yet. I have been mounting the lee holder to the front of my CPL and I know one of these times it will probably stick.

[Dr Croubie]

I'm an audiophile as he may recall. There are some speakers and equipment that warm up the sound and make it sound darker or brighter, however as a true Audiophile, I'm always looking for the Absolute Sound and truest, most neutral reproduction of the music to start with, just as it was recorded in the studio or on the stage.

Sounds like you just need to buy some Halcro DM88 Monoblocks and be done with it. I used to work for the company who bought them out 6-7 years ago, I saw the DM88s in prototyping. Damn they're some impressive amps (impressive pricetages too. Mortgage your house kind of pricetags (not exaggerating)).
But then i've got some speakers and amps that just sound perfect together, like the Live version of Maggot Brain, on vinyl, on my tube pre-amp, on my 120W amp, on my 8" speakers, in my old room, just sounded perfect. Change one of those things (like to the CD version, to my transistor pre-amp, to my 10" speakers, or the whole setup in a different room) it just doesn't work.

Anyway, back to filters. Sounds like I'm going to have to invest in some of these big filters sooner or later. I've finally bought an MF body, 50mm lens on 6x6 is fairly wide, but it's got 86mm threads (and my Cokin A just isn't going to cut it ). Any of the Aussies around here know where to get Lee or Cokin X-pro in Australia? (besides B+H, which is where I'd end up otherwise). Probably I'll be going for an ND, and 2 grads (2-stop hard and 3-stop soft, or should it be 2-soft and 3-hard?).