ND Grads and Polarizer

[joelham]

Hey guys, just ordered a lee holder and a few hi tech grads.
Will a grad and my B&W polarizer (not a slim one) Vignette at 10mm on my sigma 10-20?
Thanks in advanced

[Ballen Photo]

Hi, You might want to mention which camera you intend to use with this lens, ie, crop vs full frame. That could make a difference. :)
I personally don't have any experience with that lens, but maybe someone who does will chime in here. ;)
-Bruce

[kevindar]

sigma 10-20 is compatible with a crop only
I am assuming the polarizer is a screw on. yes, it may cause some vignetting on the wide end if its not a thin one. addition of the gnd should not affect the degree of vignetting.
also be aware that as far as sky goes, at 10mm with a polarizer you will get uneven skies. the strength of polarizer is greatest at 90 degrees from the sun. so it will be darkest there. as you move away from that, it will will be lighter in the field, esp when you have a wide angle of view.

[rammy]

Did you buy the wide angle holder for the Lee filter holder?

Contact Lee for confirmation.

[argyle]

The wide angle adapter ring (Lee) has been designed to sit further back on the lens barrel. Unfortunately, when you mount the holder onto a polarizer, the fact that the WA adapter rings sits further back will prevent you from being able to adjust the polarizer (trust me on this...I tried this on my 5D/17-40L and the CPL cannot be adjusted). With a polarizer *and* a filter holder in front of an ultrawide lens, you will get vignetting. For comparison purposes, with my 5D/17-40 set up this way, there's vignetting up to about 19 or 20mm...with a crop, do the math for comparable focal lengths.

Your best bet when using a polarizer in the shot (I do this quite a bit myself) is to hand hold the filter in front of the polarizer. The more expensive option is to use the Lee 105mm CPL and mount it to the holder. Hand holding the GND is very do-able, and many others do this as well.

[joelham]

Thanks everyone, yes i got the wide angle adapter, i was assuming i would get vignetting at 10mm.
Thanks argyle, so you've hand held the gnds before i assume? how would you pull this off with longer shutters. I suppose i will just try it out when it arrives.

[argyle]

Just be careful when you mount the adapter ring to the polarizer...due to the way that the ring sits on the CPL, you may find it difficult to separate the two, since the adapter ring covers up much of the front ring on the CPL (you don't have much of the ring exposed to get a good grip).

[jeffmurray]

Holding is a good option until you want a Big Stopper, a GRAD ND and a polariser. Anyone have suggestions for this set up?

I use the Cokin Z-Pro holder and am guessing that I will need to move over to the Lee holder and polarizer adapter ring.

[rvdw98]

Holding is a good option until you want a Big Stopper, a GRAD ND and a polariser.

Then again, when this thread was started, there was no such thing as a Big Stopper. ;)

[argyle]

Holding is a good option until you want a Big Stopper, a GRAD ND and a polariser. Anyone have suggestions for this set up?

I use the Cokin Z-Pro holder and am guessing that I will need to move over to the Lee holder and polarizer adapter ring.

Yes, especially if you'll need to use more than a single filter in the shot. The Z-Pro holder is much more prone to vignetting. To remedy that, some Z-Pro users have taken to mounting the adapter in the filter slot closest to the lens. This supposedly eliminates the vignetting, but now you're reduced to only two usable filter slots.

With the Lee holder and WA adapter ring, I can mount the holder onto my 17-40L, set the lens to 17mm, and use all three filter slots without any vignetting (that's on a FF body). So if I need to combine the Lee 4x4 polarizer, an ND, and a GND, I can do so without any worries.

[jeffmurray]

Thanks argyle appreciated - I think I'll invest in the Lee its only £90 with the WA plate. I do use the ZPro the way your suggesting - and get a little vignetting with 3 slots on the front at 17mm on FF sensor (5D2).

My question on the 4x4 is the same can you work with the 90 degrees of adjustment?

[argyle]

Thanks argyle appreciated - I think I'll invest in the Lee its only £90 with the WA plate. I do use the ZPro the way your suggesting - and get a little vignetting with 3 slots on the front at 17mm on FF sensor (5D2).

My question on the 4x4 is the same can you work with the 90 degrees of adjustment?

Yes, but it depends on your personal taste. TBH, too many shots taken with CPL's look over-polarized to me...too many newbies go right for the max setting to darken the sky, to the point where it just doesn't look natural anymore. The Lee 4x4 polarizer has a more subtle effect...not as garish as some polarizers. I don't find the 90-degree adjustment to be a problem at all. Don't forget...if you don't happen to have a GND in the mix with the 4x4 CPL at the time, you can simply rotate the holder to any position that you want to really fine-tune the polarization.

[antifire]

The wide angle adapter ring (Lee) has been designed to sit further back on the lens barrel. Unfortunately, when you mount the holder onto a polarizer, the fact that the WA adapter rings sits further back will prevent you from being able to adjust the polarizer (trust me on this...I tried this on my 5D/17-40L and the CPL cannot be adjusted). With a polarizer *and* a filter holder in front of an ultrawide lens, you will get vignetting. For comparison purposes, with my 5D/17-40 set up this way, there's vignetting up to about 19 or 20mm...with a crop, do the math for comparable focal lengths.

Your best bet when using a polarizer in the shot (I do this quite a bit myself) is to hand hold the filter in front of the polarizer. The more expensive option is to use the Lee 105mm CPL and mount it to the holder. Hand holding the GND is very do-able, and many others do this as well.

I have a B+W KSM non-thin CPL, and was planning to put a lee foundation kit holder in front of that. Are you saying that this is not a good idea? I figured I would just rotate the holder along with the polarizer. I haven't gotten the foundation kit yet so don't know if it would work, was just thinking about it....

PS, I will set it up on a zeiss 21mm, full frame camera...dunno if that makes a difference...

[antifire]

okay, i reread the whole thread, and it seems like the OP is in the same situation as me. here is another question then...

instead of the lee 105 polarizer, can't i just use the b+w cpl and just hand hold the GND (forget the holder altogether?). it seems like that was what you were suggesting (mounting the 105CPL into the holder).

[argyle]

okay, i reread the whole thread, and it seems like the OP is in the same situation as me. here is another question then...

instead of the lee 105 polarizer, can't i just use the b+w cpl and just hand hold the GND (forget the holder altogether?). it seems like that was what you were suggesting (mounting the 105CPL into the holder).

Yep...

[antifire]

Yep...

OR i could rotate the B+W CPL before loading GNDs...that could work too!