Lee Adapter Ring

There are two 77mm varieties: the wide angle and regular.

http://www.2filter.com​/Leefilters/LeeFilters​4x4.html

I'd assume that the wide angle one is necessary if I decide to get a 10-22mm, but is it necessary for 17mm on a crop?

Can anyone also tell me why it's a $30 jump for the wide angle adapter?

I own a 77mm wide-angle Lee adaptor. It's definitely necessary with the 10-22, but I'm not really sure if it is necessary at 17mm with a 1.6x sensor.

Looking at my adaptor, the way it's machined looks difficult to do, which is probably the reason for the $30 price increase. It's hard to describe, but the threads on the adaptor ring are "in-cut" so the filter holder (when attached) will be very close to your lens...which prevents vignetting. Hard to explain here, but easier to see when you look at the adaptor in person.

Even though the wide-angle adaptor is expensive, everyone told me it was the way to go. Except for the price, there's no drawback to using the wide-angle adaptor. And if you think about it...you are more apt to use a wide-angle lens when using filters (think landscape photography) so the wide-angle adaptor is the way to go.

Hope this helps,
Bryan

cheers. might as well go for the wide angle for future lens or body upgrades.

I have both adapter rings (wide and normal), but find myself using the WA adapter the most. Granted, I do 99% of my shooting with a 5D, and generally have the 24-105L mounted most of the time (when I'm not shooting my MF primes). I use the 24-105L at pretty much all focal lengths without any problems with the WA adapter in place. My advice would be to go with the WA ring. Just one word of caution: if you start to use longer focal lengths, you may need to switch to the normal ring. Why? At longer focal lengths (approaching 150mm-200mm on a FF camera), its starts getting difficult to see the gradient line of a GND due to DOF blur. On a crop camera, you'd have to compensate for this focal length by dividing by 1.6 to get the comparable FL). Using a WA ring in these situations will place the filter that much closer to the lens, compounding the problem. You may find yourself having to move the filter further out from the lens (using a slot further away). But for starters,

And as bps explained...the WA ring is designed and machined differently than the normal ring...hence the difference in price.