ND Grad Kit

[Ruffy]

Hi Guys & Gals,

I am off on my sunny hols soon and I was thinking about getting myself a ND Grad Kit so I can try my hand at some Landscape shots, I dont want to spend the earth as I dont think its something that I will make a habit out off as I am more focusing on sports (motorcycling).

I have seen that Cokin do a kit for £60 and it includes the following

3 P-series filters
1 NDx2
1 NDx4
1 NDx8
plus holder

Now the questions are these,

1, Do I get it or does anyone know anything better ?

2, I dont know which lens to buy it for, either the kit lens 18-55 or my 70-300 lens as the sizes are not the same, is there one that can fit both ?

I am guessing you can stack the filters to give a higher ND rather than just the x8, for example 8+2=10 and so on ?

Regards,

Paul

[RockNGoalStar]

You can get different adapter rings for the Cokin P series filters. You screw these into the lens and the holder slots onto them. So the filters and holder you need only buy once, just get the correct size adapter rings for each of your lenses (the adapter rings cost about a tenner max)

And yes, you can stack the filters. I think the standard filter holder holds 3 or 4 filters.

[Donald]

Another thing to research Paul, is if the quality of the filters in a Kit are the same as those if you bought the three filters individually. I think you'll see that the price of the kit is quite a bit less than the cost of the three individual filters.

I have no wish to suggest that they might not be, but I think you should ask the question. I once did .... and never got an answer!

EDIT - You speak about mixing an 8 stop ND and a 2 Stop GND. Remember, as I'm sure you are, that you then get 10 stops on that part of the frame covered by the Grad, not on the whole frame.

[Ruffy]

Ok, now for the next dumb question, why are some grey and some black, what would the effect be with each ??

[Donald]

Paul - I think what you are writing about is the rating/gradation of the filter. A 3-stop is going to much darker in appearance than a 1-stop, because it's being asked to stop 4 times as much light getting through. I've never seen a 10-stop, but I understand it's almost black.