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What is the Best Grad ND on a tight budget?

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Jiberfish
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 310
I am wanting a Grad ND for sunset and sunrise pictures and I have 2 questions.


What is the best Grad nd i can get for the price? (sub $40 dollar range)

And what stop do I need for shooting sunrises and sunsets?

+K for help!
Sep 3 2013 8:22PM
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Jiberfish
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 310
Also, which companies have the most neutral colored grad nd's. Ive been reading that some have a pink color cast to them.
Sep 3 2013 8:30PM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,404
The not cheep ones. Seriously you get what you pay for. Depending on the size, you should be looking at $100+ each if you want it to perform without any degradation to the image.
Sep 3 2013 10:02PM
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j-cal
Posts: 693 - Karma: 3,295
I have really been diging the genustech one!
Sep 4 2013 12:29AM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,313
General rule:

The cheaper the filter = the softer.
The longer your focal length, the more this matters.

If you really can only afford the cheap ones then buy the cheap ones - a cheap tool is much better than no tool at all and just buy better filters in the future.
Sep 4 2013 12:50AM
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TijmenDal
Posts: 4849 - Karma: 1,295
Like said above: cheap won't get your GND's. Color casts are your biggest problem, but thankfully, those can be easily corrected in LR (or other PP apps).
Most cheaper (G)ND's have a magenta color cast, which is super easy to fix.

I can recommend Cokin filters. They're cheap, versatile and are good value. You want to look at the Cokin P-series (I think up to 82mm filter thread? More than big enoguh). You can get a 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 GND filter set (including holder and other accesories) for like 75$ from B&H. It's a good starting point. You just have to buy a filter ring to adapt the system to your lens and you're set. You don't have to buy a Cokin adapter. Just get a cheap one from ebay.
Sep 4 2013 7:02AM
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Jiberfish
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 310
+K GIVEN!

A month ago I bought some suuuuper cheap rip off brand ones with a holder and adapters. But, yeah I need better ones and my new tokina 11-16 got here and when the holder is on it, you can see it in the frame. It says that it is the same size as the cokin P series.


So also, how big of a filter do I need for an 11mm lens??
Sep 4 2013 9:02PM
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j.benziger
Posts: 688 - Karma: 8,024
I have a set of 3 neutral density filters all from tiffen and I can say they are pretty good quality. I bought the kit with 3 filters for like $56 and it came with a .6 a .9 and a 1.2 which is definitley enough if you stack them

Sep 5 2013 12:46AM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,313
Most Grad NDs are not round and not screw-in glass filters. Most, are either square or rectangular. These are placed in front of the lens in special holders which have to be mounted on the lens by way of an adaptor ring. This is a circular metal ring which screws onto the lens to hold the filter holder. Once again you need to make sure you buy an adaptor ring with the same filter diameter as the lens. And if it’s a wide-angle lens get the wide-angle (slim) version of the adaptor ring.

For 11m and Cokin that's the single slot holder.
Sep 5 2013 3:48AM
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Jiberfish
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 310
You definately mis read it.


I said that the filter holder was in the view because its too small. I need some filters/filter holder that are large enough to not get into the view of the camera
Sep 6 2013 5:24PM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,313
Do like Kai Wong and use your hands, or tape, tape solves everything.

Click for larger image
Sep 6 2013 5:36PM
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Jiberfish
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 310
lol!

i just watched one of their videos actualluy

Sep 6 2013 7:45PM
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