ND filter from Cokin system


e69087

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Aug 17, 2005
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Hi all,
I would like to try out long exposure on water fall etc using a ND filter. I would like to know if I choose Cokin filter system, attaching a ND filter on its holder, will it have any light leakage issue at the sides during the long exposure?
I do know that using the screw-in to the lens type ND filter will not have much light leakage issue. But it’s restricted by the diameter. Where else for the Cokin filter type, I can just buy the required diameter adaptor ring.
Any feedback or comment is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
 

I use both 72mm and 77mm screw-in type ND filter and Lee big stopper, no light leakage issue. I personal prefer to use screw-in type ND, more easy to handle; Lee filter system just take too long to setup and very bulky need one extra camera bag to fit in all the Lee big stopper, foundation kit and GND filters. :)
 

Light leak will depend on what is the strength of ND filter and holder used, if 3 stop or less no issue, probably if you use the 6 or 10 stop filters then may have. Not sure about Cokin, but some other brands like Haida and Lee provide gaskets to reduce the light leak issue.

I did not use the Cokin holder before, but when I started I used a cheap Cokin compatible 85mm holder. No issues with 3 stop ND filter, but didn't try with higher strength filters. I used 10 stop screw-in filter, a reason being cost ;)
 

taking long exposure of waterfalls you will need 10 stop ND filter, 3 stop ND filter is not enough, that is maximum power of ND filter Cokin have, unless you don't mind stacking ND filters, or shoot at very low light condition.

get a round filter for your lens with the largest filter thread size and use step up ring for the rest of the lenses with smaller filter thread, it is more convenient than using Cokin filter system.


btw, Cokin is very popular during the film days, because they offer so many fancy filters and it is cheap. it make sense to use their filter system.
nowadays we mostly use CPL and ND filter only, so there are not much benefits for using such filter system unless you also using GND filters.

on a side note,
try not to use step up ring with CPL filter, just buy extra filters for lenses with different filter thread size, as once step up ring get to tighten too much to the CPL filter, it is very hard to remove it, so you might end up no right size CPL filter to use in the field.
 

Hi all,
I would like to try out long exposure on water fall etc using a ND filter. I would like to know if I choose Cokin filter system, attaching a ND filter on its holder, will it have any light leakage issue at the sides during the long exposure?
I do know that using the screw-in to the lens type ND filter will not have much light leakage issue. But it’s restricted by the diameter. Where else for the Cokin filter type, I can just buy the required diameter adaptor ring.
Any feedback or comment is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Cokin system is actually good for a start but once you move up to higher densities and/or stacking filters, problems will start to show. Light leakage is very prominent, but the number one problem is color cast.
 

Thanks for all the replies. I guess Cokin filter system still works great for GND filter where one can adjust the filter before taking the shot.
I noticed for using wide angle lens (like 18mm FF) one needs to get the larger Z-pro type.
As for the light leaking issue, saw some people use the woman black hair band to wrap around the front portion of the unit.
 

For the color cast issue, i found a youtube video showing one guy taking custom WB (with the ND filter attached) before he proceed to take the pic of a water fall.
He did this every time he slot in a different ND filter.
Seems to work. Or one can try to correct it during post processing.
 

For the color cast issue, i found a youtube video showing one guy taking custom WB (with the ND filter attached) before he proceed to take the pic of a water fall.
He did this every time he slot in a different ND filter.
Seems to work. Or one can try to correct it during post processing.

2 things to think about:
1. What if you stack ND filters with GND filters? sometimes the color cast happens on part of the scene, the darker part of the GND filter. I have personally seen this happen before, on Cokin and even Lee filters.
2. You do lose some color detail from the color cast, even if you do a custom white balance. Most of us shooting landscapes are using RAW files which are not affected by custom white balance. But we still see some loss of color detail in the resulting files.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess Cokin filter system still works great for GND filter where one can adjust the filter before taking the shot.
I noticed for using wide angle lens (like 18mm FF) one needs to get the larger Z-pro type.
As for the light leaking issue, saw some people use the woman black hair band to wrap around the front portion of the unit.

Yes, you need 100mm filters to clear for some UWA lenses. But a lot depends on the lens and holder construction as well. I have successfully tried a 85mm filter holder on a Nikon FF cam with the 16-35VR at 16mm with no vignetting whatsoever. The particular brand of holder is from Dofilter and it is only configured to 2 slots. I cannot really tilt the holder though. And it light leaks like crazy when fitted with a 10 stop filter. For cokin, even with the wide angle P holder I get vignetting with an APS-C camera with Tokina 11-16.

As for light leak, for lower densities there is no problem to use even a piece of cloth. When you are dealing to 10 stop filters, and very long exposures, finding out you miss a spot can be very frustrating.

BTW, you might want to think beyond cokin. holders nowadays can use filters from many brands. Cokin was bankrupt for a while but now owned by Tokina. But they are still very slow on replenishing their stocks.
 

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Thanks daredevil123 for the info. I guess i will get a 10stop screw-in type ND filter at diameter 77mm and then some step down adaptor rings to go with the rest of the lenses.
Any recommendation for a budget reasonable price one?
 

Thanks daredevil123 for the info. I guess i will get a 10stop screw-in type ND filter at diameter 77mm and then some step down adaptor rings to go with the rest of the lenses.
Any recommendation for a budget reasonable price one?

Haida. Great price and better performing than Lee or B+W.
 

Is it S$72 for a 10stop 77mm? Where can i buy it locally?
Thanks
 

I emailed to photosphere regarding about the Haida ND and CPL filters but received no reply from them.
 

I emailed to photosphere regarding about the Haida ND and CPL filters but received no reply from them.

Sometimes they are busy as they also have day jobs. From what I understand their stuff is now being sold at Click! Camera (level 4 Funan) as well.