06-23-2010, 08:19 AM
[quote name='Symple' date='23 June 2010 - 07:00 AM' timestamp='1277269219' post='660']
I find graduated neutral density filters to be my most important accessory for imaging with a point and shoot these days. I really like the cokin-P system on my powershot G9, and most often use the singh-ray 2 stop soft step, and the polarizer together. I shoot RAW only with them on and find that my point and shoot really does well for snapshots. I also use the Coking X-Pro system along with the P on my big cameras with a mix of cokin and singh-ray filters. I think that the colour cast issue is over rated if you shoot in raw, and that the biggest issue is evenness of tint across the sheet of material. I find the cokin to be more even than the singh ray width wise, but I like the distribution of graduation top to bottom in the singh-ray; this is important if you are stitching for panoramas.
[/quote]
Indeed, few filters (even expensive) are totally even, most notably the transition zone doesn't seem to be totally straight. It's probably the manufacturing, since it
probably involves layering the resins in liquid form on top of each other.
The other thing is that the transition zones are different between manufacturers, e.g., the hard transition filters have a thinner transition zone with some brands, and wider with others. So that can also guide your choice of filters.
I find graduated neutral density filters to be my most important accessory for imaging with a point and shoot these days. I really like the cokin-P system on my powershot G9, and most often use the singh-ray 2 stop soft step, and the polarizer together. I shoot RAW only with them on and find that my point and shoot really does well for snapshots. I also use the Coking X-Pro system along with the P on my big cameras with a mix of cokin and singh-ray filters. I think that the colour cast issue is over rated if you shoot in raw, and that the biggest issue is evenness of tint across the sheet of material. I find the cokin to be more even than the singh ray width wise, but I like the distribution of graduation top to bottom in the singh-ray; this is important if you are stitching for panoramas.
[/quote]
Indeed, few filters (even expensive) are totally even, most notably the transition zone doesn't seem to be totally straight. It's probably the manufacturing, since it
probably involves layering the resins in liquid form on top of each other.
The other thing is that the transition zones are different between manufacturers, e.g., the hard transition filters have a thinner transition zone with some brands, and wider with others. So that can also guide your choice of filters.