Lee BIG Stopper

[peterb666]

That's the 10-stopper. Each 0.3 is one stop.

[bb45pz]

Nice, that ones on the way then

[Regnis]

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the Hitech filter holder (100mm).

I am desperately trying to get a system before i go to the states on tuesday next week. (or during my first week in the states)

The Lee system is a little out of my budget so I was just looking to pick up the Lee holder and adapter 77mm... but even the prices on these are quite steep. I was quoted $103 for the holder and $68 for the wide angle holder.

So I am now pretty keen on getting the Hitech holder and adapter but would just like to know if I will get vignetting at 10mm? (to order hitech I would have to get it sent to the states and pick it up while i'm there.)

Not sure what to do

[falke]

I use mine with the Cokin Z-Pro system, as long as you have a 100mm filter system it should fit! It comes with spongey material stuck to the edges to cut light leak in around the sides of the filter and holder.

I got an interesting purple cast from one photo out of a set I took recently. BUT as I and a few others alluded to quite some time ago in a thread, we think the colour cast issue is a white balance one. That the cameras are reading the white balance incorrectly when ND filters are in place. I have seen it corrected by a simple white balance adjustment in RAW conversion. The purple cast is not seen all the time, even with the Cokin filters, if the filter was the cause, it should be. We surmised that under certain light conditions the camera reads a faulty white balance and the purple cast is not caused by the filter as such, but the camera in combination with ND filters and certain light conditions.

I assume Xenedis has been lucky in purchasing that filter by now (to get back to the original question).

Rick I just like to say that I was not as lucky as you with matching the big stopper with a Cokin Z pro system (there is a specific thread on that). The spongy material does not match up with the frame of the Z pro frame I used to own, to the effect that there is light leakage that rendered my shots useless.

With regard to the colour cast (I now successfully use the Lee system), I can confirm that it is a white balance issue. I shoot in RAW and my shots can easily be adjusted by just changing the white balance.

I have however another difficulty to do with strong vignetting. Here is an example of a shot I took this morning with my Pentax K-x and a Sigma 10-20 (4.5 to 5.6) lens:
http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/...1/_IGP6660.jpg
Could this be a result of the combination of lens and filter? I use wide angle adapters with my Lee filter holder. This shot had the white balance adjusted and was straightened a little - all in ACR.

(Ps this is my first reply with a photo link - I hope I did it correctly)

[peterb666]

That vignetting is not due to intrusion from the edge of the filter or holder. You will always have a vignetting with ultra-wide lenses as the angle of light going through the filter is at a greater angle to perpendicular the more you move away from the centre. Basically you are putting a flat piece of glass or plastic over a lens that gathers light at varying angles. The light moves through more glass/plastic near the edges and also more ND tinting.

If you are shooting RAW, you can remove it with the vignetting control in your RAW processing software.

[falke]

That vignetting is not due to intrusion from the edge of the filter or holder. You will always have a vignetting with ultra-wide lenses as the angle of light going through the filter is at a greater angle to perpendicular the more you move away from the centre. Basically you are putting a flat piece of glass or plastic over a lens that gathers light at varying angles. The light moves through more glass/plastic near the edges and also more ND tinting.

If you are shooting RAW, you can remove it with the vignetting control in your RAW processing software.

Yep Peter I totally agree. The light would move through (insert mathematical formula here) = thickness at about 45 degree angle. (assuming a viewing angle of 90 degree with the 10mm setting on the above lens)

Now I would like to take this discussion further in asking how this affect would be in taking a similar shot with a 17mm lens on a FF camera. My guess would be that, albeit achieving a similar wide angle effect and outcome, the vignetting would not be as strong (similar to distortions) at 17mm on a FF as compared to 10mm on a crop sensor camera. Is that right?

ps, since I am using the Lee filter holder I am not having any problems with light intrusions anymore.

Thanks

[peterb666]

Well 10mm on a 1.5 crop sensor is 15mm equivalence and while there is some difference, I would expect some issues with with a 17mm full-frame lens as well.

I cannot comment about light spill around the edges affecting the image. I am still making use of P-series holders and I know even the P-series wide angle holder with the 10-24mm Nikon lens is marginal (e.g. I cannot angle the filter for a sloping horizon without vignetting from the holder).

I have a love-hate relationship with my 8-stopper and prefer to use a 4-stopper if I can. It is just too difficult to predict the outcome in different ligting and the effects range from exellent to crap and everything in-between.

I will eventually be going to Z-pro, but for the time being I will be sticking with what I have. The cost of re-filtering to Z-Pro would be close enough to the cost of a macro lens which I need more. I can always shoot to around 14mm (21mm equivalent) with a standard P-series holder or use my 9-18mm MFT lens on my Olympus to give me a 18mm ff equivalent. There will always be times when I do want to stack either a 3 or 4-stop ND and a 3-stop GND but will probably wind up going for the HiTech filter holder when upgrading.

BTW, I have just cancelled an order for a Z-Pro holder and filter kit that had been outstanding for around 12 weeks. I have learnt to live with the P-series.

[peterb666]

I placed a mini-review of the new HiTech Pro 10-stopper on my blog site...

Mini Review of Hitech Pro 10-stop filter

It seems to perform quite well. Not a trace of the magenta tint that was strong in some ligthing situations (and absent in others) with my old 8-stopper, but instead a vert modest and easily correctable green tint similar to that from the Lee 10-stopper.

At a cost of around $100 including shipping, this is a good value product that performs well.


Sorrento Front Beach 2 (HiTech 10-stopper) by peterb666, on Flickr

It is also available for immediate shipping from either HiTech (Format Filters) or Teamworks in the UK. Order one and you will have it in about 1 week.

[psyfre]

Anyone got an underground black market Lee Filter vendor who could pass on a Big Stopper? The 4 month wait is killin' me!

[Bennymiata]

I read an article somewhere about using the glass out of a welder's mask as a very strong ND filter.
They're cheap and might be worth a go in case of emergency.

Personally, I have a variable ND filter (a Sing-Ray) that goes from 2 stops to about 8 stops.
It could also be used, in a pinch, with additional ND filters to give you an even stronger effect.

[dulvariprestige]

Benny have you been able to see how many stops you can get out of your vari ND On an UWA yet.

[psyfre]

I actually had a go with the welders glass ND last year, neat trick but not very practical.

The glass I got was 17 stops in total! Here were the results:

[Bennymiata]

Benny have you been able to see how many stops you can get out of your vari ND On an UWA yet.

Hard to say exactly, but is around 6 stops using a Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm.
If I turn it more when the lens is set to its widest, I do get some vignetting of the corners, but if I zoom it up to around 14mm, then I can go to the darkest setting which is around 8 stops.

Thoise shots using the welder's glass, pysfre, are not too bad and if you didn't tell anyone you used it, they would never know.
Cheap way to get a big ND filter!
Trouble is I guess they're hard to fit. Did you tape it on the front of the lens?

[peterb666]

I actually had a go with the welders glass ND last year, neat trick but not very practical.

The glass I got was 17 stops in total! Here were the results:

Amazing. Welders glass is far from neutral so how you managed to get that sort of colour out of it is quite an achievement.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[psyfre]

Cheers Benny, I bought a empty filter ring for my lens and glued the glass onto it. Thanks Peter, I set a custom white balance with the glass on then did the rest in PP

[Xenedis]

It looks like the Lee BIG Stopper is still difficult if not impossible to obtain.

I'll probably order the Hitech Pro Stop 10-stop filter instead.

[GrahamS]

Hey mate.
I too was trying to get the Big Stopper here or overseas. After nearly giving up on the idea, Fleabay had one, paid more than I should have but the money is worth it. Takes a bit of maths to get it figured, but as i say........worth it.
Good luck with whatever you do mate.
Cheers.

[arthurking83]

Amazing. Welders glass is far from neutral so how you managed to get that sort of colour out of it is quite an achievement.

....

As long as the colour cast is even across the entire frame, a click to WB value isn't hard to do to get a 'correct' colour balance.
It's when you use stacked GNDs and get a colour cast in only half the frame is where you run into issues that require major and complicated steps.

The real question tho is, how does the very basic quality of a welders glass piece stack up against optical quality filters.

[Xenedis]

Takes a bit of maths to get it figured

Not if you have my ND filter shutter speed cheat sheet. :-)

I've just checked that, and unfortunately I only wrote it to handles six stops (the maximum light reduction hitherto available to me). I might update it to include the full ten stops.

Good luck with whatever you do mate.

I ordered the Hitech filter tonight.

[peterb666]

The HiTech Pro 10-stopper comes with it's own cheat sheet that fits perfectly in the window on the front of the Lee 10-filter case.