Cokin filters...

DavidBeier

DavidBeier

Veteran
Because of my interest in deep focus, I recently purchased some Cokin split diopters which came with the Cokin system holder which is essentially a mini-matt box. I actually think the system is pretty cool and much cheaper than a real matt box.

I have a conundrum now in that I need to buy some ND filters but am unsure what to go for. Most of my lenses are 52mm front elements but my zooms are 58mm ones and other lenses I may rent will vary in size. It would be nice to have ND filters that would work on any of these which the cokin ones will since my kit came with adapter rings for a bunch of sizes. I've heard that Cokin's graduated filters have a magenta cast but I havn't heard much about their plain ND filters. Do they work OK? I don't want to spend money on a bunch of Tiffen 52mm screw on filters that won't work for the other lenses. I've heard of better quality filters that will fit in the Cokin holder but they tend to be about $100 instead of the $20 that the Cokin ones cost.

Any tips?
 
I've tested some resin rilters for the cokin P system; I bought them from fotodiox, and they were not very good; HiTech filters for the cokin P system are supposed to be much better, but I haven't tried them; ND fader was also awful on long lenses, but my tiffen filters are great, and not that expensive; you can get a 67mm or 77mm kit of .6+.9+1.2 and some step-up rings for your lenses (I acually glued those step-up rings in the front of my lenses and bought 67mm caps; best $15 I've spent on my lenses; check my tests here: http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsn.html
 
Some cheap filters without IR filtration will give a reddish brown or magenta look to your images if you go beyond ND0.6 or so. I found that Cavision glass ND 4x4 filters did this. On a Canon it was workable at ND0.9, but on a Nikon it was useable but obviously tinted.

posted some pics from a Canon here...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...ty-ND-filters/page2&highlight=cavision+filter

I have a plastic ND from cokin somewhere, I'll have to try that out. Came in a set and I never used it. If I come across it, I'll test it out, and update.

Let us know how the Tiffen screw ons work for you. But other buyers beware, another guy in the link above posted a video using Tiffen screw on ND filters and the results were awful. Lot of IR contamination. Click the link above and check it out.
 
well, my tests are all inside, maybe my lights don't create all that much IR; I'll try to take a couple of test shots outside, just to check the color tint
 
here are my new (outdoors) color-shift tests:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsn.html

as you'll see, this IR thing is important: whereas indoors the color shift from my tiffen screw-in ND filters is minimal, outdoors it is fairly noticeable, specially when you go for 4 stops of filtering or more

in any case, it is easily corrected by using manual white balance
 
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