Cokin P Series Filters

[Gerrard]

After reading my "Understanding Exposure" book I bought last week, I think it would be a good idea for me to get some ND filters. After doing a little look around on the 'net, it seems Cokin are a reasonable compromise between quality and price for a beginner. So I'm thinking of getting the P series holder (and adaptor ring), but I'm still not entirely sure which filters I need/would use. A ND8 (3-stop I think) hard filter would do for me for when I want to slow down water shots and a gradual ND8 for bright skies. I don't think a ND2 or ND4 hard filter would be needed if I had a 3-stop one anyway, but different gradual ones might be more useful.

So, what are people views on this? Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.

[kushtibari]

The Cokin P-Series ND8 leaves a bit of a blue colour cast on long exposures - in fact doubling up their grads can give a bit of a colour cast as well. Not too bad if you can alter the white balance to level it out and they are definitely competitively priced. The hitech range will also fit the Cokin P-Series filter holder and I don't think they leave as a big a colour cast (just got a set of 3 their soft ND grads for £30 and playing with them at the moment).

[TheAnimus]

I got a whole bunch of Cokin P series kit second hand.

The ND grads there give a warm hint when chained together for me (pentax user).

I have had one or two rather nice shots with em thou!

[kushtibari]

I'd agree with the warm tint - not unpleasant but you need to be aware of it. Lee are allegedly the best but a huge amount more money and a big waiting list. Other big advantage they have is they are proper wide angle. I can get down to 14mm with the Sigma 10-20 but after that the P-Series holder shows up in the shots.

Example of warm tint - Pentax user as well.

[TheAnimus]

so much better than my stuff!

[brammers]

I can get down to 14mm with the Sigma 10-20 but after that the P-Series holder shows up in the shots.

This is why I use Cokin Zs - I've got no problems going to 17mm on full frame (11mm on APS-C) and I'm sure I could go wider still. You can get a slimline P holder, but then you're restricted to 1 filter at a time and it's still not great. More expensive though.

One thing - make sure you get a wallet with them straight away - they're VERY fragile :E

[Gerrard]

One thing - make sure you get a wallet with them straight away - they're VERY fragile :E

Good thinking Batman! Didn't think about that. Won't be making any purchases until at least next week now anyway.