Somehow I misplace my .9 (3 stop) Lee Graduated Filters on the Cliffs of Gualala in California. The vistas were stunning and I spent quite awhile shooting in the early morning and even though I thought I picked up and packed all my gear, somehow I lost it…. Later, back in NY, I discovered that trying to order a replacement was a major problem, it took more scouring to locate a filter than finding my D3s.
All my favorite haunts were out of stock,or backordered. Why? Come to find out that Lee had a major production line problem several months ago, either with equipment, people or process, (not sure) however their bread and butter products (.3,.6.9 ND Grads) have been backordered for several months now. While new filters may start trickling in, I needed something quickly. I handhold this filter in front of my lens when shooting and the soft grad is particularly useful for wide angle lens (ie my new 16-35mm f/4 !)
I finally called into my favorite filter specialist in my home-state of NH (2filters), and they didn’t have any stock either, but I received an email an hour later, saying they had stock, a quick call revealed that they didn’t have the .3, .6, or .9 however they had one .75. I had never seen the .75 advertised, so it’s a 2.5 stop filter which should work for me, because I often pullup the .9 on my lens because the grad is to dark, so I’m thinking the .75 might just do the trick.
The Lee product is just Great Quality, you don’t see that info coming thru on website or other articles,
- It comes in an extremely well made black thick cloth pouch with velco and fits perfectly in your camera bag outer pockets
- It easy to clean and I think it’s quite resistant to scratches
- The filter is long and wide enough to hold and handle as you move the grad into position
- Its light weight the grad is uniform thru the resin and is a few millimeters thicker than the next guys filter
- the cloth pouch has a plastic window protecting the filters spec paperwork.
My friends over at 2 filters also turned me onto a newer filter maker, Hitech, .9 ND grad 4X5 which I’m interested in trying out. From first glance, it’s missing the nice case, is shorter, not as thick and the grad looks to be centered to low in the middle so the coverage over my Nikon glass might be a problem…oh well I try it… until I can replace my Lee .9ND Grad soft……
