Hi all. I'm looking to shoot some coastline shots up in San Francisco in a couple of weeks. I don't do much landscape photography, but most of the shots I see that I like are done with ND filters. I have a Canon 40D and will use my 16-35mm II for the shots (I do have and will use a tripod). I don't want to break the bank, but I do want to get something that allows me to get that silky water look and to get as much information in the shot as I can. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
The Hitech Filters are pretty affordable resin (not glass) filters that come in various ND flavors. You can probably get away without a filter holder (to save $$), as long as you have a tripod. Just handhold the filter in front of the lens. Mine is great, and hasn't scratched despite not being glass (even so, scratches that close to the front element probably wouldn't matter anyway). I use mine (3 stop soft edge GND) handheld with my 40D and 10-22 all the time, just hold it right against the front of the lens. Maybe someone that has used square filters with a holder on your lens will chime in, but I think my suggestion is a great bang for your buck investment.
If you want even ND across the entire scene you can buy round screw-in ND filters. If you want ND in part of the scene, you want grad-ND filters and for those you're better off with rectangular filters and a holder. (Holders are not expensive and really simplify the situation). The benefit of rectangular grad filters is you can set the ND border where you want it. With round ND filters, you're limited to the equator.
