Good morning friends,

I'm in a bind regarding time I have to make decisions purchasing filters. I'll be shooting at Lake Tahoe, Sequoia National Park, Death Valley, Yosemite, Las Vegas, San Fransico and Los Angeles + the Pacific ocean.

I own:
a) Corkin Z pro mount.
b) Singh Ray graduated neutral density 3 stop filter

Please confirm, I can stack a couple filters - the Corkin Z pro mount appears to have problems with the filter holder closest to the lens w/ UWA / WA lens. Perhaps I should ditch the Corkin Z pro in favor of the Lee mount that seems to receive more favorable reviews. Just looking for insight regarding that.Also, I want to confirm that I can stack filters to achieve more stops.

What should I do to round out a kit considering where I'll be. I was thinking a reverse GND filter would be great for the landscapes but wanted to ask.

It isn't clear what problem problem you are concerned about, but reading between the lines I'm guessing it is vignetting at wide angles. You don't mention what camera or what lens you have in mind using the Cokin with, which obviously makes a huge difference. But for what it's worth, I have used the Z-Pro for several years with some, but still manageable, vignetting issues at the very widest focal lengths. The issue is not with the filter slots closed to the lens, but rather the ones furthest out that can impinge on the cone of view of the lens, and this would be evident at the corners of the frame. When you don't need to use multiple filters you can remove the top slot(s) from the stack and eliminate the problem.

With an APS-C Canon and 10-22 lens, and using all three slots, I get noticeable vignetting at 10 mm, slightly visible at 11 mm, and gone by 12 mm. With a 5DII and 17-40, I can get vignetting up to about 19-20 mm. In most cases, if I really need the full frame of the picture without cropping, I can clone content into the darkened corners in post.

You can stack neutral density filters, or combinations of ND and GND or polarizer, to reduce shutter speed. As with any filter system, the more glass/resin-air interfaces you add, the greater the likelihood of noticeable effect on the image. but the need to achieve your photographic goal may override the concern about slight image degradation.

Dave

Agree with above.

My tendancy would be to go ahead and spring for a couple more grad filters in stronger versions.

Rounding out your filter kit really is a VERY personal thing, as it is driven by the type of photography you do (or anticipate doing).

My entire filter kit these days consists of.......

1. 82mm circular polarizer with adapter rings down to 52mm

2. Cokin filter mount with adapter rings down to 52mm and with 3 and 5 stop neutral density and 3 and 5 stop grads.

I tried 8 stop and stronger ND filters and found the color shifts to be unacceptable and totally uncorrectable.

Gene

duplicate post deleted

I use the Cokin Z with WA lenses requiring 82mm adapter: Zeiss 21/2.8 ZE and Canon TSE 24/3.5. It requires placing the adapter on the front of the holder but just behind the slots. Images and description of modification:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/34697350

In this orientation the adapter functions exactly like the Lee WA adapter by placing the front of the lens extremely close to the filter slots, minimizing vignetting. In addition I also remove one of the 3 slots, not for fear of vignetting, but because I never use more than 2 filters stacked and prefer a thinner filter holder to pack away.
I leave the 82mm in the Cokin Z all the time and add step ups (ie 77 to 82) for use with other lenses. This is a lot cheaper than buying a Cokin adapter for each lens size.
Mike K