P.S. thanks to the little bird on FM who pointed me to a Lee Big Stopper Alas I will finally be able to break one myself of my one free will! It seems like breaking a Lee BS glass filter is some sort of rite to manhood. I'll finally get the chance to do it myself.
I should add the same little bird pointed us to the Heliopan Vario ND. I've read his comments on this before. Same quality as a Singh-ray Vari-ND i.e. neutral without the vignetting. I might give this a shot too. Sounds like a nice kit.
I do not use a polarizer combined with graduated ND filters that often with my 24 TS-E, but when I do I use the 105mm thread adapter installed on top of only one filter slot on the Lee filter holder system. I then screw in a 105 mm polarizer to the thread adapter. When I want a polarizer, I always want to be able to make exact angle settings for the particular scene, and could not stand being limited to 90 degree intervals. Obviously one of those two 90 degree positions will likely be better than the other, but something in between that you can set the way you want is likely much better.
Using the Lee 82mm wide angle adapter and using only one filter slot for the graduated ND make the combination with a front screw in polarizer work well for the 24 TS-E, and you have much of your shift available before you see any effects of the edges of the polarizer in your shots.
A good 105mm polarizer can be expensive, but so can a good 100 mm square polarizer. I started with just a good 82mm polarizer for my 24mm TS-E II, and if you really do not think your need grad ND combined with polarizer, the 82 mm polarizer is a really good way to go.
Roland W offers a lot of knowledge based on experience. I would definitely list to what he says.
It is a lot to plunk down at once. You are going to need a Lee foundation kit and the Lee solid and hard/soft grad ND filters either way. You can always decide on the polarizer later. I'd say buy the Lee kits and practice a lot and then decide on the polarizer.
As far as angles for polarizers, they all act like a row of lines across the face of them, so the effects repeats every 180 degrees as you rotate them. That is why I said in my previous post that you only get the 2 different positions with a square polarizer, because the other two are identical repeats of the effects.
I did not realize that you were down under, so your mention of prices had me mixed up for a second until I saw nz dollars. Even with that in mind, the numbers you mentioned may be a little high. As reference for others that can buy from B&H in US dollars, here are two price points for the two ways to put a circular polarizer in front of grad ND filters on a Lee holder system. And for the first one with the 105mm filter, you would also need the Lee 105mm thred adapter, which is over $50.
And the pro holder system that allows two different angles for two grad ND holders adds quite a bit of extra thickness of the whole assembly, so you would likely have problems with it on a 24mm lens, but I have never tried it.
Do not buy the LEE 105mm CP filter its very thick 13mm and not very good, also very expensive. I know that because I purchesed one several years ago and have since purchased a Heliopan CP - Cheaper, thinner and better.
RobDickinson wrote:
What do people do about a CPL with this system? I see some using a normal threaded one and others using one on the front of the filter holder system?
I use the Lee 105mm threaded ring on the front of Lee holder and a Sigma 105mm CPL. This allows CPL rotation as normal and the grads can be positioned where I like.
This does however leave a gap between the CPL and the grads (especially so if only using one slot out of the two) so I go a bit old school and drape a blackout cloth over the top to prevent light bleed.
RobDickinson wrote:
Ah ok that makes more sense, just use the 105mm thread and someone elses cpl..
The amount of vignetting will depend on how thick the filter, if a Lee wide adapter is used or not, how many slots you are running and how far you want to shift.
My Sigma is quite thick, but I only run 2 slots, so vignetting it not a problem unless a lot of shift is used.
Hi, why do you want to change systems? I use the Cokin P system on the 24 TSE and really like it. I have Tiffen glass filters (2 stop ND grad and a 4 stop ND) and a few Cokin color grads and nd's. I use the 3 filter holder and even when shifting a bit do not get any vignetting.
I am done with the Colkin P system also. Besides the low quality of the holders and Colkin brand filters, they were just not wide enough to use with my wider lenses like the Canon 16-35 II and the Canon 24mm TS-E II. I changed over to the Lee system several years back, and in general like it very much. Availabliity of things from Lee continues to be an on going problem, but once you build up what you need things go well. I especially like being able to decide how many slots to install, and like the option of mounting a 105mm polarizer on the front for the few times I need it. I gave away my Colkin P stuff to someone that can use it on their smaller lenses, and that can live with the Colkin color cast issues.
If you're interested please take a look at the Singh-Ray Daryl Benson 4x6" Reverse Neutral Density Graduated Filter set. It compliments the Lee system very well.
Alas I will finally be able to break one myself of my one free will! It seems like breaking a Lee BS glass filter is some sort of rite to manhood. I'll finally get the chance to do it myself. 
