ND Grads - Soft or Hard?

Hunders · 14 Apr 2013 at 11:59

Hey guys.

Toying with the idea of purchasing some Hitech ND grads but have no idea which would be best in general as I can't buy them both!

I have a 7D and would be mostly using my UWA 10-22mm and sometimes using my 17-55mm.

Anyone here with experience of both that can suggest which type to plump for?

RaV · 14 Apr 2013 at 13:23

When I had to make the same choice for my similar equipment, I went with the soft ND's.
The soft gradient does gives you a lot more flexibility. Where as with the hards you will have the pay attention to its positioning in relation to objects in the scene.

for example, hards are nice if you have a simple clean view of the horizon, but for example if you have lots of trees sticking up over the horizon it can cause problems with the trees suddenly getting darker at the horizon where the filter kicks in.

I think softs would be a good starting point, youll be able to use them in more situations and once you get the hang of them youll be able to figure out if the hards suit your style of photography

Hunders · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:56

Thanks for that.

I won't particularly be shooting things where there is a clear horizon so I guess a soft will be more suitable.

What ND grads are most useable? As in 0.6, 0.9 etc. I don't want to buy anything that I won't get use out of.

Cheers.

gary996 · 14 Apr 2013 at 15:33

the ones you have mentioned. Don't bother with the 0.3

a1ex2001 · 15 Apr 2013 at 09:04

as has been said the soft will be more versatile and go for the stronger filters as those are the ones you will find yourself reaching for time and again.