Switching cheap from the Lee filter system!
When I started my photography, I off course needed gear. And I also wanted a good filter system. In that time there were 2 options… The bad and cheap Cokin filters and the ‘good’ and expensive Lee Filters. I went for the Lee filters like almost any other photographer untill a few years ago.
The Lee filter system
I was and I still am pretty happy with my choiche for the 100mm Lee filters. Back then it was the best choiche. And in the years that followed. I bought lots of filters of them like a 3, 6 and 10 ND filter, a 2 and 3 GND filter and their famous 105mm polarisation filter.
They have all been used multiple times. But there comes the problem. The GND filters which I use most of the time, are made of plastic. And after multiple years those filters are full with scratches. So bad that at the moment I can see it in my raw files when the sun is in front of the lens! It was time for new filters…
The Lee filter pouch
I have always stored my filters in the Lee filter pouch which holds 10 filters. Or in my case. It holds 6 filters, a small camera remote, a cleaning cloth and the Lee filter holder. All of that in 1 small pouch! I absolutely love that. And with some other reasons, I decided to never buy bigger filter systems.
I just wanted to use the kit I had with some new filters. But nowadays there are a lot of companies making glass filters, which are better then plastic filters. So I started looking at those other brands and I went for the Kase Wolverine filters.
Kase Filters
Why Kase? Like a lot of other brands they come with their own filter holders and a whole range of filters. But like I said above, I wanted to use everything I had from Lee, but then with GND filters from Kase. After telling the people of Kase what I was up to. They told me that when you order a filter online, you can say in a note that you use the Lee filter system and then they would send also Kase slots for the Lee system.
I can only say they did exactly what they told me! And here comes the cheap switching solution.
The Lee - Kase filter holder
My Lee filter holder has 2 slots and then a ring where I could mount my polarisation filter on.
The first slot of the filter remains a LEE slot. In that way I can still use all my Lee filters in the correct way. The Little stopper (6ND) and Big stopper (10ND) must be placed in the first slot for light pollution.
The second slot of the filter changed to a KASE slot. In that way I can use the glass KASE filters. And by doing it in this order, you can still use a Lee ND filter in combination with a Kase GND filter.
By doing it this way, I can change my system in a slowly way instead of buying a new filter holder with lots of new filters in one go…