ND Grads have gone off - any alternatives ?

[Dave Tolcher]

Having had some snow pics back I can see that my 2 stop and 3 stop ND grads have colour shifted to warm. Checked on a light box against a later manufacture date grad and a recent glass ND pro filter and its obvious. The ones that are off were manufactured in August 2004.

Before I drop far too much money on another set - are there viable alternatives ? This is the second time I have some go off and I know of others that have too so I feel disinclined to return to the Lee fold. Is anyone using the RF75 line for LF and are glass alternatives any better ?


Many thanks

[jennym]

I would contact Graham at Lee filters and ask if they can help. He has offered to redip mine if they need it as they do go off over time. He has been very helpful to me over a couple of things before, although I have never had any filters dipped yet.

Sorry about your snow pics though. Hope the colour is correctable after scanning.

Cheers,
Jenny

[Joanna Carter]

I have spoken to Graham about someone else's filters and he seems only too willing to do something about this kind of problem; give him a ring.

[Paul Mitchell]

I too have had recent issues with my ND grad filters or more specifically Lee's own 'soft cloth' holders which I tend to keep them in. It seems as though the dye is actually being rubbed off on to the cloth! I did mentioned this to someone on the Lee stand (it could very well have been Graham?) at the recent L&L Discovery Day and they told me that it's a known problem, something to do with the material effecting the dye?, and that I should transfer them in another type of holder. He did say that I could always send them back for assessment to see if they needed replacing... might just do that now.

Paul

[Thingy]

Is this a problem with the glass Lee grads or does it affect their resin ones too?

I am interested as I have a rather large collection of their ND grads in two sizes.

[Dave Tolcher]

Having just got a photobucket account I thought I would try uploading an image.... Spot the off colour grad !

[Aender]

Having experienced weird greenish colours in the sky or in snowy/icy parts on some of my recently taken pictures when using LEE ND grads, I'd like to ask if the option offered by LEE to redip filters having gone off is a free service. If not, how much do they take for each ND grad? And, how long did it take (if anyone has had it done)?

Thank you very much.

[Joanna Carter]

The same reply I posted earlier applies. Get in touch with them - they will check your filters out and, if they have "gone off", they will sort them out.