Lee Filters?

[Mark K.]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to pick up a set of NDs for my new mattebox, and the local shop stocks Lee filters rather than the Tiffen/Schneider filters I normally see. Can anyone comment on how well they perform and how well they compare to the others?

Cheers,

Mark

[ericyoung]

Lee filters come in optical resin or thin plastic. You'll want the more expensive resin ones if you want to go with Lee. They are well regarded in the stills photography industry, but have very low market penetration in the film and TV industry.

Generally the straight filters only come in 100mm (approx 4") square maximum size and are slightly thinner than standard glass filters used in film/TV matteboxes. Resin scratches more easily than glass, so need to be handled more carefully (not good for rental houses). I think that resin can't be as optically flat as good quality glass filters, but don't have any definitive evidence/references for this.

I'd say they are probably OK for an owner operator doing low budget work and personal projects, but if you want to hire them out to other DOPs, you'll probably need to go with more expensive glass ones made for film/TV.

[Shervin Mandgaryan]

Lee makes great gels for lighting fixtures. I've only had experience with that part of their business and not with their optical filters.

That being said, Tiffen and Schneider are the gold standard, so why deviate and grab something that not many have worked with?

[Mark K.]

Thanks fellas, I'd heard several people mention that they're "used in Film/TV production" but it sounds like that isn't really the case. I think I'll stick to the known quantities.

[Jon MIchael Puntervold]

LEE is high quality stuff...! All my 4x4 are by Lee.