When using the a lot of rise on a Super Angulon XL 90mm, I find that my Lee one-piece filter-holder-and-hood causes vignetting. Would this be true with just the regular Lee holder alone? As I have to order stuff from England or the States, I wanted to try to save myself some time and money before ordering. Alternatively does anyone have an alternative method of attaching filters to this monster reasonably inexpensively Thanks in advance, Yaakov Asher Sinclair

-- Yaakov Asher Sinclair (sinclair@actcom.co.il), December 19, 1999

Answers

Yaakov,

Sinar makes a filter holder for 125 mm resin filters, called Filterholder-1 for the version that holds one filter and Filterholder-2 for the version that holds 2 filters. Unfortuantely, they aren't cheap - $306 and $337 (U.S.), respectively. As you might expect, the filters aren't cheap either.

When I first started using resin filters, I found a device that had two clamps, one each on either end of a flexible arm. I've seen similar things in catalogs with studio equipment such as Bogen and Sinar. I would attach one clamp to the camera and the second clamp to the filter, and then adjust the arm so that the filter was in front of the lens. The primary drawback to this method is making the filter's plane perpendicular to the lens' optical axis. It was also a bit awkward when adjusting a split ND filter. But if cost is an issue, this may be a viable alternative, especially because you could probably use 100 mm filters.

Good luck. Bruce

-- Bruce M. Herman (bherman@gci.net), December 19, 1999.

Yaakov,

The Super Angulon XL 90 is too wide to be used with the standard Lee one-pece filter holder/hood. I have used it with the wide-angle hood and there is no vignetting. I also have used it with this lens and the standard filter holders. Also no problem.

I use the SA XL 90 / Lee wide angle hood with both 4x5 and 5x7 backs.

Good Luck.

-- Mike Kravit (mkravit@mindspring.com), December 19, 1999.

I use the same system with 4x4 resing Lee filters, and with a 90mm lens, I have to make sure of a few things... no UV filter over lens, this extra space will cause vignetting.. Wide angle adapter ring only... if you can not get one from lee have one made by SK Grimes for half the price, wide angle hood only, not standard, and you have to watch out when you get close to the edge of the image circle... you are unsure when wide open viewing the gg if the darkness is coming from vignetting or light fall off, so often I think when I stop down I will gain the image circle required to rid the light loss, however I have been wrong many times, it was vignetting and appeared in the chrome! Now I have ND center filters on these lenses and have a wide angle adapter, so this can even be trickier.. Now I just don't use the hood!

-- Bill Glickman (bglick@pclv.com), December 20, 1999.

re: "Wide angle adapter ring only... if you can not get one from lee have one made by SK Grimes for half the price..."

The 90 SA and the 90 SA-XL require two different treatments. Lee makes a wide angle adapter for the 90 SA (82mm treading) whereas the 90 SA-XL has 95mm treading. The only Lee solution is their expensive foundation kit designed specifically for this lens (and the 72XL). Steve Grimes can provide a much more cost effective solution.

-- Larry Huppert (Larry.Huppert@mail.com), December 20, 1999.