I knelt down to get a low angle shot forgetting about the filter in my pocket and I heard a loud crack.  My lovely new Big Stopper was broken in two pieces.  Apart from the fact of the cost to replace it; even if I wanted to there is a 6-8 week waiting list for one from the distributors.

Today has not been a good day…

I had been toying with the idea of a compact camera for a while.  I had spent ages reading all the reviews on Canon’s G11 and I very nearly splashed out on one.  Then I started reading the reviews for the Panasonic GF1 and I was smitten.  A quick play in the Panasonic shop and I knew this was the one for me.

I had convinced myself that it would be an ideal camera for hillwalking.  For me, any weight saved from my rucksack when walking is a bonus, plus I decided that being able to take 720p High Definition video would be a good thing to have.  The other main thing that made my mind up was my upcoming holiday in Florida and not really wanting to take my dslr this time.

Well the camera arrived, and it’s so small in comparison to my D300.

Once I managed to find a small Lowepro bag which wasn’t much bigger than the camera itself, I was good to go.  This would be ideal for walking about on holiday with the camera barely noticeable in it’s case slung over my shoulder.

For hillwalks and landscapes I wanted to go one better though.  Landscape photography really needs some sort of ND grad filter to help balance the exposure of the land and sky.  I purchased a 46-52mm step-up ring from Ebay, and was able to use a 52mm Lee adaptor ring that I happened to have in my cupboard.  Once I had these I could put the Lee holder on the camera and use the full range of Lee filters on it.

As you can see the filter holder is longer than the camera!  Even more so once you add an ND grad filter to it.

For hillwalking this would be the kit I would take.  For my upcoming Florida holiday, I would also take a small travel tripod (which you can just see the ball head for in the picture) and also Ebay came up trumps again with a cable release.

Packaging

The Big Stopper comes in Lee’s normal padded material pouch. Along with the filter is a small booklet and a handy, business card sized, exposure guide. This is very handy as once the filter is on the camera, metering is very difficult.

The Hitech 10 stop ND filter comes in a plastic sleeve. In use I find the sleeve very tight to remove and replace the filter. In fact I got so fed up with trying to force the filter in and out of the sleeve that I ended up using a spare Lee pouch to keep the filter in.

Filters

The Big Stopper is part of Lee’s ProGlass ND range of filters.  This is what Lee have to say about them…

‘The ProGlass ND is an extremely high quality glass ND filter optimised for use with digital cameras, but equally useful for film.

This brand new filter uses a surface coating made from evaporated metal, and therefore provides very even absorption across the visible spectrum and through the UV and Infra Red regions. Using an ND filter can prolong exposure times to blur water and capture movement in clouds and the sky, but the excess UV and IR can cause colour problems in some lighting situations. The ProGlass filter reduces any chance of false colour casts, and also provides a result described as punchier on digital and film because the light forming the image is more specific to the requirements of the film or sensor.

The filter also features a foam gasket all around the inside of the perimeter of the filter, which when the filter is placed in the Lee holder in the slot closest to the lens creates a lightweight seal to cut down the chance of light leaking around the side of the filter.’

This is a picture of the Big Stopper fitted in the Lee filter holder.  As you can see the foam gasket does not fill in the whole of the gap between the top and bottom of the filter holder.  Even so, my tests showed no evidence of light leakage due to this.

The Hitech 10 stop ND is made from CR39 dyed substrate.  This is a resin filter which is slightly thinner than a  Lee resin filter.  This makes it slightly more flimsy but in use there isn’t much of a difference.

Testing

I tested both filters on a few different days in different conditions.  The first tests were taken early evening/ sunset.  This was good for testing as the low sun made conditions difficult.  All these test shots were taken on a Nikon D300 with a Tokina 11-16 Ultra-wideangle zoom.  i chose the Tokina specifically because it is a lens which can have problems with flare.  Also another reason I decided to use this lens was because it is a lens I use a lot for landscapes and I wanted a worse case scenario for these filters in conjunction with this lens. In all these images, the top and back of the camera was covered by a piece of black cloth to eliminate the chance of any light leakage coming in through the viewfinder.  I also used a Lee 3 stop soft ND grad along with the 10 stop filters as this is another combination I use a lot.

This first shot was taken using the Big Stopper and a Lee 3 stop soft ND grad.

The same image taken with the hitech a couple of minutes later.

As you can see the hitech suffers badly from circular flare spots. Also the semi circular flare ring in the centre which seems to be a particular trait of using the Tokina 11-16 with the hitech filter. Also note the colour of the seaweed in the bottom left. This looks like IR build up causing a magenta cast on the seaweed.

As usual both images are straight out of the camera, no processing or white balance adjustment, only what the camera has chosen.

Another image to show how good the Big Stopper can perform. This is a composite of the reference image and the Big Stopper image. The reference images white balance is ‘as shot’ and the Lee has been corrected using the ‘auto’ setting in camera raw. Notice how close the two images are for white balance. There is hardly a difference. In fact, I might have got it closer if I sampled somewhere in the image to get a white balance. A big plus for anyone who has tried to remove the huge casts that can sometime occur with the Hitech.

Another couple of images to show what happens when you shoot direct towards the sun. As you know this is a hard test for any filter. The Lee has really shown up the quality of the glass filter. There is only 1 flare spot in the image. This is a really good result considering that the Tokina 11-16 bare on it’s own would probably show the same thing if it was pointed towards the sun like this shot. The Hitech has not fared so well. There are multiple instances of flare with a magenta cast. In fact this is the difference between an image from the Big Stopper that could easily be fixed in post processing and an image from the Hitech that is just unusable due to the massive flare and cast.

As before both images are direct from the camera with no adjustments.

The next test was to compare the filters side by side straight from the camera to show the different colour casts and how easily they were removed.  The first image clearly shows the much cooler White Balance of the Big Stopper compared to the Hitech.  Another point to note with this is that the Hitech is nearly 3/4 of a stop less than the Big Stopper.  Getting filters to be exactly 10 stops is difficult, so it’s hard to say which one is correct.  This isn’t that much of an issue as you would get a feel for exposure times using your own filter.

The next image is the same image but letting Adobe Camera Raw fix the White Balance by selecting the ‘auto’ setting.

As you can see the results are very close.  Both images are accurate and no flare or light leakage was visible using both filters.

Conclusion

Both filters can give great results.  Unfortunately the Hitech 10 stop is a bit unpredictable.  Depending on the conditions, you can get a magenta cast on some plants, seaweed etc.

There is also the issue with flare spots and light leakage. One way that I have found to try and minimise this is by making a fabric ‘sleeve’ which fits over the lens barrel, the filter Holder and filter to try and stop light leaking in around the edges of the filter.  This can be successful but a bit finicky.

The Big Stopper on the other hand gives reliable results time after time.  With Lee’s inclusion of the foam gasket, there is no problem with light leakage and due to the glass used on the filter, flare is not an issue either.  The Big Stopper does have a blue cast to it but this is very easily corrected in post processing as I have already shown.

The Lee Big Stopper may be nearly twice the price of the Hitech 10 Stop ND filter but it is money well spent.  The old adage ‘buy cheap, buy twice‘ comes into mind here.  If you bought the Hitech and liked the effect that you got from the long exposures then you would probably end up deciding to buy the Big Stopper in the end.  My recommendation is to buy the Big Stopper straight away and save the bother and hassle of inferior results.

UPDATE

Well it had to happen.  I was well aware of the extra care needed due to the fragility of the glass filter.  I managed to forget it was in it’s pouch in my pocket and knelt down and snapped the filter in two!  Obviously I was a bit annoyed but unfortunately there was no-one around to blame  but myself!  So if you do manage to get a ‘Big Stopper’, take extra good care of it!

Hopefully I have helped you find the elusive tree!

The weather forecast looked promising, light winds with a low of -7c. Ideal weather for a trip away. Glencoe is about 100 miles from my house, so planning is important as I don’t like to squander time (or money) on a wasted trip.

The plan was to get a sunrise at Rannoch Moor. Either Loch Ba, which would mean facing towards the sunrise, or Lochan Nah Achlaise which would mean the sunrise light hitting the Black Mount behind the Lochan.

I left around 5.15am, a little later than planned, luckily the traffic was light. As I travelled further north, the temperature gauge on the car started going lower and lower until I reached Loch Tulla and the gauge was showing -15c. The whole of the Loch was frozen over, which I thought would be a good picture opportunity for later on. There was not a cloud in the sky until I went up the hill towards Rannoch Moor. As soon as I got closer towards Rannoch Moor, I drove into a bank of freezing mist with visibility was down to around 30 feet. This was no use, you couldn’t even see the sky never mind the sunrise. I made the decision not to hang about and started back down towards Loch Tulla where I knew I would be able to get something decent.

This first picture was taken by the side of Loch Tulla after a climb over a fence and down towards the Lochside. The sunrise was still about 10-15 minutes away so the predawn light was starting to change from dark blue to shades of pink and purple.

The next couple of images were taken after sunrise with the sun hitting the black mount behind the Loch. After I had exhausted all possibilities for sunrise shots, I decided to head back up to Rannoch Moor and see if the mist had lifted.

On getting back up to Lochan Nah Achlaise, I was greeted with the glorious sight of the mist starting to lift revealing the sunlight striking the Black Mount behind the Lochan. A few shots later and it was in the bag. It’s moments like these that I love, you know you have got a good image and it makes the trip worthwhile.

After leaving the Lochan on a high, I made my way towards Glencoe. I decided to get an old favourite, a standard postcard shot of the ‘Black Rock’ cottage with the Buachaille behind it.

Continued in Part 2…

From here it was on towards the River Coupall, which to my delight was completely frozen over. I parked the car in the nearest lay-by and made my way across the moorland towards the frozen river. The ice was a good couple of inches thick, so I decided to risk it and, going down onto my hands and knees, slid my way slowly towards the centre of the river. I managed to get a few shots of the frozen river with the Buachaille behind. The sky was pretty plain though as there was no cloud cover at all, but you cant have everything!

I messed about with a few more locations and then as it was approaching midday, I decided to head down through Glencoe towards Glencoe village and Ballachulish. I had a short stop for a bite to eat down by the side of Loch Leven. The water was very calm and I managed to get a nice panorama of the loch itself with the Pap of Glencoe in the background. Just to the left of the pap, is the moon! It is a bit small in the frame but the full size image shows it quite clearly.

Turning the other way was just as good. The clear day meant that visibility was high, which was a good thing as it meant that the hills behind the Ballachulish bridge were clearly visible.

Suitably refreshed I made my way back towards Glencoe. This time I headed down the Glen Etive road. Even though the snow was about 6 inches deep, the roads had been well gritted and were still passable. I made my way alog the road until I got to Lochan Urr. The Lochan was half frozen over, so I decided to park the car and walk down the hill towards the Lochan.

I took a few pictures from here, this one was probably my favourite. The golden colour of the reeds and hills contrasting nicely with the frozen Lochan.

After climbing back up the hill to the car, I decided as time was getting on to start heading back towards Rannoch Moor. I did manage to stop a couple of times to capture more shots of the frozen River Etive as the late afternoon light started to light up the hills behind it.

My initial idea when I planned the trip was to stop once again at Lochan Nah Achlaise for the sunset. When I arrived there late afternoon, I realised that it wasn’t going to be such a good location after all.

I did take a few shots however of the low afternoon light really showing the flakes of snow that had frozen onto the surface of the completely ice covered Lochan.

Time was running out now with less than an hour to sunset. I decided that maybe I could get a few panoramas of the sun setting over Loch Tulla. I headed towards the viewpoint overlooking the Loch and waited for the sun to set.

The sky was still practically cloud free, so my main focus was on the light striking the hills behind Loch Tulla. This first image is of the sunset over Loch Tulla and Beinn an Dothaidh.

The second shot is another pano shot taken from the same viewpoint but concentrating on the last of the light hitting Beinn Achaladair.

After the sun had set, all that remained was a trip to the Real Food Cafe for a bite to eat before starting the 100 mile journey back home.

I arrived back home at 8.30pm. It was quite a long day as I had left the house at 5.15am that morning. It was well worth it though as I got a few images I was pleased with plus I managed to fulfil something I had wanted for a long while, A day trip to Glencoe with loads of snow.