nd grads

[thatguy]

I'm trying to get a cokin nd grad. I've heard that a 2 stop grad is the most useful, but I can't seem to find one anywhere. Would the 1 stop extra on a 3 stop grad make much difference, as I can find plenty of these. I'm mostly going to be using the grads for sunrises and sunsets. As for hard and soft grads, none of the ones I've seen on websites actually say whether they are hard or soft, how can I tell?
If you can help me out, I'd be very grateful

EDIT: I've found some kood filters, but instead of their strength it says dark grey etc. If anyone owns any of these, which one is most commonly used and what are they equivalent to in terms of f stops.

 

[Big Mike]

You can download various Cokin brochures & catalogs from here http://www.cokin.com/ico13/ico13.html

I'm sure that somewhere in there is their nomenclature for the different types of filters etc.

As for where to find them...I don't know. A lot of camera stores have a small selection of them, used shops usually have some....but I did notice that B&H showed 'out of stock' for many of them.

 

[thatguy]

ok thanks. Anyone else know anything about this, such as about the kood filters ?

 

[thatguy]

ok thanks. Anyone else know anything about this, such as about the kood filters and what the most useful grad would be?
EDIT- sorry about the double post, the browser did something funny

 

[Garbz]

Just a quick matter of interest are you using digital? Assuming you're taking photos of stationary subjects with a tripod you can simple take two exposures and layer them in photoshop then apply a gradient mask. The benefit of which is you're not limited to the stop of the filter, but you can select the strength of the filter by varying the exposure difference between the shots.

For film or moving targets though disregard what I just said

 

[thatguy]

No, I'm using film, but thanks anyway. If I find a situation where the grad isn't strong enough I could always try that and then get the negative scanned.