Lee Filters LEE100 Holder
£79/$115.50 Lee’s 100 Filter System is one of the bestknown and most widely used filter systems, so how does the LEE100 Holder shape up? leef i l ters . com
“While it doesn’t feel as tough as the earlier Lee Filters 100 series holder, the LEE100 Holder looks more refined and modern”
Lee Filters is one of the bestknown names in photographic filters, and its 100 Filter System is very popular. In March 2019, the company introduced a new filter holder and polariser; some photographers were surprised because the old holder had served them well for years. However, the new LEE100 Holder looks and feels more modern and does away with the need to use fiddly little screws to attach the filter guides. The LEE100 Holder is compatible with all existing Lee Filters 100 filters, as well as same-sized filters from other brands. However, as I’ll explain later, the (old-style) LEE Filters 105mm Landscape Circular Polariser Filter can only be mounted via an adapter ring.
Key features
Lee Filters makes the LEE100 Holder from injection-moulded composite, and has clip-in filter guides in place of the screw-on type of the older holder. The company supplies the holder with three pairs of guides that enable it to hold one, two or three square or rectangular filters in addition to a circular polariser at the front.
The new guides just click into place and a tool is provided to help slide them out of position to use one with a different number of slots. I opted to use the two-slot guide, as this enables me to use a Big Stopper ND filter (or similar) and a graduated filter.
In addition, the polariser filter mount is integrated into the new holder, while the old holder requires a circular adapter ring to be mounted onto its front. The downside, however, is that instead of having a screw thread, the new LEE100 Polariser has a bespoke clip mount. Fortunately, there’s a 105mm Polariser Ring (£39/$58.50) that enables anyone with the old-style polariser to mount it in the new holder.
The LEE100 Holder mounts onto a lens via an adapter ring, and it’s compatible with all the existing adapter rings. It also has spring release catch with a lock that can be set to one of three positions:
Neutral: The holder can be rotated and removed or knocked off if caught by clothing or something similar, thus protecting the camera and lens from a fall.
Half-lock: The holder can be rotated, but it’s locked to the adapter ring and cannot be removed.
Full-lock: The holder cannot be rotated, and is locked in position, so cannot be removed from the adaptor ring.
Build and handling
While it doesn’t feel as tough as the earlier Lee Filters 100 series holder, the new LEE100 Holder looks more refined and modern. It has a weave pattern that looks like carbon fibre, but it’s actually made from injection-moulded composite.
Once an adapter ring is fitted on a lens, the holder is mounted by hooking its two fixed tabs into the ring’s notch and then pulling back on the catch’s release knob as the holder is eased back towards the ring. The knob can be released as soon as the holder is in place.
The release lock is the blue ring at the base of the release knob. If the knob is on the right when you’re behind the camera, the lock is in the neutral position when the largest tab on the ring is facing towards the camera. Rotating the lock ring clockwise through 90°, so that the large tab is facing upwards when the camera is in landscape orientation, sets it to half-lock. From that position, rotating the lock through 180° anti-clockwise (it won’t move clockwise), so the larger tab is facing downwards, sets the lock to full-lock.
Performance
It’s easy to attach the LEE100 Holder onto a lens once the adapter ring is in place and Lee’s square and rectangular filters slip in smoothly. Lee Filters recommends that you