Tom I will answer here as it will help everyone and it is sort of on topic, even though a little hijacked lol In sure Zacko wont mind. Eyes glasses! Um probably just Glasses or specks (as in spectacles) anyway I understood. They are pretty durable, I have never ruined one, they dont have an outer frame as such so dropping them on a hard surface (pavement sidewalk lol thats 1-1) isnt a great idea. Not to complicate things further some on the Cokin filters, such as a polarizer are round, and do have an outer frame so that they can be turned in the holder. The Cokin system comes with a book that lists all the filters and their use. At least it does here, so assume that would be she same there. The system is a good one, I cant honestly say if other brands are equal as I have not used them, but I would think that they are at least very close to Cokin or they wouldnt be there long. IMO the best starter filter would be Neutral Density (ND) graduated, being colour neutral, even thought they appear to be grey they dont effect the colours in the scene. Of the different variants I would think ND grad 4. This will of course depend to some extent on the light differences in the climate that you live in, only you can judge that. However if the difference in light is slight and ND grad 2 may be enough if the difference is quite harsh you may need ND grad 8. 4 being the middle ground and is the one that I use the most. Whilst you have my attention you can also get a hard edge ND grad, the difference being that as its name suggests the transition from the light part of the filter to the dark is very small where as a normal ND grad the transition cover about a third of the filter. A hard edge filter is more useful for a scene that has a difference between shadow and highlight is along a defined line such as the horizon across water/ocean, for example shooting a sunset out to sea would be a good use for a hard edge filter. OK its 3:50 AM here, damn time difference lol LP over and out.

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