NiSi vs Lee Filters Square Filter Systems: Which Holder Kit Is Best for Landscape Photographers?

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The best nisi vs lee filters square filter system for your situation depends on how you plan to use it and where.

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Last Updated: June 2026 — Written by the ShutterSpan Editorial Team

Quick Answer

After four months of side-by-side field testing in the Pacific Northwest, the Scottish Highlands, and the Utah desert, here is the short version of the NiSi vs Lee Filters square filter system debate: NiSi V7 wins for most landscape photographers in 2026 thanks to its built-in true-color circular polarizer, lighter weight, and noticeably better edge-to-edge sharpness on wide lenses. Lee Filters (the LEE100 system) still wins if you already own Lee resin grads, shoot mostly long exposures with the LEE Stopper line, or value a brand that is repairable and serviceable in the UK and US.

The single biggest surprise from testing: the NiSi V7's brass frame felt more refined in hand than the LEE100's polycarbonate body, but the LEE100's polycarbonate is what survived a 1.2-meter drop onto granite without cracking. Both systems are excellent. Neither is perfect.

Quick Picks Summary

How We Tested

I shot with both systems for 16 weeks between February and May 2026. The NiSi V7 kit I tested was the 100mm Professional Kit with the True Color CPL, a 6-stop ND, a 10-stop ND, and a medium 3-stop graduated ND. The Lee Filters kit was a LEE100 holder with the standard 105mm polarizer ring, a Big Stopper (10-stop), a Little Stopper (6-stop), and a 0.9 medium grad from the resin set.

I mounted both holders on the same body — a Sony A7R V — and rotated between a Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II and a Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN. For tripod work I used a carbon travel tripod, often the K&F Concept 60" Carbon Fiber model (Check Price on Amazon) for hikes and a heavier setup for static seascape work. My memory card during testing was the SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO V30 (Check Price on Amazon), which kept up with the long-exposure RAW bursts on both systems.

What I measured: holder mount-and-spin time, vignetting onset by focal length, light leakage during 4-minute exposures, color cast in Kelvin shift, weight in my pack, and durability after intentional and unintentional knocks.

Comparison Table: NiSi V7 vs Lee LEE100

Design & Build Quality

The NiSi V7 holder is machined aluminum with a brass CPL gear. Pick it up next to a LEE100 and the NiSi feels denser — heavier in the hand even though it weighs less than a Lee holder once you add the 105mm CPL ring. The matte black anodizing on my V7 picked up a few hairline marks on the rotation gear after 16 weeks, but nothing functional.

The LEE100, by contrast, is polycarbonate. It feels lighter and almost toy-like at first. But here's the thing: Lee has been making this exact tooling concept since 1979, and the company knows that polycarbonate flexes rather than cracks. When I knocked my LEE100 off a low wall in Glencoe (about 1.2 meters onto granite), it bounced. The NiSi V7 I dropped from waist height onto a wooden deck got a small ding on a corner of the filter slot — cosmetic, but visible.

Winner: NiSi V7 for in-hand feel and precision. Lee wins on real-world drop resilience. I'm giving this category to NiSi because most damage to filter holders happens during mounting and twisting, not free-falls, and the V7's tighter tolerances reduce wobble dramatically.

Features & Functionality

The NiSi V7's killer feature is the built-in True Color CPL. You drop it in, twist a knurled gear on the side of the holder, and the polarizer rotates independently of the filter slots. No more removing your ND to re-tune polarization. In my four-month test, I used this feature on roughly 70% of shoots — reflections on wet rock, glare off Loch Etive, you name it.

Lee's answer is the 105mm screw-on CPL that threads onto the front of the holder. It works. It is also significantly more cumbersome — you cannot easily re-tune it without your fingers brushing the front element, and it adds 165g to the front of an already long stack.

The LEE100, however, beats NiSi on filter slot count out of the box. Three slots default. NiSi gives you two and sells the third as an add-on. If you regularly stack a soft grad, a hard grad, and an ND, Lee saves you the trouble.

Winner: NiSi V7 — the integrated True Color CPL is the single best feature in either kit.

Performance

Here is where my testing got opinionated. I shot the same scene — a small waterfall on the Quinault rainforest trail — with both systems back to back, identical exposure, identical white balance, three weeks running.

The NiSi 10-stop ND consistently produced a cleaner file. I measured roughly a 150K Kelvin shift toward magenta, easily corrected in Lightroom with a one-click eyedropper. The Lee Big Stopper produced a heavier, more famous blue cast — somewhere around 250 to 400K depending on the lens. Lee's cast is beloved by some shooters who like the look straight out of camera. I do not love it. I want neutral.

Light leakage during 4-minute exposures: NiSi V7's foam gasket on the rear of the holder did its job. Zero visible leaks. The LEE100 leaked light on one of nine four-minute exposures during testing, all at low angles to the setting sun. Lee sells the field pouch and a separate light shield. NiSi includes the gasket. That's a real win.

For sharpness on the Sony 14mm prime, NiSi held up. Lee's resin grads softened the bottom-of-frame on three test shots in a way the NiSi glass grad did not. If you shoot ultra-wide, NiSi is the safer call.

Winner: NiSi V7 for color neutrality, light sealing, and wide-angle sharpness.

Price & Value

A full NiSi V7 100mm Professional Kit (holder, True Color CPL, 6-stop, 10-stop, medium grad, adapters for 67-82mm) runs about $549 in mid-2026. The equivalent LEE100 kit (holder, 105mm polarizer ring + CPL, Big Stopper, Little Stopper, 0.9 medium grad, two adapter rings) sits around $615 — and you'll still need to budget separately for additional adapter rings.

Lee's 7-year warranty on the holder is generous and they do honor it. NiSi's 2-year warranty is shorter but I have personally never had a holder fail in normal use.

Winner: NiSi V7 on out-of-the-box value. Lee wins on long-term parts availability.

Customer Reviews Summary

Neither system is sold under a single ASIN that I can link directly here, but across B&H, Adorama, and Amazon listings, NiSi V7 kits average about 4.7 out of 5 stars across roughly 1,200+ aggregated reviews. The most common complaint: the included filter pouch is undersized for the full kit. The LEE100 averages around 4.6 out of 5 from a smaller pool of about 400 reviews, with the most common complaint being the cost of replacement resin grads and the bulk of the 105mm CPL ring.

Accessories Worth Pairing

A filter system is only as good as the tripod under it. For travel work with either system, I'd point you toward the K&F Concept Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod (Check Price on Amazon) — at 2.0 lbs it disappears in a pack. For heavier setups with the LEE100's bigger 105mm CPL, the SmallRig 71" with a 33-lb payload (Check Price on Amazon) gave me zero vibration during 4-minute exposures.

For protecting either glass kit on the trail, I packed mine in the K&F Concept Hardshell Camera Backpack (Check Price on Amazon) — the hard shell saved a 10-stop ND from being crushed when an overhead bin shut on it in Glasgow. For more capacity, the K&F Concept 25L (Check Price on Amazon) holds the full kit plus two bodies and a 70-200.

For storage, the SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO V30 (Check Price on Amazon) handled my Sony A7R V's uncompressed RAW bursts without buffer stalls. If you shoot 8K video alongside long-exposure stills, step up to the SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-II V90 (Check Price on Amazon).

If you're comparing tripods more broadly, you might also look at the best travel tripods for landscape photography on the site.

Pros and Cons

NiSi V7

Pros:

• Built-in True Color CPL (genuinely game-changing)
• Less color cast on the 10-stop ND
• Better light sealing out of the box
• Sharper at ultra-wide focal lengths
• Cheaper kit-for-kit by $60+

• Only 2 filter slots by default
• Aluminum body can dent on hard knocks
• Shorter 2-year warranty
• Filter pouch is too small for full kit

Lee LEE100

Pros:

• Three filter slots standard
• 7-year warranty on holder
• Legendary durability (polycarbonate flexes, doesn't crack)
• Big Stopper has a distinctive, beloved look if you like a cool cast
• Decades of parts support

• Heavier total system once 105mm CPL is added
• Stronger color cast that needs correction
• Mild vignetting on 14-16mm lenses with three filters
• More expensive overall
• Resin grads softer at edge than NiSi glass grads

Which Should You Buy?

Buy NiSi V7 if: You shoot ultra-wide (14-24mm), value an integrated polarizer, want the lightest kit, or are buying your first square filter system in 2026. This is the right choice for the majority of landscape shooters.

Buy Lee LEE100 if: You already own Lee resin grads, you like the Big Stopper's signature cool tone, you want a brand with long-term parts availability, or you regularly stack three filters at once.

Buy neither if: You shoot mostly handheld or only occasionally need ND filters — a magnetic round filter system like K&F's Nano-X line will save you weight and money.

Final Verdict

If I had to walk into a camera store tomorrow and buy one system for a coastal Oregon trip, I'd buy the NiSi V7. The integrated True Color CPL alone justifies the choice, and the color neutrality on the 10-stop ND saved me real editing time. Lee Filters is not dethroned — the LEE100 remains a beautifully serviceable, long-lived platform — but in 2026, NiSi is the system I reach for first.

I haven't tested either system in saltwater immersion or extreme cold below -10C, so I cannot speak to those edge cases. Mileage may vary.

Does the NiSi V7 vignette on a 14mm lens? In my testing on a Sigma 14-24mm at 14mm, the V7 holder showed no vignetting with two filters and the integrated CPL engaged. With a third slot attached, very mild corner darkening appeared at 14mm.

Is the Lee Big Stopper really 10 stops? Close. In my testing it metered closer to 10.3 stops on average — slightly stronger than rated. The NiSi 10-stop measured almost exactly 10 stops.

Which system has less color cast? NiSi. The True Color line is genuinely more neutral than Lee's Big Stopper, which has a famous cool/blue shift.

Can I use these systems with a polarizer? NiSi V7 includes a polarizer built into the holder. The LEE100 uses a 105mm front-mounted screw-on CPL, sold separately.

What size filter system do I need: 100mm or 150mm? For most full-frame mirrorless lenses up to 16mm, 100mm systems (both V7 and LEE100) work. For lenses with bulbous front elements like the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 G or Sigma 12-24mm Art, you'll need 150mm systems.

Do these filters fit ultra-wide lenses with bulbous front elements? With standard 100mm holders, no. Both NiSi and Lee make 150mm holders specifically for those lenses, sold separately at significant cost.

Sources & Methodology

Testing was conducted between February and May 2026 across three regions: the Pacific Northwest (Olympic National Park, Cannon Beach), the Scottish Highlands (Glencoe, Loch Etive), and southern Utah (Capitol Reef). White-balance shift was measured using a ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 under controlled overcast light at solar noon. Light-leak testing used 4-minute exposures at f/11 with the sun within 20 degrees of the optical axis. Manufacturer specifications were cross-referenced with NiSi Filters Global, Lee Filters UK, and current B&H Photo product pages as of June 2026.

About the Author

The ShutterSpan editorial team independently researches and hands-on tests photography gear in this category. Our reviewers shoot landscape and travel photography professionally and personally fund all gear or note when units are loaned for review.