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Andy

We don't do PMs

Why? Because you limit yourself to only ME or the other active Dgrinners. And if we answered every single pm, we'd have no public threads. And we'd have no time

Hey Andy, i noticed you listed a 10 stop ND in your bag of tricks. I currently use a Vari ND (6-8 stop) from Singh Ray and love it but...it tends to give me vignetting below 30mm focal length..Which is a tad limiting. Do you have any of these issues with the 10 stop ?

Cheers

Dave

Nope, it's thin and also wider (77mm) than my primary lens (72mm) which is my 24mm TS/E

pathfinder

How do you handle focusing with your 10X ND, Andy?

Can you actually see through this filter to focus, whether manually or via AF? I am sure that in dim light it must be impossible to see through.

Do you focus manually and then try to attach the filter without changing focus?

Dave Clee

You dont do PM's ?? If I wanted to post a public thread I would of. Maybe next time before you decide to make my question public you could ask...

Just a thought......

Dave

Andy wrote:

We don't do PMs

Why? Because you limit yourself to only ME or the other active Dgrinners. And if we answered every single pm, we'd have no public threads. And we'd have no time



Nope, it's thin and also wider (77mm) than my primary lens (72mm) which is my 24mm TS/E

ziggy53

So Dave,

Is your question answered or do you need some more information or opinion?

Andy is correct that PMs of this nature deserve to be made in the general forum which is the whole reason for the Digital Grin. Lots of good experience here from many great shooters, and lots of other folks looking to expand their general knowlege.

Andy

Dave Clee wrote:

You dont do PM's ?? If I wanted to post a public thread I would of. Maybe next time before you decide to make my question public you could ask...

Just a thought......

Dave

Dave - there's 1000 reasons why, and that's the number of PMs I get on a monthly basis

Next, you do yourself a disservice - because asking in the public let's fine fellows like Pathfinder also answer and chime in with their amazing expertise.

Finally - this discussion becomes searchable and valuable to other Dgrinners Now and in the future!

I'm sorry you are upset

OH PS: I posted your question anonymously, "Dave" could be anyone Sorry Again!

pathfinder

I am still wondering how Andy focuses with his 10X ND?

I know that my 8x is almost impossible to see or focus through.

ziggy53

pathfinder wrote:

I am still wondering how Andy focuses with his 10X ND?

I know that my 8x is almost impossible to see or focus through.

I believe there are 2 techniques that work well with dSLRs:

1) As you said, focus and compose with the filter off, lock focus, mount the deep ND filter and shoot.

2) Guess composition and framing and use a lens with a focus scale to gauge the focus manually.

I think that those folks who have a variable ND can use the weakest setting for composition but I doubt that AF works, so they probably still have to use one of the techniques above.

Supposedly this is a selling point for rangefinder cameras as those with a rangefinder focus can both compose and focus without using the taking lens.

I did this with a film rangefinder and both IR and deep ND and it worked OK once you got the hang of exposure. (However I quickly tired of the rangefinder for other reasons.)

Andy

pathfinder wrote:

I am still wondering how Andy focuses with his 10X ND?

I know that my 8x is almost impossible to see or focus through.

OH Hah sorry

I use it primarily on my 24mm TS/E and so I don't really have to focus by eye - I use infinity minus a hair manual focus

When using on other glass, or, if I have near-objects I'll focusfirst then put the filter on. It's the only way.

Nikolai

pathfinder wrote:

I am still wondering how Andy focuses with his 10X ND?

I know that my 8x is almost impossible to see or focus through.

Jim,
I own and used my NDx10 on a number of occasions.
You prefocus (in AF or MF, whatever your poison/situation is), then make sure to switch to MF, *very carefully* put the filter on - and then fire. Since NDx10 requires a tripod anyway it's not such big of a deal.
HTH

pathfinder

I kind of suspected as much, but I thought that folks who have never used a 10X are in for a surprise when they try to look through it with the viewfinder. Even an 8x is pretty hard to see any detail through in bright sunlight, let alone early morning light before sunrise.

24 T&S - focus manually, I fully comprehend