ND Filtermania!

Manfr3d

Howdy!

I'm eyeballing at ND Filters for dreamy water effects
pictures. I'm seeking recommendation on filter strength.
Will 3 fstops (0.9) do ze job just beautifully for that
particular application?

wxwax

Depends upon how much light there is.

For uber bright days, you might want a x10. I have an x5 and sometimes wished I had more. My conclusion is that one ND filter isn't enough.

mr peas

you can do what some sony ir shooters do. buy several nd filters in a much larger diameter to the lens you want to use to prevent vignetting, and stack it appropriately to you needs. i use a sony f828 with a 58mm filter thread, i up the diameter to 67mm nd filters with a step-up ring. also, you can use a polarizer which work similarly to a nd filter. in all, if i want the light to slow down a lot, i'd stack a polarizer and two nd filters (nd4 and nd8 from hoya). thats just one idea though.

go to http://2filter.com they have a large selection. and if you order more than 60$ worth, your shipping is free.

TristanP

mr peas wrote:

you can do what some sony ir shooters do. buy several nd filters in a much larger diameter to the lens you want to use to prevent vignetting, and stack it appropriately to you needs. i use a sony f828 with a 58mm filter thread, i up the diameter to 67mm nd filters with a step-up ring. also, you can use a polarizer which work similarly to a nd filter. in all, if i want the light to slow down a lot, i'd stack a polarizer and two nd filters (nd4 and nd8 from hoya). thats just one idea though.

go to http://2filter.com they have a large selection. and if you order more than 60$ worth, your shipping is free.

I'll second all that.

Aaron Bernard

Ive got a few ND filters but the two I used most are the 4x and the 3.0. I dont know what the "times" is on the 3.0 but the 4x is a .6 The 3.0 is about as dark as you can go before you cant see through the view finder and auto focus stops working. In bright sun I can get exposures between 1:20 and 2 minutes. Plenty of time to blur down water. If that is not enough I'll toss the 4x on there also.

lots of fun to work with these filters.

Manfr3d

@wxwax:

I'm so jealous at your postcount
And I'll forward your conclusion to
the accountancy dept. (wife).

@mrpeas:

I was going for 77mm multi coated filters
and use stepdown adaptors just like I am
for my 77mm pol. Works nicely.

@fastscan:

3.0 is a 1000x (1024x actually) meaning 10 fstops.

I'll be happy with ~30 sec exposures in brigth
sunlight, so I'll go with a 3x and a 6x. Then
I'll also be able to shoot portraits below f2.8 in ze
sun.:):