3 or 6 stop ND Filter for "creamy" seascapes

Manfr3d

Hi there,

I want to shoot seascapes around sunsets/sunrises
with long exposure times (~1 to 60 sec) at f5.6-f11
to get the distinct creamy blurr effect in the water.

Judgeing from your experience, which filter factor
would you recommend me to get? 3 stops or 6 stops?

Andy

I use a 10stop

ian408

What Andy said. But it doesn't hurt to have a set.

Manfr3d

Thanks guys. I faithfully placed my order for a
B&W ND 3.0 (=10 stop). I can't wait to try it out.

Manfr3d

Still waiting for delivery ... 10 stop filter seems to be on
backorder because of all those seascape photographers.

eoren1

How to choose a filter set
Just hoping for a bit of advice on selecting a ND/GND filter set.
Manufacturers: I assume there is a difference between Lee and B+W
Format: threaded vs square - do you use the threaded with step-up rings?
If square, how do you mount them (which system do you use)?
How many do you recommend? A 0.3 and 0.6 to be able to stack and get 0.9?
Hope you don't mind the very noobie filter questions - I keep meaning to look into this aspect of photography but haven't dived in yet.
Thanks!
E

Manfr3d

eoren1 wrote:

Just hoping for a bit of advice on selecting a ND/GND filter set.
Manufacturers: I assume there is a difference between Lee and B+W
Format: threaded vs square - do you use the threaded with step-up rings?
If square, how do you mount them (which system do you use)?
How many do you recommend? A 0.3 and 0.6 to be able to stack and get 0.9?
Hope you don't mind the very noobie filter questions - I keep meaning to look into this aspect of photography but haven't dived in yet.
Thanks!
E

I dont know about others, but I buy special purpose filters in 77mm
which is the largest size some of my lenses accept without an adapter.
For smaller lenses I use a stepup filter and save costs. I also have various
77mm screw on lens hoods to put on the filters because the stepup
adapers prevents the original lenshoods from fitting on the lens.
But then how would you be able to turn a polfilter when its sitting
deep inside a lenshood?

The Cokin P system and the Lee system are mainly usefull when you
plan to use graduated filters because they allow to adjust the position
of the filter relative to the horizon.

It's possible to recreate the effect of a graduated filter later in photoshop
which is why I decided against the Lee/Cokin system.

Edit:

As for brands, you cannot go wrong with B&W or Heliopan (screw on filters)
Lee is also a highly regarded brand, Cokin is a somewhat cheaper - but not bad -
incarnation of the same system.

CatOne

Manfr3d wrote:

Hi there,

I want to shoot seascapes around sunsets/sunrises
with long exposure times (~1 to 60 sec) at f5.6-f11
to get the distinct creamy blurr effect in the water.

Judgeing from your experience, which filter factor
would you recommend me to get? 3 stops or 6 stops?

Singh-Ray VariND... let's you "dial in" between 2 and 10 stops at your discretion.


It's just not cheap. Not at all.

Manfr3d

CatOne wrote:

Singh-Ray VariND... let's you "dial in" between 2 and 10 stops at your discretion.


It's just not cheap. Not at all.

I didn't know such thing existed. Great find!
It looks way thick though ... and will likely
cause vignetting on my Sigma 10-20mm/4-5.6 EX.

I'll make it a bootmark for later drooling over
new equipment to buy

pathfinder

The Vari-Grad will definitely vingette at 24mm or a little more on a full frame camera.

Tom K.

pathfinder wrote:

The Vari-Grad will definitely vignette at 24mm or a little more on a full frame camera.

Just get the [FONT=Geneva,MS Sans Serif,Helvetica,Arial]"Wide-Angle Ring Mount" version and you won't get any vignetting.[/FONT]