Hello all :D I'm looking into purchasing an ND filter for the first time and want to know what things I should be keeping in mind. Like what lens works best with an ND filter, or do they work well with most lenses? The size of the filter? Most reliable brands? Are there any other things I should know before investing in an ND?
Any advice or suggestions you guys have would help a lot! Much thanks :)
Good timing Stephanie as I just changed ND filters. I will talk about ND filters that block most of the light (9 or 10 stops) because thats what I have and I want long exposure shots (30 seconds or more).
I had a Light Craft Workshop ND500 (9 stops) and just upgraded to a LEE Big Stopper (10 stops). The ND500 is a screw in filter and the Lee is a 10cm x 10cm square you slot into a special holder. The quality of the Lee filter is much, much better giving much sharper images. The Lee filter is also much more expensive. I also find the "slot" system much easier as screwing and unscrewing the ND500 was not ideal. You will need to compose/focus the shot without the filter in place.
I guess it depends on what effect you are after. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to help. Here is a recent shot taken with the Lee Big Stopper (a 4 minute exposure).
@jonesp Cracking shot Paul. What settings did you use here Paul?
Im with Paul, I have just bought a LEE Big Stopper, and the quality is fantastic. I also have some Singh Ray filters which have been nice, but my gut feeling is LEE maybe better. I am yet to try it properly. I don't know much about how to use it yet, currently googling resources to learn more about long exposure photography.
I use a BW 10-stop filter and absolutely love it. It fits both my 24-70 f2.8L and my 70-200 f2.8L and works extremely well with both. I highly recommend shooting in RAW mode, since you will almost certainly want to adjust white balance after the fact. (I find the amount of color cast depends on the conditions and the exposure length.) Of all the filters I reviewed before purchasing, the BW had the lowest reported color cast.
@Vorka mentions the LEE Big Stopper and that's one of the better filters out there. The only reason I didn't go with that one is that they are so popular they are almost always out of stock and there can be long wait times to purchase them. It's definitely a quality filter.
Here's the first shot I took with the BW 10-stop filter:
@vorka Thanks Vorka. It was a 220 second exposure at f11. I normally shoot at 100 ISO but I had to up this to 400 as the tide was coming in so I thought it best to avoid a 16 minute exposure. Oh, I also had the 0.6 (2 stop) hard ND grad above the horizon line to even out the exposure. It was awkward to set up properly in the cold (hands were not cooperating) but I'm getting the hang of it now.
This was my first time with the Big Stopper, I had another ND before, but its great. I got this shot a few days later, not far from this spot. 30 seconds at f13 (400ISO again). The extra light made a big difference.
@chapjohn I thought of that as well but I think fixed ones are better quality and for what I want to do, anything less than 8 stops is useless for me anyway. All depends on what you want to achieve so perhaps your suggestion is the way to go if you are unsure of what you want or you want to do a bit of everything.
@kannafoot Ron is right. Shoot in RAW as there will be a colour cast, the Light Craft Workshop and Lee ones I have both have a blue cast. It is easily corrected in Lightroom/Camera Raw. I was lucky to find the Lee stuff in stock and had it 2 days after I ordered but I was lucky, I have heard stories of 3 month waiting lists!
@jonesp Very helpful info, thanks Paul! The effect I'm after is the same as the photos you've included (incredible work, by the way!). I want to take long exposures of water during the day.
My budget is pretty limited at the moment and I'm shooting with a 50mm and a standard 18-55mm. I'm still not entirely comfortable with what "stops" are. Is it possible to get an ND filter that would fit both my prime and kit lens? Or would one lens be preferable to the other for this type of effect?
@chapjohn That sounds intriguing! Anything that can save some money would be ideal haha. What is the difference between a variable ND and a I guess, regular ND? (I'm completely foreign to filters!)
@kannafoot Thanks Ron! I'll definitely remember that bit about shooting in RAW. That's a great image by the way! Does the B&W filter you have screw onto the lens or is there a holder that you can purchase with it? Is it easy to switch the filter from lens to lens?
Stephanie, if you want long exposures during the day, a 10 stop filter is the way to go. 10 stops means a 1/60 shot without the ND filter becomes a 15 second shot with it. Or a 1 second shot becomes 16 minutes if you really want to go crazy. You will probably need to shoot at dawn or dusk if you really want to go this long though (or stack up ND filters).
With the Lee system (and Cokin I think as well) you buy adaptor rings that fit your various lenses (the THREAD SIZE is normally on the back of the lens cap). Because the Lee system has a few different things you need to get (adaptor rings/filter holder) as well as the actual (admittedly quality) filters, the price can quickly go up. But you can always start with one adaptor and one filter and add to if if needed. I'd get an adaptor ring for the 18-50mm to start if I was you as 50mm is too narrow for what you want I think.
This page explains what you need but remember, there are other companies that do the same thing and you can always get a screw in filter at a lower cost, to make sure that you enjoy this type of photography. Thats what I did. The Light Craft Workshop ND500 cost me €60 for the 72mm thread version. http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera/system
@attraversi The BW filter screws into the front of the lens. The downside to that is that you either need step up or step down rings to handle all of your lenses, or you need a different filter for each lens size. It does go onto the lens easy enough. The steps I follow are these:
1. Compose shot normally.
2. Take a sample shot and validate exposure.
3. Confirm focus again, and set the lens to manual focus. (You won't be able to autofocus through the ND filter unless your camera can use Live View.)
4. Screw on the ND filter. Do this carefully so as not to change the focus or the zoom!
5. Take the exposure from my test shot, and multiply it by 1024. That will give you the exposure for a 10-stop filter. (1024 = 2^10.) So a 1/60th exposure becomes 1 divided by 60 = 0.166667 times 1024 = 17 seconds.
6 Take your shot!
If you don't have a remote, I recommend using either the 2 second or 10 second self-timer feature on your camera. That will eliminate any minute shake. Since you're shooting on a tripod, you might as well take full advantage of the sharpness!
I also typically bracket by one stop on either side. To decrease by one stop, cut your exposure time in half. To increase by one stop, double the exposure time. (So a bracketed 10-second exposure would be 5 seconds and 20 seconds.)
Regarding color cast, the LEE filter tends to the cold (i.e blue) side. The BW filter tends to the warm (i.e. orange/red) side. Both are easily corrected if you shoot in RAW.
Another tip is to avoid windy days if you have any foliage in the shot. The tree branches or leaves will blur if its windy, so aim for calm days (unless you really want that motion in the foliage.)
@attraversi VND's usually are between 1-8 stops. You can turn it to get the deisred result (much as you do with a CPL). I like VND's because you only have one filter that give more range than stacking ND 2 (1 stop), 4 (2 stops), and 8 (3 stops) for a total of 6 stops. Several manuafactures make the VND, look on B&H Photo Supply for more info.
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I had a Light Craft Workshop ND500 (9 stops) and just upgraded to a LEE Big Stopper (10 stops). The ND500 is a screw in filter and the Lee is a 10cm x 10cm square you slot into a special holder. The quality of the Lee filter is much, much better giving much sharper images. The Lee filter is also much more expensive. I also find the "slot" system much easier as screwing and unscrewing the ND500 was not ideal. You will need to compose/focus the shot without the filter in place.
I guess it depends on what effect you are after. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best to help. Here is a recent shot taken with the Lee Big Stopper (a 4 minute exposure).
Im with Paul, I have just bought a LEE Big Stopper, and the quality is fantastic. I also have some Singh Ray filters which have been nice, but my gut feeling is LEE maybe better. I am yet to try it properly. I don't know much about how to use it yet, currently googling resources to learn more about long exposure photography.
@Vorka mentions the LEE Big Stopper and that's one of the better filters out there. The only reason I didn't go with that one is that they are so popular they are almost always out of stock and there can be long wait times to purchase them. It's definitely a quality filter.
Here's the first shot I took with the BW 10-stop filter:
This was my first time with the Big Stopper, I had another ND before, but its great. I got this shot a few days later, not far from this spot. 30 seconds at f13 (400ISO again). The extra light made a big difference.
@chapjohn I thought of that as well but I think fixed ones are better quality and for what I want to do, anything less than 8 stops is useless for me anyway. All depends on what you want to achieve so perhaps your suggestion is the way to go if you are unsure of what you want or you want to do a bit of everything.
My budget is pretty limited at the moment and I'm shooting with a 50mm and a standard 18-55mm. I'm still not entirely comfortable with what "stops" are. Is it possible to get an ND filter that would fit both my prime and kit lens? Or would one lens be preferable to the other for this type of effect?
With the Lee system (and Cokin I think as well) you buy adaptor rings that fit your various lenses (the THREAD SIZE is normally on the back of the lens cap). Because the Lee system has a few different things you need to get (adaptor rings/filter holder) as well as the actual (admittedly quality) filters, the price can quickly go up. But you can always start with one adaptor and one filter and add to if if needed. I'd get an adaptor ring for the 18-50mm to start if I was you as 50mm is too narrow for what you want I think.
This page explains what you need but remember, there are other companies that do the same thing and you can always get a screw in filter at a lower cost, to make sure that you enjoy this type of photography. Thats what I did. The Light Craft Workshop ND500 cost me €60 for the 72mm thread version.
http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera/system
1. Compose shot normally.
2. Take a sample shot and validate exposure.
3. Confirm focus again, and set the lens to manual focus. (You won't be able to autofocus through the ND filter unless your camera can use Live View.)
4. Screw on the ND filter. Do this carefully so as not to change the focus or the zoom!
5. Take the exposure from my test shot, and multiply it by 1024. That will give you the exposure for a 10-stop filter. (1024 = 2^10.) So a 1/60th exposure becomes 1 divided by 60 = 0.166667 times 1024 = 17 seconds.
6 Take your shot!
If you don't have a remote, I recommend using either the 2 second or 10 second self-timer feature on your camera. That will eliminate any minute shake. Since you're shooting on a tripod, you might as well take full advantage of the sharpness!
I also typically bracket by one stop on either side. To decrease by one stop, cut your exposure time in half. To increase by one stop, double the exposure time. (So a bracketed 10-second exposure would be 5 seconds and 20 seconds.)
Regarding color cast, the LEE filter tends to the cold (i.e blue) side. The BW filter tends to the warm (i.e. orange/red) side. Both are easily corrected if you shoot in RAW.
Another tip is to avoid windy days if you have any foliage in the shot. The tree branches or leaves will blur if its windy, so aim for calm days (unless you really want that motion in the foliage.)