Hot answers tagged neutral-density
28
I disagree with the sales person; it's two completely different things.
Exposure compensation is used for making the image brighter or darker than what automatic exposure in the camera would make it.
An ND filter is used for allowing a slower shutter speed without making the image brighter.
If you would simply use exposure compensation, you would pretty ...
26
It's six.
Remember, the stops are already logarithmic. That is, a 3-stop reduction (as from a 3-stop ND filter) is a 2³× loss of light — ¹⁄₈ of the light gets through. A one stop filter halves light, since 2¹ is just 2 (→ ¹⁄₂), and two stop filter is 2² (→ ¹⁄₄ the light). When you stack them together, you're adding the exponents, so 2³ stacked with 2³ is 2⁶ ...
22
ND filters
Advantages
No extra post-processing required.
You can see the result in the viewfinder.
Disadvantages
Making the exposure is more complicated because you have to select a filter and place the transition appropriately for the scene.
You probably need several filters (of different density and transition abruptness) to cover a sufficiently ...
22
Filter Types
There are essentially 3 kinds of GND filter: Soft, Hard, and Sunrise/Set. All these come in various 'strengths'.
Soft GND filters have a gentle gradient from dark to transparent and so are good for landscapes with irregular horizons such as mountains, hills and to some extent buildings.
Hard GND filters have a more sudden change between dark ...
21
I see two options:
You can stack ND filters. Sounds like you just need to eke out another stop or four, so your second filter doesn't have to be quite as extreme as the 9-stop filter you already have. By only having two filters, rather than 3, you should be able to reduce the vignetting a bit. It would help if your filters were the slim kind designed for ...
17
A Neutral Density (ND) filter is a filter that reduces the amount of light captured by the camera evenly across the visible spectrum. As such, it looks grey to black (depending on the filtration power) and does not cast color on the received image (like blue or yellow, e.g., filters will do).
When using a ND filter, there is a need to compensate for the ...
16
There are two ways to simulate a Graduated ND filter by software and they both have different disadvantages and advantages, compared to an physical filter:
H/W Filter
Pro: A H/W filer gives you results immediately which you can see while you compose.
Con: On the other hand, the effect is fixed in gradation and shape.
Software Effect
Pro: Adjustable in ...
15
It's just dark glass (or resin, of course); it reduces the amount of light entering the lens, and that's all. There may be a slight amount of nonlinearity in the colour response (causing a slight colour shift) but that is merely due to the absence of real-world, uniformly attenuative substances.
A graduated (or split) neutral density filter can be used to ...
15
As a general rule, exposure time depends directly on the amount of available light. So if you measure the time needed for some exposure at early dawn, it would probably be bigger than the time needed after the sun rises.
Assuming you want to capture the atmosphere and colors of a sunrise or sunset, the amount of light would probably be too much for a really ...
14
Firstly, what is a neutral density filter?
"Neutral density" just means that the filter is a pure shade of grey: it shouldn't (if well manufactured) add any colour tint to your photographs.
There are two main types of neutral density (ND) filters: graduated and non-graduated. Graduated ND filters are darker at one edge and lighter (usually completely ...
13
I have also recently been researching the same subject. I'm a DSLR user, but there are many scenarios where shooting without an ND filter is just not possible. In my extensive exploration of ND filters, I've found Lee Filters. Both from a textbook technical perspective, and in reality, Lee seems to have the best filters available.
Some of the things I've ...
12
From a functional standpoint, yes, you could essentially achieve the same effect with multiple stacked filters as a single high-density filter (say a 10-stopper.) There are a variety of concerns to be aware of, however, regarding stacking multiple filters.
Filter quality:
The Lee "Big Stopper" 10-stop ND filter is pretty high quality glass filter
There ...
11
I think your camera shop guy miss understood your intention.
Exposure compensation is designed to compensate for the camera's light meter over exposing for very dark compositions, and under exposing for very bright compositions. You tell the camera "For this composition, I want you to measure the light, then add (or subtract) xx stops to compensate".
ND ...
10
The edge will blur out pretty well -- the first Cokin grad ND filter had a hard transition, and I found it worked pretty well. The filter is so much closer to the lens than the subject (unless you're trying this with extreme macro work) that the edge of the filter will be nowhere near in focus.
The problem I'd be more concerned with is the potential for ...
10
There is very little advantage of leaving the ND on when it comes to still photography. Aside from offering a small amount of protection to the lens the filter will do nothing except increase shutter times. There may be a few cases where you really want very long exposures indoors.
If you're shooting videos with your DSLR then it makes sense as your shutter ...
9
There are 98 current models in my database which are known to use an ND filter. I do not think enumerating them would serve much purpose. Some manufacturers do not specify if an ND filter is used or not, so there are probably more.
There are models of a variety of sizes but most are ultra-compacts, followed by ultra-zooms. Fuji and Casio have the most such ...
9
That is an exposure of less than 2 mins. You need an ND filter to be able to expose that long in daylight without overexposing.
An ND400 will be sufficient for this, given a low enough ISO and small enough aperture. That is the darkest filter I own and I have used it for similar exposures in broad daylight.
8
The mechanism is likely a combination of a linear polarizer and a circular polarizer (which itself is a linear polarizer followed by a quarter wave plate). Thus the differences you can expect between high-quality and cheaper variable ND filters ought to be similar to the differences found among polarizers which include flare, vignetting, inhomogeneity, and ...
8
Simple answer: no, ND filters don't increase dynamic range.
In zone system, an ND filter just moves exposure of scene elements n stops lower. Everything that was in the lowest n zones captured without the filter, gets clipped off as black.
I can think of two scenarios where an ND filter might increase dynamic range, but I wouldn't use it for that:
low ...
8
For the ND's that use decimals (i.e. .3 .6 .9), each .3 is one stop less light that reaches the sensor. So, a .9 means a 3 stop deduction in light to the sensor.
For the ND's that use a number (i.e. 8X), they operate under the power of 2 exponentially. So, an ND 16 is a 4 stop deduction in light (2 to the 4th power is 16).
7
If you are shooting digital, I recommend against GND filters. Shoot multiple exposures and composite them during post-processing. Although this takes more work, you are assured of better results - you are not limited by a linear gradient, nor restricted to working with a single take of the scene.
Here is an example of this method rendered from 3 images shot ...
7
The general approach I use with ND filtration is to compose and meter your scene first without filtration. I also use the Lee filter holder, which has the handy feature that allows you to clip/unglip the actual filter holder to/from the lens adapter fairly easily. The general process to expose for any amount of ND filtration, including the Big Stopper or ...
7
Its probably due to a narrow aperture. On professional grade lenses, you can usually stop down a bit and still maintain a rounded aperture, however on cheaper lenses, or on all lenses at very narrow apertures, the opening becomes polygonal. That causes the diffraction of light as it passes through the aperture to produce a star pattern (the exact nature of ...
7
The number associated with an ND filter is actually the denominator (bottom) of a fraction.
So an ND2 filter should be thought of as 1/2 the amount of light being allowed through the filter. For example, setting the lens at f/2.8, and using an ND2 filter would make that an f/4 situation for a total of 1 stop difference.
ND4 filter is allowing 1/4 the light ...
7
What you are probably looking for is a 10-stop ND filter. Lee and Hitech make large square filters - Lee calls theirs the "big stopper". B+W make a screw-in version that is less expensive.
These will roughly allow for 1000 times the exposure. So instead of 1/250th of a second, you can expose for 1000 * 1/250 = 4 seconds.
If you want even longer ...
6
They are simple ND filters which simply slide in an out of the optical path.
You will notice that those cameras only offer two (or four for double ND filters) apertures at any given focal length. That is because they have a fixed attenuation unlike polarizing filters.
6
You may try solar filters. For instance Baader AstroSolar 3.8.
D=3.8 so it's an ND-6310 filter (10^3.8=6310 approx), which is approximately 12.6 stops.
I only used this filter for Sun photography, don't know if it's good for other purposes. It may have strange color artifacts.
6
You will want a neutral density or ND filter. It essentially darkens all parts of the image giving you a uniform exposure that is darker then it would be otherwise. Depending on the camera, some have a built in ND filter, or some accept a filter accessory that you can screw on to the lens or drop into the filter slot.
Personally I would buy a CPL(circular ...
6
Using a hardware ND filter, you reduce the incoming light. Software does not do that.
Say you want to shoot in a bright sunny day, and want to use a slow shutter speed of 1 second to make the water "silk-like" . This is almost impossible without reducing the amount of light entering the camera using a ND filter. This is because at f/16 ISO100 the shutter ...
6
The pixels are not overexposed in any channel, and applying a heavy curve will reveal the darker edges and some dark spots. What you have is an exposed-to-the-right image of how the sun looks like - it is a big shiny ball. IMHO you should have enough data in RAW to tweak this into a usable image.
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