DLS
Senior Member

Thanks Pat. I don't see myself getting a whole array of grad NDs...soft edge seems the way to go. Now just a question about type - screw or drop-in/hand held....I'm leaning toward screw-in....what do you think?

Damian:

I can not say I tried a lot of them, but I have a 1-stop, 2-stop, and 3-stop Grad ND... all are soft edge. I use the 3-stop almost all the time.

The hozion is seldom flat and straight so I think the soft edge was a good way to go for me because it does not noticably darken the uneven parts that enter the bottom. Although I have never tried a hard edge to know if there is a big difference.

I guess it depends on what you want to to do with them. For me, I use them for sunsets and sunrises when I am looking into the direction of the sun. I got tired of always getting silhouettes and wanted to get some detail in the foreground, and getting that detail in post processing created to much noise for my taste. So I went looking for Grad ND filters, but everyone was out of stock on the holders. I ended up finding a cheap cokin set and holder in a small camera shop, and I grabbed the last 77mm adapter ring to go with it. It is a cheap resin type but it helps a lot. On of these days I would like to get a good Lee filter and holder.

I hope that helps.

It was 35 minutes continuous, but it was rather cold out so that helps. The sensor does heat up, and you can see a lot of noise on that shot. A lot noisier than what I would have liked, but I really liked the reflections in the waters. What I have read is that the longer exposures do heat up the sensor and it creates the noise. The better way to do it is 30 seconds at a time and then stack them all together. I guess I need to read up on how to do that, but I am sure it is going to take some new software that I do not have.

Thank you for the kind words. I spent 2011 concentrating on landscapes to try and get better at it, and I had a good time of it.

Good shooting!

Pat

The visitor message works, just not the PM. Thanks.
Pat