10 Stop Filter Review

[Kayaker72]

As someone who likes to use their ND filters, this review was very interesting. I use 6 and 10 stop B+W ND filters. I often use the 6 stop ND filter as it has little to no color shift and suites more of my needs. But the 10 stop, as Bryan has shown, absolutely causes color shift but at time, say if you want to blur out people or the pool beneath a waterfall, it is needed. I typically correct the color shift in post.

I have been considering going over to a square filter like the Lee Big Stopper. Does someone know of a similar review including the Lee Big Stopper? I would be interested in how it compares.

[Haydn1971]

I've two, a 72mm B+W which has a strong yellow/brown cast, plus an 82mm Dorr which has a slight blue cast - I'm not sure who makes the Dorr filter though

[neuroanatomist]

It would be great if Bryan had tested a Big Stopper. I'll get around to testing it with the ColorChecker Passport, against the B+W 10-stop, one of these days...

[Kayaker72]

I didn't realize you had both. How do you like the Big Stopper?

[Joel Eade]

I didn't realize you had both. How do you like the Big Stopper?

I have the Big Stopper too. I have not had any severe color shift but you have to be careful to slide into the holder correctly or light will leak around it. It was less expensive than the Singh-Ray but difficult to find in-stock anywhere.

[Colin500]

I typically correct the color shift in post.

Does that require anything more sophisticated than a manual WB?

[Kayaker72]

Does that require anything more sophisticated than a manual WB?

My experience is the majority of time manual post processing is enough. But I think this will vary from shot to shot. I found it interesting in Bryan's review, even in the second row of shots where he adjusted for WB, a few color channels were off just a little bit. That is consistent with my experience, in that there have been a few times when I couldn't fix a few specific colors. For me, this has been a percentages game. In some of my shots with the B+W 10 stop filter, AWB was good enough. In the majority of the shots, I can get to where I am happy by adjusting color temp and tint in post. Still others, I've gone in to adjust specific color channels and that was enough. But there are a few shots that I never felt I could get quite right with post processing. This isn't a majority of the time, but it does happen. I've bought a "gray card" (it's actually a cloth) that I plan on using on a couple of shots to see if it helps.

In scrolling through my shots, I confirmed my general assumption, the vast majority of time I use a B+W 6 stop ND filter. I perceive little to no color shift with that filter. But there are a few shots, usually in direct sun, where I have used the 10-stop.

[Colin500]

Thanks, that's interesting. I've been thinking about a 10-stop filter for a while now, and while most of my pictures end up in black-and-white, not all of them do...