filters

[peety3]

ND is neutral density, or perhaps "grey" filter. It makes your shot darker.


Folks often become familiar with a GND, or graduated neutral density, filter first. It's usually square, tinted grey on one half and clear on the other. It's slid in front of your lens, and often used to darken skies to balance bright skies against dark foreground.


ND filters were common in film days, when you might have high-speed film in the camera but need the aperture/shutter performance of lower-speed film.


I've wished for some ND filters in my bag at times when using a fast lens (85/1.2) outside and wanted thin DoF but slow shutter speeds. Even on ISO "50", f/1.2 was resulting in speeds of 1/2500 or a little faster. Had I used a 5-stop ND (if such an animal exists), I'd have shutter speeds of 1/60th or so, creating some motion blur in my shot but keeping the thin DoF.

[Tony Printezis]

Had I used a 5-stop ND (if such an animal exists),

I'm aware of 1-, 2-, and 3-stop NDs and I know that Hoya does an extreme 9-stop (!!!) ND. Don't know about a 5-stop one. But you could have stacked a 2- and a 3-stop ND to get the desired effect. :-)


Tony

[peety3]

Yeah, I'm a believer in good filters (Hoya, B+W, etc.), especially when it's in front of good glass like the 85/1.2. However, they're pricey, and hence I have no ND filters in my bag. I just calculated the number of stops needed to get my shutter speeds down to where I'd wanted them.

[Pygmalion]

Does anyone have any experience with Singh-Ray filters? I'm trying to talk myself into buying their Variable Neutral Density Filter (http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html), but I'm unfamiliar with the brand.

[Tony Printezis]

Does anyone have any experience with Singh-Ray filters?

Personally, I've never heard of them. Looking at their site and their prices, they seem pretty high end.

I'm trying to talk myself into buying their Variable Neutral Density Filter

Does this just consist of two counter-rotating circular polarizers? Hoya has such a filter too (called the Pola Fader). But I can only find it for threads up to 58mm.


Tony

[Pygmalion]

Yeah, the first time I'd ever heard ofSingh-Ray was in a recent blog post by Andrew Yip regarding its use in video on the 5D Mark II (http://www.andrewyip.com/blog/2008/12/06/using-a-variable-nd-filter-with-the-5d-mark-iis-video-mode)


TheSingh-Ray filters seem pretty sexy, but their so damned expensive.

[Sean Setters]

I once bought a Tiffen ND filter and never could get a sharp picture with it. The quality of it paled in comparison to the 3 B&W filters I have. I sent the Tiffen filter back within a week of receiving it.


That said, you might want to check out this site:


http://hvstar.net/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=107


I haven't actually used the site above, however, at least 2 people in this community recommended it. The company will take about 6-8 weeks to get your filter to you, but it is substantially cheaper than retail.


I took this shot with a B&W (4x) ND filter which allowed me to get a nice bokeh while strobing in sunlight:


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[Tony Printezis]

Yeah, I'm a believer in good filters (Hoya, B+W, etc.)

Me too! The filters I use most often (UV Protectors and my beloved Circular Polarizer) are MRC B+W. But I didn't want to spend that much money on the ones I use once in a blue moon. So I have Hoya NDs and a Tiffen grad ND.


Tony