What lens should I bring on my White Mountain hikes?

[Kayaker72]

My most used nd filter is the B+W 6 stop (106) screw in filter. I like that I can AF through the lens (5DIII and 7D) and it fits the way I like to shoot water falls. There is also the 10 stop (110) which will, of course, allow for even longer exposures. I have and use both. But I use the 6 stop most often.

[peety3]

My most used nd filter is the B+W 6 stop (106) screw in filter. I like that I can AF through the lens (5DIII and 7D) and it fits the way I like to shoot water falls. There is also the 10 stop (110) which will, of course, allow for even longer exposures. I have and use both. But I use the 6 stop most often.

I'm going to chime in with a +1/2. I started with a 3-stop, on the premise that if I needed an ND filter for a shot, one stop wasn't going to buy me much. Three stops is 1/8th the light, still plenty easy to see through in most cases, though you do probably want to shoot on a tripod. I used it some, not very often, but later added a 6-stop to my bag. It gets used more rarely, but I'm not much of a landscape shooter anyway so take all of this with a grain of salt.

I am contemplating some interesting uses for my 3-stop coming up. I may end up using it for some studio work, where I'll have a 24-70/2.8 mounted to a camera that's probably shooting at ISO 200, f/8, and 1/200th or so. I might dial up a second camera with an 85/1.2 shooting at ISO 100, f/2, and 1/200th or so, but with a 3-stop ND filter on the front so the 3 stops of ND and 1 stop of ISO equals out the 4 stops of additional aperture. The 24-70 gives me great flexibility in positioning both in DoF and in light intensity, whereas I can do some headshots of individuals with a thinner look on the flight without having to rebalance all of my lights.