Best 10-stop filter?

Anton17

Anton17

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I'm looking at getting a couple of filters, opting for the Hoya HD polarizer and now I'm looking for a 10-stop. I remember seeing some widely accepted brands for these filters a while ago, was B+W one of them?

I'm pretty much looking for the best I can get around this quality, looking to spend between £50 - £80 for a 67mm fit (open to used filters).

Edit: after reading up on 10-stops they seem incredibley difficult to use. Would I be better off with a lower density gradient?
 
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Have a look at the results of using a 10 stop filter before you buy.

Depending on what effect you are trying to create, you may well be better off with a lower density filter to start with.

Make sure what results you are expecting to achieve when you choose your filter. A 10 stop filter and a gradient filter are two different things and give very different results.
 
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Lee seems to be the best.

I have a b+w which being a circular filter has it's limitations but because I don't use it that much it works for me and I'm happy with it.
 
Anton17 said:
I'm looking at getting a couple of filters, opting for the Hoya HD polarizer and now I'm looking for a 10-stop. I remember seeing some widely accepted brands for these filters a while ago, was B+W one of them?

I'm pretty much looking for the best I can get around this quality, looking to spend between £50 - £80 for a 67mm fit (open to used filters).

Edit: after reading up on 10-stops they seem incredibley difficult to use. Would I be better off with a lower density gradient?
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The Hoya HD polariser has been very well reviewed recently. The first one I had got scratched somehow - gouged more like - without me noticing. I put this down to an easily scratched coating. However I've been using a second for some time now without any problems.

I think you are confused between ND and grad ND filters. Grads are used to balance out the brightness between two parts of an image, usually between sky and land. They are available from Lee in various strengths from 1 to 3 stops and soft and hard gradations, and other manufacturers as well. A good start would be a 2 stop hard, in my opinion.

10 stop ND filters on the other hand are used to cut down the amount entering the lens by 10 stops. They are used to flatten seas and waves and introduce movement into skies where it is not visisble to the naked eye. In my opinion it would be better to get to understand basic photograpic techniques before getting into the world of ultra long shutter speeds.
 
I have B+W 10 stop ND filter. It is a great tool in my opinion, well worth getting it. As for using it, as long as you have live view it will be okay. Forget the viewfinder if its less than bright sunny day it will be pitch black.

Take a look at maxsaver, they ship from Hong Kong but the price is great. :)
 
The LCW ND 500 is great, although only 9 stops. About £50 I recall
 
TCR4x4 said:
The LCW ND 500 is great, although only 9 stops. About £50 I recall
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That's the one I have. Haven't used it much but so far so good!

Decent price, and actually available.

I'd never thought of using live view with it. Screwing it on and off every time you change composition is a pain. Does live view solve this, Oskar?
 
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I know the difference between and ND grad and a 10-stop, I guess it was just my wording. I think I have down the "basics of photography" as you worded it, but I've had a couple of years where my only filters have been UV and CL-PL and I wanted to experiment more.

I was reading up on techniques earlier and I totally forgot about liveview, so I'll benefit from that. I was just wondering whether 10-stop may be too extreme. What kind of (x)-stop filter would be better suited to 10-30 second exposures rather than minutes on end? I don't intend to be shooting any star trails and from the impression given in this thread that's the kind of effect it gives. I have a tripod and a remote shutter, but I wanted the filter to add to my photographic vocabulary, not encompass it.
 
If you start with -say - a 20 second exposure and work backwards by 10 stops you get a shutter speed of 1/60th approx.

So depending on the aperture that would roughly equate to normal daytime exposure values. If you want to take pics after sunset, as some people seem to do, you are talking many minutes and you need a very good tripod. If you try that on a sandy beach I suspect you may find the tripod sinking during exposure!

I would agree with those that say that you need a basic understanding of photography to use a 10stop ND. For example that for each stop difference you either double/halve shutter speed or open up/close down the aperture.

People seem to use 10stop ND's without realising that they could get very good results at, say 1 second rather than 1 minute exposures, by using a polariser, or relative darkness, or cloud etc. By doing so they bring in all sorts of problems un-necessarily, such as colour casts, camera shake (even on a tripod) and poor composition due to inability to see through the viewfinder!

In my opinion.....

If you want to try before you buy as it were, try going for a piece of welding glass. They are available in the UK (ebay) for £2 ish but tend to have a horrible green colour cast.
 
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Another vote for the LCW MC500. I allways got a really strong red cast with the B&W.
 
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