ND filter

[gwandad]

Hi. My main interests at the moment are mainly landscapes.
Very much a beginner.
Would the addition of a ND filter be something I should be considering?
If so, which one would you recommend.

I saw this one: Canon 72mm ND4 Neutral Density Filter

Thanks for reading this..

 

[HoppyUK]

Hi Fred.

Yes ND filters are very useful for landscapes, though there are two types (often confused) that have very different effects.

ND Grads are Neutral Density Graduated filters, grey at the top, fading the clear. They're used for darkening bright skies. They're mostly square, used in a holder so you can slide them up and down, and come in different densities with either a hard or soft transition from grey to clear.

The other kind of ND filters are dark all over, usually used to lengthen the shutter speed. Extreme ND filters are popular for landscapes, around ten stops of exposure reduction and looking almost black to the naked eye. With one of these, you can use exposures several seconds long in daylight, to blur movement like running water, waves or clouds.

The density is expressed in different ways. x2, x4, x8, x16 etc are one, two, three and four stops, same as 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2. Ten stops is x1024 or 3.0.

 

[gwandad]

Thanks Richard. So if I went for a Canon 72mm ND4, or a Hoya 72mm Pro1 Digital ND8, they would be suitable?
I take it they are both the 2nd ones you describe in your answer?

 

[HoppyUK]

Thanks Richard. So if I went for a Canon 72mm ND4, or a Hoya 72mm Pro1 Digital ND8, they would be suitable?
I take it they are both the 2nd ones you describe in your answer?

What do you want to do? Are you familar with stops and filter factors? A straight ND x4 is not that useful for landscapes.

 

[gwandad]

Hi.
Firstly my apologies for not replying sooner, as I have been rather unwell.
Richard, I am interested in "blur movement like running water, waves or clouds"

I am not familiar with stops and filter factors.

Thanks

 

[Naphta]

Hi.
Firstly my apologies for not replying sooner, as I have been rather unwell.
Richard, I am interested in "blur movement like running water, waves or clouds"

I am not familiar with stops and filter factors.

Thanks

I'd probably start at a 3stop and a 6stop filter and you can stack them if needs be.

The real smooth/surreal stuff tends to be done with the 10 stop filters though. But at that point water looks more like mist.

 

[wicket2961]

I am interested in this subject too.
I have a D3100 52mm lens and will mainly be photographing water, trees, landscape in general. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Wicket

 

[HoppyUK]

Hi.
Firstly my apologies for not replying sooner, as I have been rather unwell.
Richard, I am interested in "blur movement like running water, waves or clouds"

I am not familiar with stops and filter factors.

Thanks

You've got some learning to do then Fred, but it'll come to you as you bone up on the basics of exposure.

To get those effects with waves and clouds you need an exposure time of a few seconds at least, which in daylight means a very dark ND filter, say around ten stops. Cheapest is a Haida 3.0 (£40-ish from CameraGearUK). And a tripod of course.

Lots of threads on using these things, but you may have problems until you've got a decent grip on the basics of what's going on.

 

[gwandad]

You've got some learning to do then Fred, but it'll come to you as you bone up on the basics of exposure.

To get those effects with waves and clouds you need an exposure time of a few seconds at least, which in daylight means a very dark ND filter, say around ten stops. Cheapest is a Haida 3.0 (£40-ish from CameraGearUK). And a tripod of course.

Lots of threads on using these things, but you may have problems until you've got a decent grip on the basics of what's going on.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll check out that Haida 3.0

 

[Naphta]

Another thing to note is that a CPL reduces by about 2 stops and I personally would say a CPL is mandatory for landscapes. (or atleast the option of.)