Welding Glass?

Its glass that is used in helmets welders use. It basicly is very very very tinted glass.

We use it to get long exposures during the day, as it cuts the amount of light hitting the sensor. You could pay over £100 for a dedicated filter to do the same, where as you could pay £2-£3 for this.
 
Not much more to add than what's in the welding glass thread you've posted the link for.

In short it's glass (used when welding) which is very dark - to the point that you can't see through it.

The idea (like with a 10 stop neutral density filter) is that it requires a very long shutter speed to allow light to pass through it - enabling you to record long exposures to show the movement of water or clouds for example.
 
Try get as light a shade as you can 10 is pretty common but 9 is available. I have some shade 11 I pinched from my spare welding helmet and as a rough guess its in the region of 17-20stops, I need to experiment more but on a bright day. 15 minute exposures are tedious when your trying to work it out.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, my brother is a welder :) I guess I will be speaking to him tomorrow.
How do you attach it to the lens?
 
Molly47 said:
Thanks for the replies guys, my brother is a welder :) I guess I will be speaking to him tomorrow.
How do you attach it to the lens?
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with a cheap HK cokin filter holder and adaptor off ebay- and some black elctrical tape for the edges of the glass!
 
I also stuck mine into a Cokin Filter holder, and made sure there was no light leakage into the front of the lens.

Cover viewfinder too....

One point, Weilding glass more often or not has a tad of a green tint, so you will have to adjust colours on the computer. Looks nice if converted into a B&W Image, with less adjustment required.

after experimenting with wielding glass, I soon went for a B&W filter, and hopefully will upgrade to a LEE Shortly.
 
Just use some blutack around an old uv filter, make sure it's all the way around and firmly attached and it will even take some knocks. If done properly you won't get any leakage :)
 
I use an Old uv Filter which i have attached the welding glass with a glue gun......works a treat
 
Steeps said:
Just use some blutack around an old uv filter, make sure it's all the way around and firmly attached and it will even take some knocks. If done properly you won't get any leakage :)
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Do you man have the glass cut to the shape of the filter or literally just plonk it on and blutack it?
 
Broric said:
Do you man have the glass cut to the shape of the filter or literally just plonk it on and blutack it?
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Just a nice chunky ring of blutack all the way around the uv filter, then press the filter onto the glass. It should be secure enough just to screw back onto the lens.
 
this sounds intriguing. anyone got any pictures they have taken using this method?
 
I used one when i was into landscapes, think it may still be in my bag but can't see me using it again now i do wildlife :lol:
95 sec exposure

4941428494_c029264417_z.jpg
 
Gonna get a glass from work and try this out ! Seems to get good results
 
Neil B said:
I used one when i was into landscapes, think it may still be in my bag but can't see me using it again now i do wildlife :lol:
95 sec exposure

4941428494_c029264417_z.jpg
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Lovely picture Neil. The colours certainly aren't diminished at all by using the welding glass.
 
panicattack said:
This is the issue that i have with my Welders glass, what would you suggest to do in PS to sort this out...I thought i had bought the wrong glass LOL
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You don't need PS. Take one picture this will be green, set this as your custom WB and you're good to go!
 
DanC said:
Gonna get a glass from work and try this out ! Seems to get good results
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Depending how you use it don't make the same foolish mistake I did and not tape off the corners.....blood will ensue.
 
Here's a few from a London trip.

This is the pic not using correct WB:
3010_l008unp.jpg


With corrected WB:
3010_l008.jpg


The nice blob of purple around the top was due to light leakage from not checking the blutack properly. A couple more:

3010_l005.jpg


3010_l002.jpg
 
Neil B said:
I used one when i was into landscapes, think it may still be in my bag but can't see me using it again now i do wildlife :lol:
95 sec exposure

4941428494_c029264417_z.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats a great picture!

Only thing I'm wondering is how you came about a 95sec exposure. My 500D only goes to 30secs then you need to use bulb mode, so how do you know what length exposure you will need?

Sorry if this is a dopey question!
 
Three ways of metering with WG..

Do some experimentation to determine the number of stops of filter effect your piece of WG gives you (it's not as hard as you're thinking), meter without the WG and then fit the WG afterwards and compensate according to your calculations.

Meter with the WG in place (needs a reasonably fast lens) with either a higher ISO than you intend using, or a wider aperture, or a combination of both, until you get a exposure less than or equal to 30 seconds. Then use a bit of mental maths to adjust back to the aperture/ISO you want to use. So if you meter at ISO400 and it's 30 seconds, then when you switch back to ISO100 you want 2 minutes in bulb mode. Or if you meter at f/5.6 and it's 30 seconds, it will be 2 minutes at f/11.

With practice you get to know that.. middle of the day, ISO100, f/11.. hold wet finger in air.. about two minutes. Chimp the result on the screen, make any little adjustments depending what you see on the histogram.


You don't need to be too precise on the timing of the exposure when you get into bulb mode. The difference (in terms of exposure) between 1 minute and 2 minutes is exactly the same as the difference between 1/1000 and 1/500. So the odd couple of seconds either way isn't important. If you want to get precise about it, there are shutter timer remotes.. handy if you're inclined to go wandering off whilst a 4 minute exposure takes care of itself.
 
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strumstrum said:
this is one of the top 50 DIY kit in this months Practical Photography, some great ideas well worth a read. they also mention shoot RAW so you can easily take the green tinge off PP.
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A fixed white balance in camera will take care of most of that :)
 
right thats the glass ordered.
now i need a sunny day in southport. oops :thinking:
 
You're already going to be doing a long exposure on a tripod, so having the shutter open longer for moody weather won't make much of a difference. A dramatic sky will probably work better anyway :)
 
Steeps said:
You're already going to be doing a long exposure on a tripod, so having the shutter open longer for moody weather won't make much of a difference. A dramatic sky will probably work better anyway :)
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It could make a huge difference!

1/1000 + 10 stops is 1s
1s + 10 stops is 16 minutes (unless Google lied to me)

edit: my shade 11 glass is in the region of 14-17 stops :cuckoo: so decent light is a must unless I want hour long exposures.
 
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Check out a tutorial I wrote in the Tutorials section.
 
R1ch85 said:
Thats a great picture!

Only thing I'm wondering is how you came about a 95sec exposure. My 500D only goes to 30secs then you need to use bulb mode, so how do you know what length exposure you will need?

Sorry if this is a dopey question!
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You can use a remote shutter release, most will have a switch to keep the trigger pressed, or you can get remotes which allow you to input the time needed, number of shots, intervals etc
 
maninsuitcase said:
It could make a huge difference!

1/1000 + 10 stops is 1s
1s + 10 stops is 16 minutes (unless Google lied to me)

edit: my shade 11 glass is in the region of 14-17 stops :cuckoo: so decent light is a must unless I want hour long exposures.
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If you're outside and the weather suddenly changes from 1/1000 to needing 1s to get an exposure without a filter I'd be a bit worried about where you live :p
 
Point is still valid :p

Measured my welding glass earlier 14.5 stops as best I can work out. Going to need some bright days or some bigger batteries!
 
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