Which ND filter

[Reschsmooth]

We are going down to the south cost for a week and I was keen to try to get out for some sunrise beach shots.

Currently, I don't have any ND or Grad ND filters.

Cameron made me realise that there is a B+W importer almost literally up the road from home and I was thinking something like the 6 stop filter.

I am interested in one that is like a jack of all trades as opposed to a specialist 10 stop filter.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[chrisk]

your asking for 2 different things pat.

an ND filter isnt going to help alot with sunsets and such. ND's are for slowing shutter speed down for effect/ to enable wider apertures or dropping your exposure across the whole frame. a grad filter is where you can darken the sky but leave the foreground alone to get a greater DR.

i have some ND's you could borrow if you like. 3/6/10 stop. may give you a good opportunity to test them all out and then buy the one that suits you later.

[Reschsmooth]

an ND filter isnt going to help alot with sunsets and such. ND's are for slowing shutter speed down for effect/ to enable wider apertures or dropping your exposure across the whole frame. a grad filter is where you can darken the sky but leave the foreground alone to get a greater DR.

Thanks Chris, appreciate that, but, in the absence of a grad ND filter, my thoughts were that an ND filter would at least lower the apparent exposure of the sky (and, yes, the foreground as well), to enable a longer shutter speed to get the smooth water effect without really blowing out the sky.

i have some ND's you could borrow if you like. 3/6/10 stop. may give you a good opportunity to test them all out and then buy the one that suits you later.

I appreciate the offer, although not sure if I owuld be able to get them off you in time by the weekend.

[radar]

Patrick,

you really want the grad ND filters. I've got some Hitech filters with a Cokin P-holder with 77mm thread. I don't use them much as I moved to the Cokin Z-Pro size filters, works better with my ultra-wide to reduce vignetting.

I have a .3, .6 and .9 soft grad ND filters (aka 1,2,3 stops) and also a 2 stop ND filter. The Cokin holder I have is the wide angle version, takes only one filter. If you want to stack them, you have to hand-hold the second one.
http://www.formatt.co.uk/stills-filters ... d-kit.aspx

If you want to borrow these, I'm happy to express post them to you. If I send them Wednesday morning, should get to your office on Thursday. Just send them back when you are back from holidays.

PM me if you are interested.

cheers,

André

[chrisk]

in that case. id probably recommend the 6 stop as a good balance.

[biggerry]

Patrick, ya should have mentioned it on the weekend, I had my GND's (lee ones)with me, however I suspect there is a sunrise planned for this weekend other wise you would be welcome to mine

If you do want to buy Lee filters there is a guy in gladesville who has them in stock, they are more expensive than OS ones but, imo, within the pain threshold if you want them fast.

[Murray Foote]

It all depends on your approach to Photography but perhaps you should also try some HDRs for realistic not special effect.

We saw an example of the dangers of a graduated ND filter in probably inexperienced hands at the last Canberra Photographic Society Competition night. The judge was able to explain with the aid of a gamut diagram for the specific camera; I'll have to make do with a few words. Gamut diagrams are rounded 3D shapes that can pivot round a light/dark axis (and not to be confused with ballet dancers). Say you have a yellow and you use an ND filter to make it darker; you can see the effect on a gamut diagram by following a straight line through that yellow from light to dark. The problem is that due to the gamut map of the camera that may not go to a "darker yellow", it may go to a quite different colour.

The image in question was of the 11+ Apostles in an Australian State somewhere down towards Van Demon's Land. It was overcooked. The foreground was brighter than the sky which is implausible for a start and there was a dark shadow on the sea at the horizon at the boundary of the grad ND filter. Many of the colours were implausible. The Judge was able to demonstrate that the strange green in lower centre of the sky in particular was a result of pushing a yellow in the sky down to an unintended green with the ND part of the grad ND. Not even due to bad post-processing and probably impossible to correct in post-processing.

Therefore, at the risk of stating the obvious I suggest a few implications:
- You need to see what you want the image to be before you take it rather than merely assessing the capture
- You should try all the different ways of compressing tonal range (including whether you actually need to) to work out the best method for you in particular circumstances
- ND and Grad ND filters in some circumstances may even degrade (degrad?) rather than enhance an image.

[Reschsmooth]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I will give a grad ND a go and see how I go.