Landscape with a 9 stop ND filter

[Zaxxon]

Hi there,
my new Nuetral Density filter (9stop) turned up yesterday and I'm looking forward to spending many a cold morning with a thermos of coffee and the shutter open for 10+ minutes

Anyway, has anyone got any experience of these filters? I only know about them from a recent magazine article.

I'm just waiting for a new tripod to turn up in the post and then I'll be off to find some moving water etc.

I'll be using the following kit.

Canon 550
17-55mm F2.8 (don't have a true wide angle lens but have read that this is still very good).
Good tripod
Remote cord release

Any tips are welcome like, what to take first images of?
Best time of day if any?
How long should I leave the shutter open on first test shots?
Is there a way of working out?
Do I need a light meter to work it out?

[AndWhyNot]

Zaxxon said:

Hi there,
my new Nuetral Density filter (9stop) turned up yesterday and I'm looking forward to spending many a cold morning with a thermos of coffee and the shutter open for 10+ minutes

Anyway, has anyone got any experience of these filters? I only know about them from a recent magazine article.

I'm just waiting for a new tripod to turn up in the post and then I'll be off to find some moving water etc.

I'll be using the following kit.

Canon 550
17-55mm F2.8 (don't have a true wide angle lens but have read that this is still very good).
Good tripod
Remote cord release

Any tips are welcome like, what to take first images of?
Best time of day if any?
How long should I leave the shutter open on first test shots?
Is there a way of working out?
Do I need a light meter to work it out?

You'll find out in time whether it's a true 9-stop or closer to 8 or 10 stops. To judge exposure time you can meter/ expose a test shot without the filter then add 9 stops to your shutter speed. So if the camera says 1/500 at f/8 ISO200 you'd go

1 stop longer 1/250
2 stops 1/125
3 stops 1/60
4 stops 1/30
5 stops 1/15
6 stops 1/8
7 stops 1/4
8 stops 1/2
9 stops 1 second

You can see that each stop is doubling the exposure time. To get the longest exposure, folk often shoot much narrower apertures so your original scene that meters 1/500 at f/8 would equal 1/60 at f/22:

1 stop narrower 1/250 (f/11)
2 stops 1/125 (f/16)
3 stops 1/60 (f/22)

With a starting point (ie unfiltered) of 1/60 your 9 stop filter would give a final exposure time of 8 seconds at f/22. Doesn't seem that long but the figures I quoted are to make it easy to understand the maths. If you shoot when the light is on your side your original scene meters much more slowly, so by the time you've added the filter you're looking at an exposure length of a couple of minutes.

[Zaxxon]

Thank you very much for explaining it so clearly, that is an excellent starting point for me.

The filter is an LCW ND500 and was tested by Advance Photograper as 9 stop so hopefully my example will be the same.

I'll be printing your explanation out and keeping it in my bag, thank you.

Tripod has just turned up.....bugger, wishing I had paid the extra £100 for the carbon version

[4Lmike]

I see you're in Berks. For some moving water try heading over to Virginia Water...not far from you. I recently bought an ND4 and have only really used it once so far but looking forward to using it more.

[paul911]

Clicky This filter table should help you work out your exposure times

Edit:

This is my step by step …

Camera on tripod and set composition.
Set lens to auto focus and camera to manual, set correct exposure. Take a few test shots.
Switch lens to manual. (otherwise it will hunt as you cant see anything with the filter on).
Add the filter
Add your 9 stops using the filter chart.
Press shutter.

At this point I would use the pic I have just taken to set a custom white balance, and take the shot again. But you could if shooting in RAW adjust the WB in PP.


Slow Shutter Sea by paulsflicker, on Flickr

Edited by paul911 on Wednesday 26th January 10:55

[londonagent]

paul911 said:

Clicky This filter table should help you work out your exposure times

Brilliant Thanks Paul and also Andrew for the helpful tips. Going to print off and put in camera bag.

Edited by londonagent on Wednesday 26th January 11:28

[Pete Baraka]

Top tip: If your camera has 'live view' you might be able to use this to help compose and focus your images without the need to keep removing and re-fitting the filter each time.

Pete

[Simpo Two]

Pete Baraka said:

Top tip: If your camera has 'live view' you might be able to use this to help compose and focus your images without the need to keep removing and re-fitting the filter each time.

How does that work? Live-view looks through the lens

[AndWhyNot]

Simpo Two said:

Pete Baraka said:

Top tip: If your camera has 'live view' you might be able to use this to help compose and focus your images without the need to keep removing and re-fitting the filter each time.

How does that work? Live-view looks through the lens

And is useless at night (ie in the dark) with the exception of where the edges of the frame are defined by bright lights

[Yellabelly]

John,
IIRC when you set custom WB in camera and set it as the current WB then the camera corrects for the 9/10 stop filter and the live view shows the corrected view..............I think!

YB

Edited by Yellabelly on Wednesday 26th January 13:21

[Pupp]

Anyone tried using a stacked pair of polarising filters to the same effect? I gather a circular polariser topped with a linear one will stop light transmission down pretty markedly in one orientation whilst transmitting enough to compose/focus in another?

[Simpo Two]

Yellabelly said:

IIRC when you set custom WB in camera and set it as the current WB then the camera corrects for the 9/10 stop filter and the live view shows the corrected view..............I think!

It makes the sea all blurry? Now that's clever!

[Pete Baraka]

AndWhyNot said:

Simpo Two said:

Pete Baraka said:

Top tip: If your camera has 'live view' you might be able to use this to help compose and focus your images without the need to keep removing and re-fitting the filter each time.

How does that work? Live-view looks through the lens

And is useless at night (ie in the dark) with the exception of where the edges of the frame are defined by bright lights

I didn't think it would work either, but believe me guys - it works just fine on my 5Dmk2 with a B+W ND110 filter.

Would anyone else care to try it for themselves (in daylight) and report back?

Pete

[Simpo Two]

Pete Baraka said:

I didn't think it would work either, but believe me guys - it works just fine on my 5Dmk2 with a B+W ND110 filter.

Is it a question of automatic gain I wonder?



Can't see a link to WB though, wibble...

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 26th January 19:23