Long exposure advice

[ichabod123456]

I have a question for the group. I am a beginner. Nikon D3200
I just recently purchased a set of ND filters from Amazon. Ranger is the brand.

Im either doing something wrong or the filters are junk (you get what you pay for)

Im using a 52mm lens, ISO on 100 and a f stop of 5.6. Bright daytime After taking a test shot, I put the ND10 filter on, turn the exposure down by 10 stops and the picture comes out washed out. Didn't seem to matter what I did the picture is washed out. I turned the exposure up to 1/2500 before I started getting any color at all
The closest I got to a blurred movement photos is when I stacked all four lenses for a total of ND 30.

I have covered the view finder
I'm shooting in the "raw"

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[astroNikon]

washed out as in the image is all white?
then yes your exposure is too long, which lets in too much light. So shorten the exposure.

checking amazon, the Ranger kits come with ND2, 4, 8 and 16 (not 10).
$14 for 4 and a bag, cleaning kit, etc includes shipping. So yes, those ND filters are probably junk especially if they are plastic.

What are you trying to get blurred movement on ?? usually you use an ND2 if it's way to bright out, or getting to get movement blur in moving water as an example with the 4, 8, 16. may uses for them, can you provide an example?

You should be able to compare ND versus exposure. Take your shutter speed as fast as possible and Aperture as small (f/32 or larger number) and find the equivalent ND filter then compare the image quality of equivalent exposure.

 

[ichabod123456]

I was taking a picture of a lake on a windy day
Another thing I remember. Sitting in my truck setting up the camera, I had the ND8 stacked with the ND2 and was putting tape on the viewfinder when I noticed movement. I could see though my view finder with a ND 10 filter on sitting inside my truck. That shouldn't be possible right?

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[dennybeall]

Check that the camera is not set for AUTO ISO. It could be running the ISO way up.

 

[terri]

Moved to a more appropriate forum.

 

[photo1x1.com]

ND Filters are sometimes a bit difficult to understand.

ND2 is the same as 0,3 and reduces the light to 1/2 which means one stop
ND4 is the same as 0,6 and reduces the light to 1/4 which means two stops
ND8 is the same as 0,9 and reduces the light to 1/8 which means three stops
ND16 is the same as 1,2 and reduces the light to 1/16 which means four stops

Stacking ND4 and ND2 means: you reduce 1/4 by 1/2 which results in 1/8 so you don't have to add the numbers of "NDx" but multiply, leaving you with ND8. Stacking all your filters would mean ND1024

Well, and what does ND8 mean?
Your shutter speed needs to be 8x faster when you don't use that filter.
E.g.
you use 1/100th with filter equals 1/800th without filter
or vice versa
you use 1/100th without filter equals 1/12th with filter

To make things easier, you just use the decimal number in my list above, because usually cameras are set up with 1/3 stop for every increment of your camera dial. So for example an ND16 is the same as 1,2. Dial your wheel 12x and you are fine.

I hope this didn't confuse more than it helped

 

[ichabod123456]

Lol. Oh that makes it better.

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[photo1x1.com]

Haha, I see - that might have been a bit over the top
Maybe that helps:

1. Set your camera to "A"
2. Set the ISO to 100
   
3. Set the f-stop to 16
   This should give you about 1/100th shutter speed on a bright sunny day.
4. Screw on ND16.
   This should usually give you around 1/6th shutter speed
5. Add the ND8
   The result should be around 1.3 sec
6. Add the ND4
   The result should be around 5sec
7. Add the ND2
   The result should be around 10sec, enough for nice water effects, etc.

BUT1: Adding so many ND filters will lead to:

1. vignetting (dark corners in your picture, but you can crop)
2. reduced image quality (contrast and sharpness)

BUT2: it´s fun to try anyway - sometimes image quality isn´t everything