My camera and ND Filters

IanS · Jun 12, 2012

Hi everyone,
This is my first thread after just joining the Forum.
I have recently bought a Fujifilm HS10 bridge camera with a lens of 24mm-720mm. The main reason I bought it was because I didn't want to carry extra lenses around with me which would have been the case if I had bought an SLR. The camera fits the bill in this respect but it has some limitations in that the maximum aperture is f8 and the slowest shutter speed is 4 seconds. These limitations make it impossible to take pictures of a waterfall or the sea and make the water silky and blurred. I realise that to get over this problem I need to buy a Neutral Density Filter so I can use my highest aperture setting (f8) and a slow shutter speed to hopefully get the desired effect. My question is what ND filter would allow me to achieve the right result bearing in mind my limited aperture and shutter speeds. Do I get a 6-stop, 8-stop or 10-stop filter?
Thank you, hope someone can help.

tirediron · Jun 12, 2012

It depends on how long you want the exposure to be. This image is 4 seconds, while this one is only 3 seconds. Why does the one with the shorter exposure have a more silky look? Because of the velocity of the water. Typically, I find that 3-5 seconds is plenty for water shots; this one, at 6 seconds is about as long as I have ever gone. Generally, much longer than that, and the effect starts to become rather unnatural. So, your camera is probably okay for exposure time, but f8 on a bright, sunny day is not going to get you that. Rather than buying one filter, I would suggest buying a kit of three, consisting of a one, a two and a three stop filter, which will give you a total of six stops. Remember that each stop doubles the exposure time (assuming aperture and ISO don't change), so with six stops, you're going to be able to meet almost any conditions. If you have the money, than I would suggest one of Singh-Ray's vari-ND filters, which, in one filter will allow you to go from one to ten stops of ND. This is a little hard on the wallet however, running around $400+, depending on size.

Whichever way you do go, don't buy cheap. Cheap filters are often worse than none at all, and will have a significant degrading impact on the quality of your images. Lee, Singh-Ray, B+W, and Heliopan are the best names, Tiffen and Hoya (in their multi-coated lines) are good.

enzodm · Jun 12, 2012

Try to take a correctly exposed picture of the sea or water you have in mind, at such minimum aperture (f/8), and minimum ISO too. This will give you a shutter speed, from which you may calculate the stops needed to arrive at 4 seconds, which will be the stops of your filter.