Neutral Density Filters

[Remi M.]

I too am interested in a ND filter. I'vs seens a interesting one made by singh-ray. It's a variable ND filter. Works just like a circular polarizer.

http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html

BTW if you don't have one already you should get a circular polarizer. I have one made by Hoya and it's on my street lens a good majority of the time. It also functions as a ND4 filter.

 

[MommyOf4Boys]

I have several ND filters. For shots where you want the motion blur/remove or ghost people and or objects in a photo or to slow down your shutter speed for silky waterfalls, etc., you can use regular solid ND filters. If you want to do landscape where the foreground is darker and the sky is bright and you want to make them both nice and colorful, i would recommend a graduated ND filter. I use this chart to determine how to stop down (slow shutter speed)..not to be confused with aperture. http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/exposure-stops-here.html
Usually a 4x filter you stop down 2EVs and 8x is 4EVs - basically, if you meter at 1/250 without a 4x filter on, then put the filter on, you are going to change your exposure to 1/60 - or if it is an 8x (3 EV stops) filter, you will stop down to 1/30 - or stack both the 4x and the 8x and you will stop down 5EVs to 1/8...in easier terms, to stop down 2EVs, you take the exposure that you metered without the filter (example 1/250) and multiply it by 4 (1/250 x 4 = 1/60) (or you can say: 250 divided by 4 = 60) It will actually be 62.5, but we are talking camera math here LOL!
The chart in the link I provided really is useful.

This link is good reading as well - it shows what each ND filter stops down to (example 0.6 is the same as 4x = 2 stops): http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/filter/filter-ND.html

 

[airgunr]

Singh Ray makes a veriable ND filter that goes from 2 stops to 10 stops. They are known for their high quality glass but they are also pretty expensive. I think they run around $350 or so. I guess you would have to consider how much you would pay for multiple filters to acheive the same range of stops.

 

[fightheheathens]

(this is a cheaper fix then a 350 dollar ND filter)
2 polarizer filters (30 buck a piece) rotated 90 degreed from each other will block out most light, you can also adjust how much light you want to block out that way

 

[markc]

That won't work with circular polarizers that are made to let autofocus still function. It will with the older style if you don't mind manual focus.

 

[fightheheathens]

mind manual focus?
i live for it.

and using that method, plus a red filter, i was able to get a 16 second exposure on ISO 400 film on a very bright day.