Long Exposure Daytime Recommendations - 6v10 stop ND filter?

AudiSportB5S4

Senior Member
I'm about to buy either a 6 or 10 stop ND filter for experimenting with some LE daytime shots. Any reason people here feel strongly going one route over the other? Looking for mostly ocean scenes on an upcoming trip to play with this type of photog. Some articles I'm reading are suggesting 10stop, others land at 6 being the "minimum". I've seen that some of the 10stops result in vignetting as well as some color changes that can be post processed out, but would appreciate any last minute tips before I buy!

Thanks
-Mike
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Use a Cokin system, then you can use a 2,4,6 stop ND... The Cokin P holder lets you stack 3 of them so you can get any combination of the 3... I'd feel limited with just 1.
 

Slipperman

Senior Member
i have a Hoya ND8 which i assume is 8 stops. this works fine in conjunction with lowering the exp comp for 1 and 2 second exposures. if you need longer than that then i suspect you would need a 10.
you can check out 1 or 2 of mine in my 'probably not every week' 52 thread..
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
i have a Hoya ND8 which i assume is 8 stops. this works fine in conjunction with lowering the exp comp for 1 and 2 second exposures. if you need longer than that then i suspect you would need a 10.
you can check out 1 or 2 of mine in my 'probably not every week' 52 thread..

The ND8 is 3 stops. I have this same filter and love it, but would also like to have something darker.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The "ND" designation is confusing. I would say the most common ND filters are the ND8 (three-stop reduction) and the ND1000 (ten stop-reduction).

Others, such as the ND16 (four-stop reduction), ND32 (five-stop reduction) ND64 (six-stop reduction) et al. are out there but can be harder to find in my experience. I find the ND8 most useful, personally, but use an ND1000 for the "silky waterfall" shots. The trouble with the denser filters is that you can lose the ability to auto-focus through the filter, so you have to focus and then screw on the filter just prior to taking the shot.
 
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Slipperman

Senior Member
just bought an Ice ND1000 62mm neutral density filter for my Tamron 70-300 mostly for the eclipse though i'm not really sure i'll be able to make time to set everything up (i'll be working). will be a nice to have anyway though.
 
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lokatz

Senior Member
I wish all ND filters had dual markings. Some say things like "ND3" or "ND10", others say "ND 8x" or "ND 1000x". In any case, realize that what the former method aims to tell you is that the required exposure time goes up by "2 to the power of x". Examples: an ND3 extends the exposure time by 2 to the power of 3 = 8 times, an ND10 by 2 to the power of 10, which is actually 1024 but everyone refers to it as 1000 times. These filters cannot be made that accurately anyway, so that difference does not matter.

Stacking multiple filters using the Cokin P system may seem like a good idea, except that Cokin's filters have a reputation of causing pretty bad color casts, which would be further amplified if you used multiple ones. This would be less of an issue if you used the more expensive Lee filters.

But back to the original question: if you want that silky water look water in your ocean pics, you'll need to expose for several seconds, even tens of seconds. With your camera set to low ISO and an aperture of, say, F13 or F16, in bright daylight the resulting shutter speeds will still be pretty fast without that filter. Multiply those by 64, which is what a ND 6x gives you, and you are still not anywhere near those longer exposure times you want. Because of that, I think an ND10 / 1000x is about the lowest you'll want; you may even find yourself longing for a filter combo, for instance putting an 8x on top of a 1000x, to give you plenty of flexibility and avoid having to close the shutter further, thereby reducing the image quality.
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
just bought an Ice ND1000 62mm neutral density filter for my Tamron 70-300 mostly for the eclipse though i'm not really sure i'll be able to make time to set everything up (i'll be working). will be a nice to have anyway though.

Have you researched whether the 10 stop filter will make photographing the eclipse safe? I really don't know, but I was under the impression that it takes a very special filter to avoid damaging your eyes and the camera sensor. I may be incorrect on my assumption, however. Just suggesting that you do thorough research on safely photographing the eclipse.
 

Slipperman

Senior Member
Have you researched whether the 10 stop filter will make photographing the eclipse safe? I really don't know, but I was under the impression that it takes a very special filter to avoid damaging your eyes and the camera sensor. I may be incorrect on my assumption, however. Just suggesting that you do thorough research on safely photographing the eclipse.
yeah, i read that the suggested is 14 stops but i have a second ND filter for the same lens (variable from 1-8 i believe) that i can stack on top of the 10 if need be (i'd remove the UV filter to avoid vignetting). and i just got a pair of ISO certified solar glasses that should help save my eyesight. thx for the concern..
 
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