 Giuseppe L. Mezzetta |
Neutral Density Lenses Hi, I'm looking into purchasing a(some) neutral density filters, but don't know what to get with so many options and brands. I shoot a Canon Rebel XT with a Sigma DC 18-200mm 1:3.5-6.3 lens. I want one or two neutral density filters for outdoor shooting. I rarely do portraits, mainly outdoor landscapes and such. I don't have a ton of money to spend but also don't want a cheap product, can anyone help? Thank you,
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John P. Sandstedt |
Tiffen, Hoya, B&W [more expensive.] If you're shooting in digital, it's hard to imagine your shutter speed being so slow that you really need an ND filter. You might be better off look into split filters and vario-polarizers.
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Mark Feldstein |
Greetings Giuseppe. You ought to take a look at two systems in particular, both available from bhphotovideo.com. Of course you know that ND filters of one grade or another, are only useful for balancing brightness or helping to control it in a scene. You may be interested in taking a look at some additional options that will, for example, help you bring out brighter colors in a sunset, keeping the foreground as it is, adding tints and various other special effects to a scene, etc. The Cokin P ring system offers a number of special effects filters along with neutral density filters that can be stacked in a special holder. In my view, the Cokin system is still somewhat limited. My own preference is a HiTech system that allows you to buy one filter holder, a lot more special effects filters like graduated sky blues, sunset, sepia, and a host of others. With the HiTech too, you only need to buy a new adapter ring if you buy a lens that doesn't fit the ones you previously bought. That saves buying new filters every time your lens size changes or step up/down filters. The system is versatile, well made, and once you get the initial holder and ring, not too expensive for filters. Here's a link to HiTech N.D. and other filters and their manufacturer web site. If you have any questions about their system, feel free to ask me. I've used it for years and it's great !!!
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hello Giuseppe, I love my B&W Kaeseman Circular polarizer. I use it for waterfall/landscape images on my 17-40mm but used it all day yesterday on my 100-400mm lens while out on Puget Sound with the Gray Whales. The water is a very lovely blue & the polarizer kept the reflection down a lot. Lucky both lenses are 77mm. I had a cheaper CP filter made by promaster and it did a descent job but it doesn't compare to the B&W.
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Giuseppe L. Mezzetta |
Great, I really appreciate your input, I am somewhat familiar with the Cokin system as I had it years ago when I was shooting 35mm. The only thing that concerns me is the bulk of carrying the p ring and various lenses, at this time I would like to have just one or two lenses that would be easy to carry. In the long run, I will probably be interested in getting a p ring when I get into more types of filters, like you mentioned...blue sky's and such. Right now I'm looking for something (I should have noted this prior) to bring out the greens in darker and/or brighter forests, the blues in the sky and water. Also, and I'm not sure what filter does this, but make the sky darker blue without blacking out the forground(especially with sun sets). I think a cirular polarizer would be a good idea too. I'm not familiar with split filters or vario polarizered, could you fill me in John? Thank again guys!
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John P. Sandstedt |
Split filter are usually a filter ring with glass filling half the area. The glas can be clear or neutral density; in some cases it might have a color tint. I have one that one-half red, one half blue. You'd use it to enhance a sky, while leaving the foreground unchanged. Vario-polarizers are filters that rotate glass in a manner similar to a normal polarizer. The difference is that as you rotate the one element, the color coming through the lens is varied. There are red/blue, green/yellow and so forth.
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Mark Feldstein |
Before dropping a bunch of dough on circular polarizers, ND filters, etc., try an 81B or 81C warming filter to bring out the colors in your scenes. Should be sufficient and doesn't require any dinking around to get it set for a particular scene. Just thread it on, add your lens shade and rock n' roll. You may lose about 1/3 of an f-stop in light. Depends on the situation. One reason to use a P ring system or HiTech, or similar set-ups is to carry one or two mounting rings, one shade and a stack of filters (including warming filters, varigated or not) in much less space, with much less weight than it takes to carry multiple filters and different sizes for the same purpose. It also makes it faster to change filters rather than having to fumble for the right size filter and adapter rings, etc., etc. I can carry around a pile of 25-30 HiTech resin filters in about the same space as it takes to carry 6-10 90mm glass B+W filters. BTW, Vario polarizers and "varigated" filters, also usually require either a very steady hand or the use of a tripod because you have to set the filter in place and keep it there while you shoot. If not, the horizon and/or foreground lines may not be properly tinted.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Perhaps you're thinking of the split, or Graduated ND filters...check this link: http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html I have the 3-stop, soft version. It's great for blocking exposure on the sky.
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Samuel Smith |
welcome mr mezzetta, ah the years ago when you shot 35mm with your cokin system. it's not dialect,mannerisims or accent. no it's not ebonics.ah some paraphrasing went on. let's try linguistics.can it even be trolled down to print? well i'll await your post,sam
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Giuseppe L. Mezzetta |
Sam, To be honest, I'm not quite sure what you are getting at with your message, however I believe you are criticizing my sentence. If it sounded snobby or outdated, I apologize. I wasn't aware that our grammar was of importance in this forum and I tend to use the word "as" a lot. Towards the end of the sentence I figured that I should explain why I was familiar with the cokin system. And another thank you to the rest of you for your input. So many options now to consider. A further question, can I imitate a warming filter by shifting the white balance on my camera? Giuseppe
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