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Hey Guys,
Having seen Robbos' upload of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast (mono "Time and Motion") in which he used a B+W 10 stop filter I'm wondering (as they're quite pricey) if there's an alternative/cheaper method of achieving the same effect. Does it work if you use an 8 & a 4 stop grad together ?
Yours (the skinflint 
)
Jane
Thick tights should do the trick.
Failing that, a combination of other NDs adding up to ten will work but may degrade the image due to the quantity of plastic in front of the lens.
Well, if you want to slow things right down in bright sunlight then I'd recommend the 10 stop but if you do it in the evening or early morning when the light is dimmer then a 6 stop would work just fine, plus you could always add a polariser or ND grads to that to slow things down even further.
I'm finding my 10 stop a bit too dark for the CCD sensor on my Sony A350, if I go over about 30 seconds I get lots of dead & hot pixels showing as little coloured lights all over the photo 
I've heard that long exposures can cause a lot of heat on the sensor and can cause damage over time.
So I end up using mine at around f8.
I'll keep it in the hope that my next camera will be able to handle it.
Geoff.
IF you put a linear polarizer on top of a circular polarizer you get a variable ND filter, form 2-8 stops, never tried it myself, but apparently it works well
If you are after the effect of a non-graduated ND filter and have a Nikon D200, D300 (and I assume D3 etc) then just use the multiple exposure mode - up to 10 shots combined in camera.
I have used this a lot to reduce ripples on lakes and increase motion blur on waterfalls etc.
Quote: If you are after the effect of a non-graduated ND filter and have a Nikon D200, D300 (and I assume D3 etc) then just use the multiple exposure mode - up to 10 shots combined in camera.
D'OH! Why did I never think of that?
Alternatively, you could wait until sunset :O)
.. also:
- reduce ISO (every time you 1/2 it you add a stop)
- reduce the Av size, each full stop is of course a full stop (there are more settings than the full stops on your camera though).
I'm guessing you want the long exposure time that you get from these filters not the dodgy colour cast you get sometimes ;o) you could just get the colour casgt in PS.
Cheers,
Ade
Geoffrey - if you are suffering hot pixels over 30 secs that sounds very bad. Have you tried letting the camera cool down enough between shots? I have had bad 30 sec shots but generally I find this is after 4 or 5 shots when I have not left sufficient time between shots.
I've not used the sony but that still sounds bad if that is from a cold start.
Cheers,
Ade
Seems to me like a 10-stop grad is just an expensive way of avoiding an early start. If you want to do long exposures, going out at twilight and using a low iso and small aperture (high f-stop) is your best bet. It's a lot cheaper, too....
Quote: Seems to me like a 10-stop grad is just an expensive way of avoiding an early start. If you want to do long exposures, going out at twilight and using a low iso and small aperture (high f-stop) is your best bet. It's a lot cheaper, too....
Generally I'm with you Jools but there are times where is no substitute, for instance if you want daylight, shadows, a specific tide point etc .
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