Need ND Filter Help!

[clickin girl]

Hello guys! I have fallen in love with daytime long-exposure and want to try my hand at it. I want to buy a ND filter but not sure which one to get. I have done some looking around online and some photogs use 2 stop, some use 3 stop, and some use 10 stop. I am limited on budget and can only buy one right now. I am leaning toward the 10 stop, but if you could only buy one what stop would it be?

[Cathus]

If you want to do slow shutter stuff in bright light you'll probably need the 10 stop.

It really depends on the light available, you'd need to go to the lowest ISO, highest aperture and the slowest shutter speed, but in anything approaching sunlight you're likely to be overexposed if you want to get speeds of half a second plus.

If you could get a good exposure at 1/125 sec then your 3 stoppper will only take you down to 1/15sec whereas your 10 stopper will take you to 8 seconds.

It depends on what shutter speeds you're trying to achieve

[clickin girl]

Thanks Cathus! I want fairly long shutter speed because I want to show movement in the clouds and water. When I borrowed my mom's 3 stop I could not get a long enough shutter speed to achieve this. Looks like probably the 10 stop is what I should go with.

[donoreo]

You can also use a circular polarizer as a 2 stop ND filter

One option is to go with a variable ND filter. These are screw on ones and turn like a CP to adjust the filter. I wish I could tell you how it works, but I have not had a chance to try it out yet, but I got one very cheap from Amazon. I assume there will be a colour cast, but it was only $21 (CDN) so I thought it was worth a try.

I do also have a Hi-Tech/Formatt 10 Stop ND filter that is great. I got the screw on one because fitting the filter holder and the rest is sometimes very slow and fiddly. I have two 5 1/2 year old daughters, I do not often have much time

[jet_kit]

Originally Posted by clickin girl

Thanks Cathus! I want fairly long shutter speed because I want to show movement in the clouds and water. When I borrowed my mom's 3 stop I could not get a long enough shutter speed to achieve this. Looks like probably the 10 stop is what I should go with.

This is an awkward one because there's no 'catch all' filter. If you want that misty effect on cascading water then 1½ - 2 seconds is ample. If you want that effect on the sea, you'll probably want something in the region of 10 seconds. Clouds are a different story altogether because it depends how fast they're moving and in what direction. You need to be cautious with clouds as well, because they can just go streaky if you're not careful.
10 stop filters are expensive and hard to come by. Someone on eBay has been selling new HiTech 10-stop filters. He's been selling them one at a time and they've been going for about the GBP40 mark, which is not a bad price. I have no idea how many he has and how long he'll be doing this.

[clickin girl]

Thanks for the info Chris! I am wanting more cloudscapes with some water, but I live in the Texas Panhandle and there are no waterfalls or oceans anywhere near me! I was going to try some of the nearby lakes with fishing docks, lone trees with cloudscapes, that sort of thing.

[2Beers]

have a look at these that Donoreo was talking about

[JackFusco]

I use a BW ND110 for my day time long exposures and sometimes I find myself stacking additional filters. If you really want to get that streak in the clouds or smoothness in the water, I would say start with a 10 stop and then think about possibly supplementing it from there.

I've never used one of the Vari-ND filters, but from what I've heard from others is that some of the less expensive ones unfortunately filter a bit uneven, so be careful if that's the route you decide to go.

[clickin girl]

Thanks for the help everyone! I ordered a B+W 10 stop filter. Just got it in but have not been able to use it yet. Can't wait to try it out!

[GeoffWessex]

Right, everybody, let's get to Texas...... they seem to be like rocking horse manure here in Canada - same in UK, I think.