p.1 #1 · ND FILTERS for landscapes hand held or use a mount?
I am posting this in the landscape forum because the use of a hard or grad ND filters is primarily for landscape use. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the use of filters and the need for a lens mounted filter holder vs. just holding the filter in front of the lens. I've seen both used and curious as to the benefit of one technique vs. the other. Thank you.
p.1 #4 · ND FILTERS for landscapes hand held or use a mount?
I love my Singh rays, and I have a P type holder. I quickly abandoned it for wide shots because the filter holder is visible wider than ~35mm full frame. I might get out the holder if I'm in an awkward position doing long exposures at 50mm+. However, it's difficult to get the perfect positioning of a hard step or reverse grad ND in the holder using just one hand (at least with mine, the filter tends to jump a bit so two hands are needed to finesse), so holding the depth of field preview button becomes an issue. For me it's just easier to hand hold while holding the depth of field preview. As for use, recovery and GNDs in photoshop and lightroom are solid, but if I can lessen the the amount of shadow and highlight recovery I'll take it.
p.1 #5 · ND FILTERS for landscapes hand held or use a mount?
Thank you for the insights. I have purchased a filter holder for my. Canon 17-40 but I can return it and the more I rink about it I think I'll keep it simple and just get filters I can hand hold
p.1 #6 · ND FILTERS for landscapes hand held or use a mount?
Timmeh wrote:
I love my Singh rays, and I have a P type holder. I quickly abandoned it for wide shots because the filter holder is visible wider than ~35mm full frame.
Option 2: take a hacksaw to your current holder and saw off all but one of the filter slots. Both options will take you down to around 18mm FF before you start seeing the holder.
Option 3: spend $$$ and wait a while to switch to a larger format filter. Lee with a WA ring will not vignette down to 16mm FF.
p.1 #7 · ND FILTERS for landscapes hand held or use a mount?
I do not like to hand hold, and much prefer a holder. I use 100mm filters and the Lee holder system. I really appreciate that I can visually adjust the filter ahead of time and have it stay the same for as many shots as I wish to take. I also occasionally use two graduated filters, which would be hard to do hand held.
For hand holding I hate the filter being able to touch the lens body and potentially get scratched. For hand holding you also can have more problems with light from behind reflecting off of the back of the filter and showing up in the final image. Remember that the resin filters are not anti reflection coated, so they reflect a fair amount of light compared to a multicoated glass filter.
