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Archive 2013 · What stop ND filter to buy?

  
 
jasoncallen
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · What stop ND filter to buy?


Hi all - I'm shooting with a Nikon D700 and speed lights, but just ordered an Alien Bees B800, Radio Popper JrX transceivers, a 22" white beauty dish, and a few other flash odds 'n' ends...

I was wondering about ND filters for outdoor fashion/modelling/portrait work. Ideally, I'd like to shoot at f/2-f/4 to achieve the look that I want, which is magic hour sunlight behind the subject, beauty dish gridded & close above/in front of the subject, ND in order to further subdue ambient exposure at 1/250th ISO 200 (base ISO on my D700, cleanest results).

Those of you using your strobes outdoors at ISO 200, what level of ND filters are you using? Can you post examples of your shots? Thanks in advance!



Jun 20, 2013 at 12:16 PM
brett maxwell
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · What stop ND filter to buy?


A good variable ND would give you options. My preference though (partly because I'm cheap, partly because I like knowing exactly how much ND I'm using) is to have a 3 stop and a 6 stop.

Most my Nikons have a base ISO of 200 also, and the 3 stops allows me to balance bright daylight at about f5.6. The nice thing about this is that I can still see through the viewfinder reasonably well. Example (1/250, iso200, 3 stop ND, f5.6. There's a scrim covering them in shade, so they're lit predominantly by strobe. The left frame is literally straight out of camera, no luminosity or saturation adjustments on the sky):



Then, when I want to shoot at large apertures, or really subdue daylight, I pull out the 6 stop ND. With this I always use liveview to focus and compose, since it makes the viewfinder so dark. I don't have an example handy like the one above, but with the 6 stop you could get that same exposure at f2.



Jun 20, 2013 at 12:52 PM
jasoncallen
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · What stop ND filter to buy?


Thank you, Brett! (Great shot, too!)

I have a few variable NDs at work that are smaller filter sizes (some 67mm and 72mm for video equipment) and those work well for that use - run 'n' gun video production - but I agree with you that it's always good to know how much ND you're using with strobes so you can replicate the setup quickly at another shoot.

Here's an example of the look I'm hoping to achieve (not my shot - credit to Sean Molin Photography):

Ashley B. '12 | On The Road Again by Sean Molin Photography, on Flickr

...and his setup shot:

Fight The Power by Sean Molin Photography, on Flickr



Jun 20, 2013 at 01:02 PM
Mark_L
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · What stop ND filter to buy?


0.9 works pretty well (3 stops), any more than the af starts having issues which is really not what you want at wide apertures. I had a variable nd filter (not the junk lcw fader nd ones) and not knowing how much nd you were applying and non-linear nature of it meant I sold it quite quickly.


Jun 20, 2013 at 02:10 PM
jasoncallen
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · What stop ND filter to buy?


Just ordered a 3-stop Hoya ND. I can always stack my CPL with it if I need that extra stop.

Thanks for the input, Mark & Brett!



Jun 24, 2013 at 11:05 AM





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