Welding Glass (£1/$1 ND Filter) Exposures

[Anke]

If you fancy adding your welding mask glass photo to the thread, go for it

I picked up a piece of welding mask glass for £1.30 (some have got it for a £1) off of eBay as I had heard it makes a useable 10-stop ND Filter for those lovely long exposures during the day.

I got mine from eBay, but sometimes they aren't there so keep searching every now and again. Others in this thread have found them in local shops so have a read through.

Here's the filter at the virgin stage and how I attached it to my Lee Filter Holder with two elastic bands. You will notice that from the last pictures there is still gaps where light can leak, but once attached to the filter's lens adaptor this is covered up by about 2mm each side (see following image) so you have to watch for movement inbetween exposures. There is a much better idea for making your own flush adaptor from a Cokin P holder here.



I can happily confirm that this just fits over the 16-35mm f/2.8 II, unlike the more expensive official offerings.



Be careful when handling the glass as it is not meant to be used as a filter so the edges are very sharp. Also, for some reason, the glass is filthy on arrival, even in the plastic wrapping, so needs a jolly good clean.

As far as processing goes, my filter, which was a Green Shade 10, turned out to be an approximate 10-stop filter. Some have reported as much as 15 stops.
In Lightroom to get to normal colours I have turned the Tint to +150 so you may find that getting the Tint and WB done in-camera first stops any processing problems.

Exposure time help?
9-Stop Chart
10-Stop Chart

Good tips here too.

If you fancy adding your welding mask glass photo to the thread, go for it

[Anke]

First attempt.
Click for larger.

[canonnoob]

interesting anke... id be interesting in seeing what you get out of that..

[Anke]

Thanks, Dave. Hopefully we can get some more examples in here

[Mike]

Subscribing! I will be out with my welding glass at the weekend hopefully so I will be able to add something to the thread.

[Mike]

Actually, I will add my pathetic first attempt!!



Problems here with light leaking in between the glass and the lens so I need to cobble together a hood to stop that from happening. The glass was held in a cokin slimline filter holder and it just fit, albeit at a bit of a squeeze!

[Anke]

Thanks for adding that shot, Mike, shows promise though. Does your filter holder not have a lens adaptor to cover up the gaps like mine?

[Mike]

No, I don't have a posh Lee one!!!

I'll have a look at it and see what I can come up with, a bit of card might do the trick.

Also, worth noting, the glass is obviously intended for hard industrial use and as such it needs quite a good clean when it arrives. Those purple flare shots are from areas where the glass is still a bit dirty, even tough I gave it a good buffing! That said, if I can eliminate the light from getting through the gap it will hopefully solve that problem.

[Anke]

Originally Posted by Mike

No, I don't have a posh Lee one!!!

I'll have a look at it and see what I can come up with, a bit of card might do the trick.

Also, worth noting, the glass is obviously intended for hard industrial use and as such it needs quite a good clean when it arrives. Those purple flare shots are from areas where the glass is still a bit dirty, even tough I gave it a good buffing! That said, if I can eliminate the light from getting through the gap it will hopefully solve that problem.

Yes, mine was filthy when it arrived, even inside the plastic. I'll mention that above.

[Mike]

Right, I stopped in Sandwich this morning to try out the welding glass. Quite tricky and I need more practise!!

Here's a couple of shots of my hood...2 pieces of cardboard from the blurb potn book packaging and a rubber band!





And here are the shots which are not too great but I was hampered by uninteresting sky







All were between 3-4 minutes, f/16, iso 100.

[Mike]

The annoying thing this morning was that there was a lot of blue sky & scudding clouds as I was driving in to town...it turned grey as soon as I stopped and the blue sky disappeared!

[Deejayry]

Does the welding glass not have a green or purple tint to it? i've used several brands of glass in my welding mask, every one i have used has had a green or purple tint.

[Mike]

Yes, it is very green.

Here's a shot straight out of the camera:

[Anke]

Brilliant additions to the thread, Mike! Thanks for posting them

I think this toy is all dependent on an interesting sky, some wind or some water. Well, something that moves anyway

What sort of quality did you think they were like? Did your glass deteriorate the image quality a great deal?

[Mike]

I think the glass does deteriorate it a little, but not too much, and that's probably due to the fact it is not designed for delicate optical use. Still, I don't mind too much!

I was going to try a shot on the quay overlooking the river but I ran out of time so that's one for next time I can try.