ND Filters

Is there a thread on POTN dedicated to ND Filters? Only found a few post.

I know I know these filters are dirt cheap but I wanted to see for myself what a nd filter does before I spen big bucks on a top of the line nd filter.

https://www.amazon.com …age_o03_s00?ie=​UTF8&psc=1

I stacked nd 4 and nd 8 and I could still see through them?

DigitalDon wrote in post #18085361
Is there a thread on POTN dedicated to ND Filters? Only found a few post.

I know I know these filters are dirt cheap but I wanted to see for myself what a nd filter does before I spen big bucks on a top of the line nd filter.
https://www.amazon.com …F+Concept%7CHoy​a%7CTiffen


I stacked nd 4 and nd 8 and I could still see through them?

Click the magnifying glass icon in the upper, right corner of the page and put "ND filter" into the search box; you'll get a ton of hits.

An ND filter works exactly like sunglasses do for your eyes; they cut the amount of light coming in, so things don't look so bright. So, you'd use them for reduce the available light when you have particular settings you need to use, in situations (like mid day shooting) where stopping your aperture down and/or using a faster shutter speed are not options.

Snydremark wrote in post #18085398
Click the magnifying glass icon in the upper, right corner of the page and put "ND filter" into the search box; you'll get a ton of hits.

An ND filter works exactly like sunglasses do for your eyes; they cut the amount of light coming in, so things don't look so bright. So, you'd use them for reduce the available light when you have particular settings you need to use, in situations (like mid day shooting) where stopping your aperture down and/or using a faster shutter speed are not options.

Thanks Snydremark
Dumb a** me thought a ND 4 was a 4 stop, Nd 8 was 8 stops, instead of Googleing ND and a number I should have googled 10 stop ND Filter to get ND 400 or whichever it is, is there anything in photography that doesn't says one thing but means another.
Thanks again for your help

Yeah, everything in photography works in multiples (or fractions) of powers of two. A bit cryptic in everyday terms but what to do?

DigitalDon wrote in post #18085431
Thanks Snydremark
Dumb a** me thought a ND 4 was a 4 stop, Nd 8 was 8 stops, instead of Googleing ND and a number I should have googled 10 stop ND Filter to get ND 400 or whichever it is, is there anything in photography that doesn't says one thing but means another.
Thanks again for your help

Sure thing; I meant to hit on that but I was posting while getting ready for work and had to run. The other thing to keep in mind is that there are a couple of different ways that companies designate their filter densities. The 4/8/etc like you've found is one way, the other way is what companies like LEE use, where they designate via decimal value. So, a .3 is a 1-stop, .6 is a 2-stop, etc. Mentally, it's easiest to pick a single filter line and stick with it or make sure you're combining lines that designate themselves the same way. Not because it has a better or worse final effect, but because you don't have to do as many mental gymnastics when figuring out what filters you want to stack

Thanks guys

I bought a cheap ND filter that had good reviews here and online. It's not great but likely better than what you linked to and it's actually glass.

https://www.amazon.com …ID=31P8S5mEh6L&​ref=plSrch

Here is an interesting comparison test done at F stoppers:

https://fstoppers.com/​bestfiltertest

I have a Hoya 4 stop. I think I need a 6-stop if I want to shoot at f/1.4 in sunlight with flash.

One thing I will say about Neutral density (ND) filters; the vast majority of them are NOT neutral! The cheaper they are and the more light they cut the more color cast they will produce.

Even expensive ND filter can have a large amount of color cast (I'm looking at you Lee big stopper!)

If you're just messing around a few cheap low stop nd filters aren't too bad and the color cast they produce should be fairly correctable in post. But if you know you'll be using them quite a bit or if you need high stop filters get good high quality filters.

I have been quite impressed with the Firecrest ND filters from Hitech. I have a 4 stop (1.2) and 10 stop (3.0) and both have next to no color cast. I do have some cheaper Hitech (non firecrest) filters and my 8 stop is unusable as the color cast is not correctable. Quality counts