ND filters

i was out shooting and practicing a few bokeh shots (85mm/1.8 ), and found that when wide open, i couldnt increase my shutter speed (max @ 8000) or lower my ISO. i heard you can compensate exposure if you use an ND filter, but i'm not quite sure what to get.

from what i know, filters are sold according to how many stops you want. (2x = 1 stop, 4x = 2 stop, etc). while i was shooting, i was able to get proper exposure once i increased to f/5.6. does that means i should get a 16x filter? or should i try shooting a few more days and average out the f-stops i have to increase in order to get exposure? will this change as the seasons change? or is daylight the same throughout the year? (to my eye the light seems the same everyday, but maybe not to the camera...hehe)

also, i find ND filters a bit expensive considering it only covers a specific # of stops. do you more experienced shooters have multiple ones covering a wider range of stops? or is this a luxury i can live without???

advice is well appreciated, thanks!

A CP can be used as a ND filter as well.

For this specific purpose, I'd go with the densest ND I could get. My reasoning is that it doesn't hurt to do a lot of darkening in this situation, since you can use shutter speed to compensate for an awful lot of stops.

From the people I have spoken with a lot of them have a set of ND's since they don't always know what will need. I was thinking of getting a 2 stop ND and seeing what happens.

jr_senator wrote in post #2151967
A CP can be used as a ND filter as well.

Really? What will the exposure difference be using a polarizer? will you get a full stop out of it?

TMR Design wrote in post #2152041
Really? What will the exposure difference be using a polarizer? will you get a full stop out of it?

I think more like 1 1/2 to 2 stops.