Good ND filter?

theurbanclown

theurbanclown

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Ben
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Looking for a good ND filter to shoot longer exposures in daylight.

I've already decided it will be a 1.8 filter and it needs to be 58mm thread.

I have a budget of £50.

Any particular brand I should buy? Links to particular items?

Thanks
 
What do you mean by 1.8 filter mate?

Couldnt tell you if its the best for that budget but these are good, couple that with one of these and your on to a winner. I shot this set with that exact setup. ND8 is only 3 stops though so wont help massively in broad daylight. If your after doing 30 second exposures in daylight then £50 probably wont be enough as for that youll need a 10 stop filter. You could get a sheet of welding glass for about £2 from ebay (shade 9 is about 12 stops, shade 10 is about 13 stops and so on) but for a proper 10 stop these are within your budget (£42.90 not including delivery for a 58mm), i have owned one but never used it so i cant vouch for that particular one. I personally have one of these and would recommend it if you have the budget.

Si
 
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If you can live with black and white (or really weird colour) then an Infra Red filter acts like a 10 stop ND will give around 30 sec exposure at F8 in normal sunlight, and they can be had for much less than £50
 
chocky said:
What do you mean by 1.8 filter mate?

Couldnt tell you if its the best for that budget but these are good, couple that with one of these and your on to a winner. I shot this set with that exact setup. ND8 is only 3 stops though so wont help massively in broad daylight. If your after doing 30 second exposures in daylight then £50 probably wont be enough as for that youll need a 10 stop filter. You could get a sheet of welding glass for about £2 from ebay (shade 9 is about 12 stops, shade 10 is about 13 stops and so on) but for a proper 10 stop these are within your budget (£42.90 not including delivery for a 58mm), i have owned one but never used it so i cant vouch for that particular one. I personally have one of these and would recommend it if you have the budget.

Si
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1.8 is another way of expressing the strength of the filter. 1.8 is equal to six stops or 64x times darker.

The only manufacturers that I've seen doing an ND filter in 1.8 strength are B+W and Formatt. Other manufacturers make ND filters in 1.2, 2.7 and 3.0 strength (4, 9 and 10 stops respectively).

B+W make round screw-in filters. Here is a B+W 1.8 58mm ND for £40.99:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-b-w-58mm-nd-106-1-8-sh-filter/p1013501

Formatt make square filters that slot into a holder which screws onto the lens via an adaptor ring. Here are Fomatt 85mm and 100mm square filters for £25.54 and £45.96 respectively: http://www.formatt.co.uk/stills-filters/filters/standard-n-d/stills-filters.aspx

The B+W would be the simplest and cheapest option because it doesn't require any other hardware to attach it to your lens. The only thing I would caution you about is that if you buy a lens with a larger filter thread diameter in the future, the round filter will be no good. If think you might buy other lenses at some point and you can afford it, the most economical thing would be to get a B+W with a 77mm thread and use an adaptor ring to attach it to your current lens.
 
Cheers samHH :) Didnt know that (obviously lol)

I do recommend the B+W though. Love that thing, sometimes takes a bit of a custom white balance because of the magenta colour cast but it can work in your favour sometimes.
 
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