Is the Lee Big Stopper supposed to vignette?

DuncanDisorderly

DuncanDisorderly

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Duncan
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Just taken my new Lee Big Stopper out for a play.
Low scudding cloud burnt off leaving a cloudless sky no good for what I was after; so I decided to check out colour balance, etc

I noticed one heck of a vignette with the Big Stopper - is this 'normal' with the Big Stopper ?
All images taken with 5DII, ISO 50, 24mm MkII TS-E and a Lastolite EzyBalance 12%
Please ignore composition, subject, etc

Original shot straight out the camera - Big Stopper - 30s, f20
20110306-151225-IMG_3849-2.jpg


Same shot but with white balance sampled from the neutral grey. Brightness upped by 0.2 stops to make target value a nice round number.
20110306-151225-IMG_3849.jpg


Removed the Big Stopper and flipped into Aperture priority - 1/250s f8
White balance sampled from the neutral grey. Brightness upped by 0.23 stops to match the Big Stopper.
20110306-151319-IMG_3850.jpg


Once back home I noticed the vignetting I started to look for a cause.
The apertures are different; my fault! So nipped outside I took a pair of shots in aperture priority at f8 and f20. There is no vignetting and no apparent difference other than critical sharpness being killed at f20. So I don't believe it's the difference in aperture.

It could be that at high angles, the light travels through more of the filter than when it enters straight on. But I hadn't expected it to be quite so prominent.
Thoughts please!
 
This is one of the few shots I took before the cloud burnt off; it has the white balance copied from my test shot.
What I visualised was the shape of the trees with the streaky sky - but before I got bold enough to get in really close, all the cloud had gone.
Definitely worth a re-visit!
20110306-133833-IMG_3796.jpg
 
While it's noticeable, I must admit that I don't think the with/without difference is that dramatic.

Out of interest, these were shot without any tilt or shift on the lens?

Are you using the wide angle adapter ring or the standard one? If it's the standard one, that might account for it.
 
James - the Lee Big Stopper is a bit of very dark glass allowing long exposures during the daytime. Typically 1/30s becomes 30s. Exposures around 30s give a real feel of movement in the sky.

Rob - good questions. No tilt or shift in these shots. I've got the standard ring - however the 82mm size is a weird thing compared to my other adapter rings; it kinda doubles back on itself moving everything as close as possible to the camera. When shifted I can see the filter holder and it shows as a black vignette with a fairly sharp cutoff; totally unlike the widespread subtle vignette I have here. So I don't think it's the filter holder.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
I've got the standard ring - however the 82mm size is a weird thing compared to my other adapter rings; it kinda doubles back on itself moving everything as close as possible to the camera. When shifted I can see the filter holder and it shows as a black vignette with a fairly sharp cutoff; totally unlike the widespread subtle vignette I have here. So I don't think it's the filter holder.
Click to expand...

Forgive me if I've misunderstood your point, but if you can actually see the filter holder when shifted, that suggests to me that the filter holder is responsible for the fall-off as it's too far forward and impinging on your field of view.

The wide adapter doesn't cause vignetting with the 24mm TS-E II, at least according to this review at Warehouse Express.
 
I expect it is due to, as you guessed, light illuminating the edges of the frame travelling through more filter than light illuminating the centre of the frame. I've seen it in most photos taken with similar density ND filters.
 
FWIW, I should probably mention I don't own either a Big Stopper or a TS-E (though both are on my shopping list for when funds are available) so I've no personal experience with this (but an interest in the issue).
 
SamHH said:
I expect it is due to, as you guessed, light illuminating the edges of the frame travelling through more filter than light illuminating the centre of the frame. I've seen it in most photos taken with similar density ND filters.
Click to expand...

^^^ Is the answer.

With any filter used on a wide angle, the lens is looking through the edges of the filter at an angle, and the filter is therefore thicker and darker. Normally not a problem, but it can add a couple of stops or more with these filters.

With super-wides like 17mm, it is very noticeable indeed. Nothing you can do about it (apart from use a longer focal length) except to correct in post processing. If you have to lift the corners a lot, make sure you expose to the right to minimise noise.
 
Brilliant! Thanks for the replies :thumbs:

Hoppy - Yes - I've met this problem before as the nifty fifty vignettes two or more stops when it is wide open. Lots of noise in the corners when corrected!
Expose To The right... I noticed a problem to watch for. Because of the colour cast, the blue channel is very pronounced and clips early. The annoying thing is that it doesn't set off the highlight clipping indicators (flashing black/white) and doesn't show on the white histogram. Have to be really careful with exposure!

On a side note...
With the Big Stopper in place, the 5DII exposure metering is spot on; so as long as the exposure is 30s or less then I don't need the exposure table.
Also, Live view works when the Big Stopper is in place! I didn't expect this and it's a real bonus for tweaking composition and grads without having to keep removing the Big Stopper.
 
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grum said:
There's quite a lot of vignetting without the filter though isn't there?
Click to expand...

The 24 T&S has less vignetting than most when used normally, but yes it gets stronger as you shift it. Heck of a nice lens though :)

Also, I think the 5D2's auto vignetting correction feature is disabled with this lens.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
Expose To The right... I noticed a problem to watch for. Because of the colour cast, the blue channel is very pronounced and clips early. The annoying thing is that it doesn't set off the highlight clipping indicators (flashing black/white) and doesn't show on the white histogram. Have to be really careful with exposure!
Click to expand...

Just in case your weren't aware, by using ISO 50 you are effectively reducing the dynamic range and giving yourself less leeway to avoid clipping the highlights.
 
HoppyUK said:
The 24 T&S has less vignetting than most when used normally, but yes it gets stronger as you shift it. Heck of a nice lens though :)

Also, I think the 5D2's auto vignetting correction feature is disabled with this lens.
Click to expand...

Compared to the MkI lens, the vignetting on the MkII is virtually non-existent :)

I'm pretty sure the auto correction feature can't be made to work as the lens doesn't tell the camera how much shift is being applied.
 
SamHH said:
Just in case your weren't aware, by using ISO 50 you are effectively reducing the dynamic range and giving yourself less leeway to avoid clipping the highlights.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reminder - I am aware.
I wanted a 30s exposure and had to choose between f22 diffraction or ISO 50; I think ISO is the lesser evil of the two.

I've also seen some threads saying that the best ISO is not 100, but slightly higher (can't remember whether it's ISO 120 or 200). Have you seen that info too?
 
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HoppyUK said:
The 24 T&S has less vignetting than most when used normally, but yes it gets stronger as you shift it. Heck of a nice lens though :)

Also, I think the 5D2's auto vignetting correction feature is disabled with this lens.
Click to expand...


Fair enough - I certainly wouldn't say no if someone gave me one :)

DuncanDisorderly said:
Thanks for the reminder - I am aware.
I wanted a 30s exposure and had to choose between f22 diffraction or ISO 50; I think ISO is the lesser evil of the two.

I've also seen some threads saying that the best ISO is not 100, but slightly higher (can't remember whether it's ISO 120 or 200). Have you seen that info too?
Click to expand...

I think on Nikons 200 is the base ISO so might be the best for noise? Could be wrong.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
I've also seen some threads saying that the best ISO is not 100, but slightly higher (can't remember whether it's ISO 120 or 200). Have you seen that info too?
Click to expand...
I've had a Google and searched the forums I regularly haunt - can't find a thing!
Perhaps I'm going slightly mad.......

Found a set of tests that demonstrated the signal to noise ratio is identical for ISO 100 and 200. My guess is that even if there is a statistical advantage in choosing an ISO other than 100, that the difference is almost certainly negligible.
 
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