ND filters & long exposures help!!

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ukranger

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Hi guys,

I had my first go at using ND 8 filter today & a long manual exposure.

Maybe I've got it all wrong but holding the shutter cable butting for different amounts of time (from 4-10 secs).

The problem is all the images were very bright I put the ISO on min 100 & aperture on F22.

Can you guys let me know what I'm doing wrong as I'd love to do some water & moving shots.

Thanks
Rob
 
can you post the photos and exif info and someone maybe able to see where you've gone wrong
 
ND8 is only 3 stops, so I'd image your shutter speeds were too slow, causing over exposure.

For 10 seconds you need either a big stopper or similar, or for it to be very dark to start with.

Did you try letting the camera meter and see what it thought the exposure should be? I'd have a guess at 1 or 2 seconds at most.
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys

@TCR4x4 that's where I'm going wrong then, 2 much shutter time

What ND would you suggest for a 30 second exposure time?

Thanks
Rob
 
ukranger said:
Thanks for the quick replies guys

@TCR4x4 that's where I'm going wrong then, 2 much shutter time

What ND would you suggest for a 30 second exposure time?

Thanks
Rob
Click to expand...

You need a 9 or 10 stop. Dont get confused with nd8, that's not an 8 stop filter, it's a 3 stop. A 10 stop would be a ND1024.

Hitech do one called a pro stop
Lee have the big stopper

You can get screw in ones too.

LCW do a good 9 stop screw in called the nd500.
 
Rob, maybe you'll find this useful. It's an extract from a quick exposure guide I keep on my phone to refer to in the field..



If you can see where you are without a filter and where you want to be (e.g. with shutter speed), you can quickly count the stops of ND you need to get there. Moving from one column to the next is a full stop, up and down rows are 1/3rds. If anyone spots a typo, please shout. I was tearing my hair out with the 1/3rd stops on the transition from <1 sec to >1 sec.

30 seconds might be over-kill for running water, it depends whether you want to keep any definition or not.
 
Alastair said:
Rob, maybe you'll find this useful. It's an extract from a quick exposure guide I keep on my phone to refer to in the field..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saltgeorge/6781284355/

If you can see where you are without a filter and where you want to be (e.g. with shutter speed), you can quickly count the stops of ND you need to get there. Moving from one column to the next is a full stop, up and down rows are 1/3rds. If anyone spots a typo, please shout. I was tearing my hair out with the 1/3rd stops on the transition from <1 sec to >1 sec.

30 seconds might be over-kill for running water, it depends whether you want to keep any definition or not.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the chart I've saved it on my iPhone.

Could I screw say a ND 10 on top of a ND 8?
 
Yes.. you'd get what, 6 1/3 stops? something like that. You could also try welding glass for 12-14 stops (there's a long thread elsewhere on the forum).
 
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