ND Grad question

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I know little to Nothing about filters :shrug:

My good lady wife bought me a Cokin P series ND grad kit -for Christmas, which contains 3 ND graduated filters ND2, ND4 & ND8 filters, a P Series Filter Holder and a 77mm adaptor ring to mount said Filter Holder onto my Sigma 10-20mm UWA Lens

My question is this:

How do you calculate exposure using the ND grads?? I always shoot in Manual mode and RAW, but have NEVER used filters :help:


I realise the importance of ND Grads, ie saves blowing the sky on Landscape/Seascape shots

Or am I missing something fundemantal here?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions / Advice :rules:


Les :D
 
If I'm using grads I normally meter off the foreground and then adjust grad strength to get the sky within acceptable exposure levels.
 
Ok, I see that would work how would you decide which ND grad strength to use? ND2, ND4 or ND8?

am I correct in thinking the ND2 would be the weakest of the 3?

sorry for the newbie questions, I would go out and practise, however Im awaiting a delivery from amazon :D

Les :thumbs:
 
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The ND2, 4, & 8's will be 1, 2, and 3 stops respectively.

I'd like to say I instinctively know which one to use just by looking at the scene, but it's trial and error more times than not! :lol:
 
Ive been a Photographer for exactly 1 year Today :clap:- so still a new boy

thank you for your help- I'll give the filters a run out tomorrow and see how I get on

Les :thumbs:
 
Superman and really fully explained it Les :thumbs: have fun with that set I have the same grad system :thumbs: it can be a god send :thumbs:

I cannot find a link to the product at the moment but you may find that the hold you've currently got if the standard 3 slot is a little to big in that when your at the wide end you will have the filter holder in shot, but there is a single slot version of the holder designed for UWA lens :thumbs: that or just by a second 3 slot and cut the front two slots of with a hack saw :thumbs:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
http://www.cokin.co.uk/pages/cokinP.htm

P Wide-Angle Holder (BPW-700) P299:
This extra slim holder helps to eliminate vignetting down to 20mm focal length. Can hold 1 filter (can be a polarizer) and allows the use of filters with super wide lenses (focal lengths under 20mm) 35mm format.
Click to expand...

Based on that text and using the crop factor formula a 10-20mm lens on 1.5 crop factor works out to be 15-30mm on full frame so that might be the filter holder to get. I know with the standard filter holder you have in your kit on a 16-85mm Nikno lens i get slight vignetting at 16mm
 
MWHCVT said:
Superman and really fully explained it Les :thumbs: have fun with that set I have the same grad system :thumbs: it can be a god send :thumbs:

I cannot find a link to the product at the moment but you may find that the hold you've currently got if the standard 3 slot is a little to big in that when your at the wide end you will have the filter holder in shot, but there is a single slot version of the holder designed for UWA lens :thumbs: that or just by a second 3 slot and cut the front two slots of with a hack saw :thumbs:

Matt
MWHCVT
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt -My good lady inadvertantly bought 2 filter holders ( one came withing the ND Grad kit) so I will remove the front 2 slots from one of these to accomadate the 10mm end of my Sigma 10-20mm and leave the other as it came with the 3 slots

Ok one more question: Can I use 1, 2 or even 3 ND grads at the same time??

as Im led to understand they represent 1 - 2 & 3 stops, so to get 6 stop do I use all 3 or buy a denser ( if thats the right term?) ND grad? :shrug:

Thanks to everyone who responded :D


Les :thumbs:
 
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