Problems when using ND filters

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titus

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Adrian
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Hello

I'm just getting into photography and really like the look of long exposure photos. I bought a couple of Tiffen ND filters, 0.9 and 0.6. I stacked them onto my Nikon D40 and took a few photos of a river in the middle of the day.

The outcome was brown tinge over the picture. Grass that should be bright lush green came out looking scorched.

If anyone can suggest a solution to where i'm going wrong I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks
7769107596_e4c1068c80_s.jpg
 
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That's what happen when you use cheap filters, especially stacked. If you shot in RAW you might be able to correct some of the cast, but it won't be perfec.
 
ND filters are rarely truly neutral, and the darker they are, the more the colour tint shows. Stacking them has the same effect.

You can correct that in-camera with a cutsom white balance, or in post processing. If it's a straightforward kind of warm tint, try shooting with the tungsten white balance setting. If you're lucky, it might be close.

You'd probably be better off with a single ND filter of around 8-10 stops for shooting in bright light. You have a 3 and 2 stops there, total 5 when stacked.
 
I could be wrong but Tiffen is some USA made filter that isn't very cheap but no B+W/Lee price. I use HiTech and have no problem.
 
Thanks for your replies

I didn't think the filters I had were that cheap!

I'll try those settings next time the sun comes out and look into getting a single filter.

I'll check out HiTech. Are there any other particular brands or a price point that I should aim for?

Thanks
 
titus said:
Hello

I'm just getting into photography and really like the look of long exposure photos. I bought a couple of Tiffen ND filters, 0.9 and 0.6. I stacked them onto my Nikon D40 and took a few photos of a river in the middle of the day.

The outcome was brown tinge over the picture. Grass that should be bright lush green came out looking scorched.

If anyone can suggest a solution to where i'm going wrong I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks
7769107596_e4c1068c80_s.jpg
Click to expand...

stacking can cause colour issues .. why is colour being flagged as missplet ??
i had this issue with my cokin when stacked them also you will get noticable fringing/ vignetting
 
titus said:
Thanks for your replies

I didn't think the filters I had were that cheap!

I'll try those settings next time the sun comes out and look into getting a single filter.

I'll check out HiTech. Are there any other particular brands or a price point that I should aim for?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Tiffen make loads of filters, and they're big sellers in the US. Their HT range is certainly high quality.

There is maybe some confusion here between ND filters and ND grads, that are completely different. The cheapest good quality extreme ND filter is the Haida 3.0. Also LightCraftWorkshop, Hoya, B+W, Heliopan. Lee in square slot-in.

None of them is absolutely neutral, at any price, so you always have to tweak the white balance one way or another. BTW, extreme ND filters made from resin are not as good as glass - the dyes cannot block sufficient infrared and you get uncorrectable casts in some conditions.
 
Thanks again for the advice and suggestions.

I'll stop stacking and check out those filters.
 
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