Welding Glass as a 10 Stop ND Filter...Problem

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Darren1978

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Darren
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Morning all,

So, having read that a piece of shade 10 welding glass is a cheap alternative to a 10 stop ND filter, I went to my local welding supplies place and got a piece for the princely sum of £1. Also, it was the perfect size to fit my Cokin filter folder (100mm x 83mm), excellent!

Decided to try out my cheap filter yesterday with a quick try out in the garden, only thes results didn't quite live up to expectations :(

Having read on hear that welding glass gives a green colour cast, I was expecting to see that type of appearance on the lcd. However, I was getting lens flare all over the image....I was not expecting this :shake:

Any ideas what could be causing this? Could it be the fact that because I had it in a filter holder and not tight up against the front of the lens, light was getting in? I also didn't have one of the eyepiece 'blind/screen' type things, could that be the problem?

I definitely was not shooting direct into the sun, so I know its not because of that.

I go away on holiday on Thursday evening and want to be able to take this 'filter' with me but obviously don't want to be taking duff shots with it. I guess I could bite the bullet and order up a proper 10stop ND filter and get it in time for my holiday, but would rather save the pennies!

Cheers
Darren
 
You've got it, in the filter holder it's too far away and the light gets through causing the flare. It needs to be right on the lens. I'm still trying a suitable method. Elastic bands may help.
 
Have a flick through the original thread as all these issues are mentioned and remedied there. light leak is your enemy and light reflecting off the lens front elements is the cause of your problems. There are a number of methods to get around this.
 
Thanks guys for your quick reponses, most appreciated :thumbs:

I'll try holding the glass on with elastic bands! What about the eyepiece...should that be covered as well?
 
I found the easiest way was to slap a long thin length of bluetac around the lens.
 
I ordered a £1 adapter ring from ebay to glue mine too :)
 
Merc said:
You could glue the filter ring to the welding glass. Just remember to glue the ring the right side:bonk:
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This is worrying, what way round should the glass be? I thought it was the same both ways.

I superglued a ring adaptor to my welding glass and it works perfectly, I also started off with holding the filter on with elastic bands which work more than well enough, just a little fiddly though.

:thumbs:
 
Dal said:
This is worrying, what way round should the glass be? I thought it was the same both ways.

I superglued a ring adaptor to my welding glass and it works perfectly, I also started off with holding the filter on with elastic bands which work more than well enough, just a little fiddly though.

:thumbs:
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Sorry i wasn't very clear. Doesn't matter which way round the glass is. Just the adapter ring.:)
 
Beat me to it Merc ;)

Anyone know how to set a custom WB on a Nikon D80 to save me time in pp? Tried a search for tutorials but couldn't find anything???
 
Merc said:
Sorry i wasn't very clear. Doesn't matter which way round the glass is. Just the adapter ring.:)
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Ah cool, got me worries for a moment :D

Darren1978 said:
Beat me to it Merc ;)

Anyone know how to set a custom WB on a Nikon D80 to save me time in pp? Tried a search for tutorials but couldn't find anything???
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Not too sure how exactly it's done with the D80 as my D50 and D300 are both slightly different.

Take a look at this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U_I5CUMcDU, Hopefully that should help. :thumbs:
 
That sounds quite cool to have a '10stop lens' if you glue the welding glass to a lens ring permanently.
 
Dal said:
Not a problem, I hope it helps as I don't have sound on the work pc so just watched it very quickly.

obviously instead of the bit of cloth he uses, you'll use your welsing glass filter. :thumbs:
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It was useful....so I basically take a shot with the 'filter' attached, save the setting, then take the shot again and hey presto, the WB should more or less be spot on?
 
Darren1978 said:
It was useful....so I basically take a shot with the 'filter' attached, save the setting, then take the shot again and hey presto, the WB should more or less be spot on?
Click to expand...

Something like that yeah, you need to make sure that the word ‘good’ comes up on the LCD after you take your white balance reading before you carry on. If you’ve never set a custom white balance before the I would suggest you get used to setting it with a plain white piece of paper first (loads of tutorials on the net). Setting the white balance will help with all your other shots aswell.

I’m meeting up with one of my mates later in the week who has a D80 so I’ll see if I can set it up on his incase you need some more help with it.


:thumbs:
 
Dal said:
Something like that yeah, you need to make sure that the word ‘good’ comes up on the LCD after you take your white balance reading before you carry on. If you’ve never set a custom white balance before the I would suggest you get used to setting it with a plain white piece of paper first (loads of tutorials on the net). Setting the white balance will help with all your other shots aswell.

I’m meeting up with one of my mates later in the week who has a D80 so I’ll see if I can set it up on his incase you need some more help with it.


:thumbs:
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I tried last night in the house by pointing it at a light source and it came up with 'good'. I then took a shot pointing it at the same light source and the result was still a green colour cast :thinking: I appreciate that this method may not be ideal, and I was just playing around, but was kind of hoping I would get the WB thing sussed!

If you could ask your friend that would be appreciated, although I'll be in Turkey as of Thursday evening :thumbs:
 
Darren1978 said:
I tried last night in the house by pointing it at a light source and it came up with 'good'. I then took a shot pointing it at the same light source and the result was still a green colour cast :thinking: I appreciate that this method may not be ideal, and I was just playing around, but was kind of hoping I would get the WB thing sussed!

If you could ask your friend that would be appreciated, although I'll be in Turkey as of Thursday evening :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I have tried numerous times to get this right in camera using WB preset but I have not got it to work I always get a colour cast, that said in PP I can get it right but do not have the range to play around with after.
 
Darren1978 said:
I tried last night in the house by pointing it at a light source and it came up with 'good'. I then took a shot pointing it at the same light source and the result was still a green colour cast :thinking: I appreciate that this method may not be ideal, and I was just playing around, but was kind of hoping I would get the WB thing sussed!

If you could ask your friend that would be appreciated, although I'll be in Turkey as of Thursday evening :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Darren (sounds weird saying my own name lol), I’m going over my mates tonight to drop a lens back to him so if we get time I’ll try and set the whitebalance on his to see exactly how it works on the D80. I managed it on my D300 so it must be possible, the photo’s on my flickr are straight out of the camera with only a few levels tweaks.

Bruce120 said:
I have tried numerous times to get this right in camera using WB preset but I have not got it to work I always get a colour cast, that said in PP I can get it right but do not have the range to play around with after.
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The shots I’ve got of Durdle door were my first attempt and they had the colour cast and it was horrible to try and remove it in PP.

Here’s my flickr incase you want to see the images I’ve done so far.
 
Right, I had a play last night trying to set the white balance until I got it right. This is what I did (This is for the D300 though, so may vary slightly).

Set ISO to maximum setting (I did ISO6400)
Set aperture to lowest setting (I did f4)
Zoom in on the sky (either full cloud or full clear sky, not a mix of both),
Turn autofocus off,
Manually adjust the lens so that the sky is OOF,
Place welding glass filter in front of lens,
From here it may vary
Press WB button,
Release then press and hold WB button until ‘PRE’ is flashing on the LCD screen,
Point camera at clear sky or cloud ensuring the entire frame is filled with whatever you choose,
Press the shutter release button,
Ensure ‘Good’ is displayed on the LCD screen
Take a shot to check the white balance is correct, or near enough.

Do NOT use a light source like the sun, street lamp etc as this will still give a green cast to the shot.

You should be all set. This worked fine on my test shots, and allows you to have more flexibility in Post Process.

I hope this helps and Good luck.
 
I tried at the weekend while on Dartmoor and all I got was black photos with nothing. I did try different settings thinking it would be trial and error, but I expecting to get something after playing in Photoshop. I tried manual and the various auto settings on my D90. I'm probably doing something wrong but not sure what? :shrug:

I think my set up is better than the elastic bands. I used 5x cable ties and a lens hood. That way I can take it off quickly and swap lenses quickly. I did take some photos of my set up and will post later if interested.
 
Bruce120 said:
Worked a treat top tip

:clap::clap:
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Brilliant, what camera was that with, I can’t remember now.

Lester said:
I tried at the weekend while on Dartmoor and all I got was black photos with nothing. I did try different settings thinking it would be trial and error, but I expecting to get something after playing in Photoshop. I tried manual and the various auto settings on my D90. I'm probably doing something wrong but not sure what? :shrug:

I think my set up is better than the elastic bands. I used 5x cable ties and a lens hood. That way I can take it off quickly and swap lenses quickly. I did take some photos of my set up and will post later if interested.
Click to expand...

What settings were you using?

You must shoot in Manual to be able to get a long enough shutter. I’ve done some shots in Aperture priority mode with +5stops compensation exposure and the picture is still extremely dark.

Try this to get you going, ISO200, lowest aperture, 30second, or 1minute exposure. That should get you going.
 
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