What would you use a 3 stop solid ND filter for ?

Graham Roberthall

Graham Roberthall

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Graham
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I have a good 10 stop circular filter for the obvious uses of slowing down water and clouds but many people ( vloggers ) carry a 3 stop ND as well. I have given this some thought but do not really see when I would want to use one that has that little effect. Can anyone enlighten me ?
 
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The very first consequence on using ND filters is to
reduce the light input.

Two advantages:
  1. As you know, it will increase the shutter time
    or
  2. Permits larger ƒ stops to reduce DoF.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
•


The very first consequence on using ND filters is to
reduce the light input.

Two advantages:
  1. As you know, it will increase the shutter time
    or
  2. Permits larger ƒ stops to reduce DoF.
Click to expand...
I suspect it's the latter.

Allowing them to use f1.4/1.8 lenses wide open in sunlight.
 
In bright sun, if you want to shoot at f/1.4, Sunny16 rule says that demands a shutter speed of 1/16000sec at iso100. And as Dave says, if you need stay below a flash x-sync speed of 1/200sec or so, then an ND filter is often better than switching to high-speed sync (even if you have that option).
 
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I did mention Vloggers but I was thinking about those talking about landscape photography..... but I agree that there are times when reducing the aperture may be useful.
 
Graham Roberthall said:
I did mention Vloggers but I was thinking about those talking about landscape photography..... but I agree that there are times when reducing the aperture may be useful.
Click to expand...
I often use 3 stop nd's in landscape work. I'm rarely after the milky water look, just wanting to show some blurring - the 3 stop allows me to use slower shutter speeds but not so slow everything goes milky.

This is an example (may not be the greatest image but shows what I mean ...)
Portland_D810-0392 by Paul, on Flickr
 
PaulButler said:
I often use 3 stop nd's in landscape work. I'm rarely after the milky water look, just wanting to show some blurring - the 3 stop allows me to use slower shutter speeds but not so slow everything goes milky.

This is an example (may not be the greatest image but shows what I mean ...)
Portland_D810-0392 by Paul, on Flickr
Click to expand...
I have decent 10 and 5 stop filter a 3 would be useful too IMO for the same reason.
 
I suspect that I may be a little unusual, but I regularly use a 3 stop ND for motor racing!
 
I was really wishing I had one, when I wanted to pan with a slowish shutter speed in bright sunlight. Since I've had it, I haven't needed it for that o_O I have used it though for other things though.
 
I've never been able to bring myself to take a long exposure shot of water, good luck to those who like them but they're just not my thing. I have used ND's to allow me to take wide aperture shots in good light but these days all three of my quality cameras can shoot at 1/8000 sec or faster and that usually allows me to take pictures at f1.4 so I haven't used an ND for some time now. When my main camera had a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 sec I used filters quite a lot.
 
PaulButler said:
I often use 3 stop nd's in landscape work. I'm rarely after the milky water look, just wanting to show some blurring - the 3 stop allows me to use slower shutter speeds but not so slow everything goes milky.

This is an example (may not be the greatest image but shows what I mean ...)
Portland_D810-0392 by Paul, on Flickr
Click to expand...
Exactly this. I use mine a lot probably my most used nd filter. Find especially useful early and late in the day when a 6 stop for me gives me a to long of a shutter speed.
 
woof woof said:
I've never been able to bring myself to take a long exposure shot of water, good luck to those who like them but they're just not my thing. I have used ND's to allow me to take wide aperture shots in good light but these days all three of my quality cameras can shoot at 1/8000 sec or faster and that usually allows me to take pictures at f1.4 so I haven't used an ND for some time now. When my main camera had a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 sec I used filters quite a lot.
Click to expand...
I like them. A nice midleway between supersilky and totally frozen motion. Doesnt work for every situation but neither does the 2 other options. Just another great tools in the box of versatility.
 
I always carry a variable ND filter mainly for video use but it can be handy for stills as well as you can dial in the exposure using the filter. Like most adjustable things, it may not be as good a quality as a single purpose, also like most variable filters you cannot use it at its darkest on digital as it creates a cross shape on the image.
 
I often use a 3 stop filter, I don't always want everything to be silky smooth.

When shooting rivers, waterfalls or the sea I may want to show some movement without turning it flat, milky and uninteresting.
 
A 3 stop hard edge solid ND grad, dependent on the lens you're using the top half might fully cover the angle of view - effectively giving you 2 for the price of 1 and reducing the number of filters you carry.
 
A 3 stop ND has been in my bag for years, perfect for smoothing out water a little at sunrise/sunset.
 
Apart from using a 3 stop ND to get a minor movement blur mentioned several times above, I often use one stacked with a 10 stop ND to get long-exposures in stronger daytime light conditions. The 10 stopper alone is sometimes not enough.

Hitech are now selling both 13 and 16 stop filters to this end, but having a 10 and a 3 gives more versatility.
 
horrocks said:
Apart from using a 3 stop ND to get a minor movement blur mentioned several times above, I often use one stacked with a 10 stop ND to get long-exposures in stronger daytime light conditions. The 10 stopper alone is sometimes not enough.

Hitech are now selling both 13 and 16 stop filters to this end, but having a 10 and a 3 gives more versatility.
Click to expand...

I find 13 stops very usable on sunny days. BTW Hitech have a promotion on Firecrest ND filters at the moment, 25% off at checkout. http://www.formatt-hitech.com/promotions/
 
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