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Landscapes, people, and animals can be freed from photographic descriptiveness by blurring them. With an exposure time of just a few seconds, you can reveal new worlds in your photos. With neutral density filters, the lens becomes a brush and the camera sensor a canvas on which you can “paint” individual parts of the image, layer upon layer.

OpticalDensityfilter

In autumn, temperate streams carry not only water but also colorful leaves falling from the trees. An occasional leaf flicking across the surface of the water doesn’t do much. However, if you get more of them in the shot thanks to the long shutter speed, they can decorate the river with colorful ribbons.

Which filter you choose depends on what you want to use it for. To extend the shutter speed for portrait photography with a fast lens, filters with an ND factor of about ND8x (-3 EV) are sufficient. For a romantically blurred waterfall or river, choose a stronger filter. Usually an ND factor of 64x (-6 EV) is sufficient. The resulting shutter speed should be about 15 to 30 seconds. If you want to emphasize cloud movement, turn the ocean to mist, or remove people from the image, you’ll need even stronger filters, up to ND 20,000 (-11 EV) or more. There are also filters with variable ND factors. However, their optical complexity makes them more suitable for video, where sharpness is not as critical.

I read the article as being about ‘straight’ ND filters, mainly used for water and cloud blur, as opposed to grads, used mainly to overexposing part of the image.

Libor works as a biology teacher, guide, photographer and photography course lecturer. His passion is birds. As an ornithologist, Libor has studied the avian diversity of the South American Andes. He fell in love with this part of the world and since then he likes to return there with his camera to popularize its nature with his photographs, talks and articles. You can see more of Libor's work on his Instagram page.

Since ND filters are often used without a lens hood, high-quality anti-reflective coatings play an important role as well. High quality optical glass is also very important. I wouldn’t shoot with resin filters most of the time anyway, but especially not for ND filters. You don’t want to compromise the sharpness and contrast of your expensive lens.

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I think the main issue with NDs used to be the blue colour cast, which I had with a Lee 6 stop. Other manufacturers such as Kase and Nisi seem to avoid this.

Neutral densityfilter Ophthalmology

These are glass or resin plates that are inserted into the grooves of a special holder that is attached to the threads of the lens.

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My favorite magnetic ND filters are the K&F Concept ones here — this is a general affiliate link to Amazon, but I have no relationship with K&F specifically and am not being asked to promote their filters. I also trust the quality of the brands NiSi, B+W (except for my ancient one :) and many others, although most of them don’t make magnetic filters. I haven’t tested Maven’s magnetic filters but have heard good things about them as well. Let me know in the comments if you have recommendations!

Nice article, Libor. I liked the way you used the filters to make the treetops blur. It’s quite an interesting idea. I don’t use ND filters too often but this article makes me want to try them again!

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The harsh daylight sun can result in overexposure even at the camera’s base ISO and fastest shutter speed – especially with very bright apertures of f/1.2 or f/1.4. And if you’re using a flash in broad daylight? The pedestrian 1/200-second flash sync speed on most cameras is a quick recipe for overexposure. However, even a relatively weak ND filter is enough to bring the shutter speed down to playable values.

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Neutral density filters, along with polarizing filters, are among the types of filters whose results are difficult to replicate in post-production. Of course, not everyone likes blurred water, smudged clouds rolling across the sky, or leaves tossed about by gusts of wind. After all, like any other effect, this one should be considered more of a spice, and spice should be used sparingly.

Therefore, use the aperture as a pure “light intensity control” only when you hit a wall in the variables of shutter speed and ISO first. In fact, at the point where you’re considering a narrower aperture to reduce excess light, it is usually time for the appropriate ND filter instead.

If you go with magnetic filters, select a filter diameter that matches the lens of yours with the biggest thread. Smaller lenses can be easily accommodated with a step-up ring. If you are going to use the filter on a lens wider than 20mm, it is better to choose a slightly larger diameter to avoid vignetting, in combination with a step-up ring for that lens as well.

At first glance, these filters look like conventional screw-in filters. They are attached to the lens with a magnetic adapter that looks like a step-up ring. After screwing the adapter into the lens thread, you simply attach the magnetic filter. It’s easy and fast.

The most important parameter of any ND filter is its ND factor. It tells us how much light the filter absorbs, or how much light it lets into the lens. Manufacturers basically specify it in two ways. For example, a filter labeled ND 64x lets in 64 times less light than a naked lens. This is a bit of an abstract idea for many people. That’s why it’s sometimes expressed in terms of how much the shutter speed is increased. In this case, it’s 6 stops of light.

Nisi do a 6 stop CPL screw-in filter that’s pretty useful, as this article shows. The CPL element provides its own form of ND, so it’s not far off a 10 stop.

Unlike most photos, videos are very sensitive to your specific choice of shutter speed. Footage shot at 1/60 second feels a lot smoother than footage shot at 1/500 second! Videographers often carry a suite of ND filters to allow them to film at exactly the right shutter speed for the shot at hand.

“I read the article as being about ‘straight’ ND filters, mainly used for water and cloud blur, as opposed to grads, used mainly to overexposing part of the image.”

Neutral densityfilter chart

Neutral density filters come in a variety of densities. The densest can block so much light that you would need an hour-long exposure even in the midday sun. But which density should you choose for your ND filter? And under what circumstances do you need to use these filters in the first place? In this article, I will answer those questions and explain what you need to know about neutral density filters as a photographer. Who knows, even if you already have a bag full of ND filters, maybe you’ll learn something new!

Summing up the pros and cons of all three concepts, I find magnetic filters to be the ideal option for shooting with ND filters. Especially for the very addictive ease and speed of handling, which is on a whole other level compared to conventional screw-on filters. However, if you are already using a filter holding system instead, getting a rectangular ND filter would be a very logical alternative.

The filters we are talking about are called neutral density filters. They should therefore transmit all wavelengths of light to the sensor in the same proportion as a lens without a filter. However, reality is a bit different. Especially for filters with a higher ND factor, you should expect that the colors will not exactly match the image without the filter. With high quality filters, the difference may only be a few hundred Kelvin, but it can be as much as thousands of Kelvin. Judge for yourself how different the color rendering is between KF Concept and B+W filters.

As a general rule, neutral density filters are used so that you can set a longer-than-usual shutter speed. There are multiple reasons why you may want such longer exposures, which I will detail below.

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Excellent article Libor! Had no idea one can make objects disappear with a long exposure and ND filters. I have purchased a ND filter from Breakthrough Filters and find they are of high quality.

It’s easy. Just attach an ND filter of sufficient density, and set however long of a shutter speed you want. Even slow-moving subjects will show motion blur when you do.

Neutral densityfilter vs polarizer

ND filters also create interesting effects with the undulating surface of seas and oceans. Especially when combined with a stationary object, such as a cliff, a lighthouse, or a Sri Lankan fisherman catching fish from a pole sticking out of the seabed. The sea photographed with a long shutter speed looks as if it is boiling, or as if mist is rolling on the calm surface. The degree of “misty” feel depends on the density of the applied filter (and specifically the length of your exposure that results).

This is just another example of a moving subject, like I just discussed. However, moving water is the most common use of ND filters, so I have dedicated a special category to it.

The most classic use is when photographing waterfalls or mountain streams running over rocks. The rippled surface of a mountain stream can be smoothed by an ND filter like combing the silky hair of a water nymph.

When the crowds move, which is likely with exposure times over 10 minutes, the ND filter will turn them into mere fog. If a pedestrian passes in front of the lens now and then during that time, the people will disappear from your photo virtually without a trace. Thus, for architectural photography, ND filters are a godsend.

ND filter calculator

But we must not forget that the aperture is not only a technical device for reducing light, but above all, a creative tool. Each new aperture step increases the depth of field – sometimes a desirable thing, but not always, such as many portrait photos. In addition, narrow apertures are accompanied by a loss of pixel-level sharpness due to diffraction– so even landscape photographers will tend to avoid apertures as narrow as f/22

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Some places are unimaginable without the rushing stream of tourists. Only the Covid-19 pandemic showed me what the Prague Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square or the Charles Bridge looks like without people. So that we don’t have to rely on such events, which (hopefully) won’t happen again any time soon, we can use very dense ND filters.

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How many stops ND filter for video

Neutral density filters explainedfor photography

Nevertheless, I believe there are many situations where the use of ND filters is very appropriate and many photographs would be unthinkable without them. For example, the crowded Piazza San Pietro in the Vatican or the Charles Bridge in Prague. Or, at an even simpler level, portraits with very fast lenses. In those cases, the effect of the ND filter does not draw attention to itself – it just allows you to take the photo you have in mind.

Variable ND Filter

Yes, but it is bog standard to use a GND along with an ND filter in landscapes. For that matter, it is common to use CPLs with NDs. If there is a limitation that applies to using any of those filters, it is a limitation in using the system. I found the idea of magnetic filters quite attractive from an ease-of-use standpoint, but passed on them because of the inability to accommodate GND use, either with or without other NDs. That is why I posted my remark.

How would you photograph the motion of leaves in the breeze? What about clouds galloping across the sky like stampeding horses? Or a slithering snail that you want to look like a Formula 1 car?

A big advantage of rectangular filters that you failed to mention is that GND filters can be positioned with the transition anywhere on the image.

Neutral density (ND) filters are simply dark filters which reduce the light that reaches your camera sensor. These filters have been given the name “neutral,” because they are intended to have no effect on the colors of your photograph.

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As, photographers we often struggle with a lack of light, necessitating uncomfortably high ISOs or dangerously long shutter speeds. But there are occasions with the opposite problem: too much light. In these moments, neutral density filters are invaluable.

The classic way to reduce the amount of light falling on the camera sensor is to stop down your aperture, not resort to an ND filter right away. Let’s say we have a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4. If the lens’s minimum aperture is f/22, that’s a difference of 8 full stops of light. Lots of room to prevent overexposure!