Yeah, I just got one with a my UV filter...except using it at the beach is not an option since we still have SNOW! Sad face. ha
You cant be correct about not being able to change shutter speed.. are you?
Remember that on most 35mm lenses the sharpest image will be obtained at around f/8 or f/11, and after that the effects of diffraction will start to appear, making your picture less sharp.
If you want to go all out, there's always the Lee BIG Stopper…
That one is 10 stops (3.0). They also have a 4.0 which is 13 2/3 stops and a 6.0 which will take properly exposed shots of nuclear explosions or a supernova of our own sun (20 stops).![]()
CamVader, have you looked at the Cokin P series? It's a clip-on filter holder system originally designed for stills cameras, and uses square filters (albeit smaller than the 4x4 used in motion picture cameras). You can get started with a lens adapter, filter holder and a couple of extendable lens hoods for $30 or so, and the filters are pretty reasonably priced too. Some of their filters don't have a great reputation (though that depends on who you talk to), but if your budget permits you can buy P-sized filters from other manufacturers. Anyway, it's a lot cheaper than buying different sized screw-in filters for every lens, and it lets you use grads as well.
Yes, I've checked those out, but resin filters are not recommended, nor are graduated filters for HDSLR use for serious projects. Besides, I don't think you can get the ND stops required for correct exposure just using ISO and iris.
, nor are graduated filters for HDSLR use for serious projects.
Glass filters are certainly a lot better, but also more expensive, fragile and heavier… swings and roundabouts. Not sure where you got the grad filters thing from, any decent filter set should have a few ND grads in it - perfect for landscapes and other exterior masters, can even be used on tracking and panning shots so long as you're careful. Can't find it round now, but there's a great post by David Mullen ASC on another forum talking about his use of grads.
Wait, what?
Grads are used all the time on "serious" projects.
Sorry, I'd forgotten about the title of the thread… you're right, when dealing with highly reflective surfaces like sand or snow in bright sunlight, grads wouldn't be a whole lot of use.I'm sure it all depends on who you talk to, but in a general sense if you have a bright reflective surface from below (like snow or sand) and the grad filter upside down to compensate for that, you can still have blown out whites in the sky. Toning down the whole image would allow you to bring things up in post.
If you want a one size fits all solution, a vari ND may be your best bet. I would say though, that when it comes to capturing a usable image, grads are just as important - yes, you need to control your depth of field, but that's no use if the sky ends up as a great block of solid white. A .6 (two stop) grad should do most of what you need - if anything, photographers seem to use stronger NDs, as they have the luxury of picking any shutter speed they want. To be honest, I'm amazed you need seven stops worth; that's jumping from f/22 to f/2, but then again I haven't done a whole lot of video in snow!Make no mistake though, I'm looking for a dummy proof workflow for now. Essentially, one filter to solve what can't be fixed in post. 4X4's are pretty robust, although I wouldn't want to drop one, or a camera, from three feet.
Also, I'm pretty sure grads also don't come in ND strengths that are adaquate for video. Still photography and movie film have different options and considerations. If you need to come down 7 stops on a DSLR to have decent bokeh for a medium close-up outdoors, you need a ND 2.1. At least that's the way things are looking right now.