I would be very interested in any ones experience with variable ND filters. I am contemplating buying one. I have read so many conflicting opinions, from the best thing since sliced bread to junk. I would like your experience and any recommendation of brand types if you have any. Thanks for your help.
Posted by Greg Lessard on March 3, 2014 at 6:07 AM
I love variable NDs. I use mine almost exclusively for waterfall and ocean photography for when I want to slow the shutter speed down to blur the movement of the water. I also use the same technique with moving clouds. I use a Singh Ray Vari N Duo (polarizer and ND combined). Singh Ray is expensive, but I have been very happy with their products. I really like that you can get the owner of the company on the phone if you have a question or concern.
I'm with Greg. I use the Singh Ray Variable ND & for the same reasons. I've had no problems with it at all. There is no color cast & no other issues. It takes a little getting used to in dialing in a shutter speed, but once you get the hang of it, it's sweet. You can turn it down to two stops, get your focus right, then dial it up to the amount of filtering you want. With a fixed ND filter, you can't adjust the amount of filtering & you are stuck with whatever is in your bag.
You'll get minimal vignetting at really wide angles (16mm on a full frame camera), but not bad at all. As long as you allow for that for minimal cropping or post processing, that's not an issue either.
Same with me, Richard. Mine is a Tiffen variable 8-stop that I use on a micro 4/3 system. I also have a fixed 10-stop for my fx Nikon. They're a lot of fun to use; takes practice and more time per shot. A friend of mine uses one for street scenes as well as landscape and gets some very interesting, good looking results.
Discussion
3 repliesYou'll get minimal vignetting at really wide angles (16mm on a full frame camera), but not bad at all. As long as you allow for that for minimal cropping or post processing, that's not an issue either.