I've often been frustrated trying to use my ND8 (3 stop reduction) to take longer exposures in daylight... Even by forcing the lowest ISO and narrowest aperture the maximum possible exposure often just isnt long enough to achieve a smooth flow of water in a seascape for example. I've recently seen some amazing images from other photographers who use a extremely dark ND filter with 9 or 10 stop reduction.

Has anyone use one of these filters?

They also seem to be hard to buy in Australia. Can anyone recommend where to find one for a good price?
I'll probably want one to fit a 77mm thread (10-20mm lens).

I haven't seen anything darker than an ND8 in a single filter.
But shooting with an infra-red filter (R72 from memory?) on most cameras I've had has resulted in far more than a 3-stop loss of light, and probably closer to the 9 or 10 that you are after. It depends on the IR-cut filter on the sensor. The side effect is that you'll end up with IR photos, but that's a good thing in my book.

I'd say that most people simply stack ND8 filters to go darker than 3 stops. If you stack 3 of them then you'll end up with a 9-stop loss of light (ND512??). The vignetting caused by 3 stacked filters won't be visible at narrow apertures, so it shouldn't be a problem for you - the only thing you might need to be careful of is a bit more flare.

Do you have a link to any of these amazing images you've seen recently? I'd be interested to take a look...

For a 10 stop ND filter the light let in would be 2^-10 or 1/1024. An NDx filter is 1/x of the light is let in...
Therefore you would need a filter somewhere between ND512 and ND1024 for a 9-10stop reduction...
AFAIK they do make ND1000 filter, not too sure on where to get them in Australia though
They would also be sold as ND 3.0 and ND 110 filters.

here is an ebay source of one

I first saw this filter mentioned in an article by Lee Frost in the March issue of Digital SLR Photography (UK mag).

Heres a few other examples that interest me:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/florenti...thing-goes

http://www.redbubble.com/people/kroekero...mming-hole

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepretender/2796249268/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aralani/2778073651/

Waterfalls and seascapes seem to be the most popular uses for such a dark filter.

Is the Hoya NDx400 like 9 stops?

Yes the Hoya is 9 stops. I've seen another 'B+W ND3.0 (1000x)' which is 10 stops.

I have a B+W 110ND, which is ten stops. I find that it's difficult to use, and isn't really colour-neutral - there's a reddish tint to many of the photos. It also doesn't lead to sharp photos, but whether that's a result of the filter or a result of the long exposure is impossible to say. I use a Gitzo Explorer 2220 tripod and a cable release, but there's enough movement in the ground (from traffic, streetcars, etc) to account for some camera shake.

I bought mine from B&H, but any B+W dealer should be able to order it. It is expensive, though.


13 seconds, f/18, iso200.

Shooting in bright sun still doesn't give ultra-long exposures, so for the photo below I've added a polarizer and shot on an overcast day:


98 seconds, f/11, iso200.

And a set-up shot taken during the exposure above:



Focusing isn't very easy, and the 110+CPol defeated the ability of my D700 to amplify its live view to the point where I couldn't really judge the composition. The solution(s) would be to work without the filter, or to take a series of wide-open high-iso test shots, before dialing in the correct long-exposure settings.

Great examples Matthew. The movement is very cool and is the sort of thing I would like to experiment with..

I found a 77mm Hoya ND400 online for $149 and ordered it today.

The filter arrived the day after I ordered it but today was my first chance to test it properly.

Waterfall Gully, Second Falls - South Australia.

The ND400 filter allowed these images to be taken at ISO 100, F/11, for 30 seconds in reasonably bright afternoon light through the trees.

Hmm can't find any on fleabay - only nd8's...

Hey apparently the Canon G series have an in-built 3 stop internal ND filter. I wonder if your body has a similar feature? Might help a little (every little bit counts)

Buy PhotoShop or LightRoom and do minor effects post image. Focus on getting the raw shot on site. Just my $0.02

matthew Wrote:And a set-up shot taken during the exposure above:

http://matthewpiers.smugmug.com/photos/5...pvjN-M.jpg

I've never seen a tripod head like that -- what is it?

Hi Anthony, welcome to Shuttertalk.

The tripod head is a Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head (product page), and I have a 454 micro-positioning plate (review) and 323 quick-release plate on top of it. The camera's being held with a Manfrotto 341 L-bracket. So the whole thing is a bit of a do-it-yourself assembly, and I usually use it for product / macro photography.

Looking at them again, Smarti's waterfall photos really are amazing. The second one looks like it's cast out of metal.