[educationonlines]

...for taking pictures of landscapes with water to make blurry effects.

Yeah, I wanna experiment a little on my upcoming trip to Wales. Just have no experience with ND filters so far.

I have also heard you can obtain the same effect if you stack two polarizing filters... wouldn't that give the picture another tint though?

What would you guys recommend?

PS: for the record I plan on using my 40D with the 17-55 F2.8 77mm lens for most shots... and I already have a polarizer.

[Les Allen]

There are so many options when it comes to ND filters. Grad, hard or soft, gel or acryllic, screw in or 4x6, holders, polarizes, etc.

I guess the first thing is how much are you looking to spend? If you're going for a screw in (round) filter I wouldn't go with anything less than the top of the line B+W MRC (multicoated) filters. I have several UV(0) filters for all my lenses and they're the only ones I'll trust to put in front of my L glass.

There are a few different types of grads, but for the effect you're talking about (smoothing water) you'd want a straight ND.

Here is a 4 stop multi coated 0.6 filter, here is a 2 stop 0.3 filter. They also make an 8 stop filter if you need to really darken up the image, although focusing is pretty much impossible with the filter inplace.

As for slim/wide filters, I don't think you need to worry about a slim filter with 17mm on a crop body, but make sure the filter you're getting is glass, not plastic or acrylic, and multi-coated if available.

While B&H has good prices on most stuff, you might find a better deal at http://maxsaver.net/. I've ordered from them before and so have many other photographers. Just be careful while browsing that site, they make their descriptions confusing (I think so on purpose) so you need to make sure you read and understand B+W's naming scheme. One thing is for sure though, you want MC or (better) MRC if you're getting a filter.

I think that made sense, it's 4am and I've been in the darkroom all day sniffing Dektol and TF-4, so it's been a long day and I'm tired... [rofl]

[Diandaplaipsy]

Very appreciated!

I think I'm gonna try to find a B+W 77mm ND-102 MRC (0.6) SH Filter. However, the ND102 is only 2 stops eh... not four... Would that be enough?

[parurorges]

Well, ordered one for £59 including VAT & shipping, think it's a pretty good price!
Next day delivery, just in time for the trip!

[Adollobdeb]

I've never seen the SH designation. Is that filter multicoated glass?

Nevermind... I just woke up and completely missed the MRC in the title... lol

[lXvtm0ox]

Well, order was cancelled as these imbeciles replied one day later that they didn't have the item in stock (despite it being displayed as such on their website). Second shop in a row to pull that sh*t on me.

I so f@cking hate it when web-shops display "OMFG in stock!!!" in front of their items when this is clearly not the case. Now I'm leaving on Friday morning and I won't have my filter. F@cking great. [cursing]

[Liabmeasez]

It also depends what type of ND filter you want - standard or graduated.

A graduated ND filter goes from dark at one side to no effect at the other. Its good for landscapes, as you align it so that the darker part is at the top of the scene covering the sky, with the lighter portion at the bottom, covering the ground. Then its much easier to correctly expose the whole scene.

I have a +4 graduated neutral density filter, but I've not had a chance to try it out yet.

[Dabdklwu]

I have a +4 graduated neutral density filter, but I've not had a chance to try it out yet.

Something I will be looking to buy in the future, show some feedback when you get the chance to use it.

[ggiifdfalls]

Hehe funny you mentioned the gradient filters... I browsed the Jessops website in the hope of picking one of those up instead... they did have some in stock, but they didn't sell the lens fitting... [rofl] Go Jessops!!