Photographing Waterfalls with a ND filter

[ornate_wrasse]

Hi all,

I will soon be going with a Photography class to a nearby State Park to photograph waterfalls. The instructor suggested I buy a two stop Neutral Density filter. I'm willing to do this but the question is: For which lens do I buy the ND filter?

He suggested to use a Wide Angle lens. Other than the fisheye lenses I used for underwater work, the only wide angle lenses I own are the 35mm Summicron that I use with my M6 and the 25mm Carl Zeiss in F Mount that I use on my FM2N. Both have different filter sizes, of course.

I'd like to buy the ND filter for only one lens.

I'd be interested to hear what lens others recommend to take to the State Park and take images of the waterfalls using the ND filter, the 35 in M Mount or the 25 Carl Zeiss in F Mount.

Thanks.

ellen

 

[schrackman]

Personally, I would get a filter for your 25mm lens. You can get closer to the waterfall and get more of it with that lens. Plus the wider angle effect tends to improve composition on these types of shots, IMO. I too am going to be getting a ND filter for my 18mm just for the purpose of shooting waterfalls and streams.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Kodachrome 25, Nikkor 43~86/3.5, 1-second hand-held, braced on a rock. Stopped down, no ND filter. Damn I miss K-25!

ND Filters are not expensive. What filter sizes do you need? Two Stop ND filter is a ND4x. A Polarizing filter for the 25mm lens will give a 1 F-Stop reduction, and would be my first choice. With the FM-2n, you do not need a circular polarizer. The D300 would require one. Linear polarizers are cheap. Nikon Polarizing Filters are made to stack on regular filters, so you could do a ND-2x Plus Polarizer for the 2 FStop reduction.

 

[mwooten]

You can also buy the ND filter for your largest diameter lens, and then buy a step-up adapter ring to fit it to your smaller lenses.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

Kodachrome 25, Nikkor 43~86/3.5, 1-second hand-held, braced on a rock. Stopped down, no ND filter. Damn I miss K-25!

ND Filters are not expensive. What filter sizes do you need? Two Stop ND filter is a ND4x. A Polarizing filter for the 25mm lens will give a 1 F-Stop reduction, and would be my first choice. With the FM-2n, you do not need a circular polarizer. The D300 would require one. Linear polarizers are cheap. Nikon Polarizing Filters are made to stack on regular filters, so you could do a ND-2x Plus Polarizer for the 2 FStop reduction.

Hey Brian, that's a cool shot! Was it taken out at Great Falls, by any chance?

My instructor mentioned buying a Polarizing Filter would be a very good idea. I forget the filter size of the Carl Zeiss 25mm lens. I just remember it's an odd size. I'll check when I get home later tonight and get back to you on that.

Ellen

 

[ornate_wrasse]

You can also buy the ND filter for your largest diameter lens, and then buy a step-up adapter ring to fit it to your smaller lenses.

I was thinking of doing that except that my largest diameter lens (a Sigma 17-70 that I use for underwater work) has a size 72 filter ring. To step up from 39 to 72 I thought was a bit much.

Ellen

 

[mwooten]

^
Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I looked up the filter size for the 25mm ZF, and it's 58mm. So the jump from 39 to 58 is probably too much. I think you might just have to buy a few ND's 🙂

 

[ChrisN]

I bought the size to suit my largest diameter lens - that's 77mm. With a full set of adapter rings I can use that on all my lenses, even the Leica. It blocks 25% of the viewfinder but I can cope with that, considering this is exclusively for use on a tripod.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

Aperture64,

Those are some gorgeous shots you've got there. I especially like the first one you took with your N90S, using Velvia and with the 3 stop ND filter.

I hope I can get some images as nice as yours.

Ellen

 

[Doug]

What's an effective shutter speed to get a smooth look without overdoing it? Several seconds, I expect?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> Hey Brian, that's a cool shot! Was it taken out at Great Falls, by any chance?

Skyline Drive, near Big Meadows. In 1978. (ouch)

 

[raid]

For some reason, I used mainly rectangular shaped Singh-Ray ND filters with gradation. The set for 3 filters cost me $550 at the time. I got it directly from Singh-Ray in Florida.

 

[oftheherd]

A question about how to take a photograph, in the RFF forum? How refreshing!

For less expensive filters, try some of the photo shops in your area. You asked about Great Falls; in this area, one of the Penn Camera stores or Dominion Camera in Falls Church have used equipment. The Penn stores should have used filters, I know Dominion does.

 

[Doug]

You can start at one second, but my top image is 4-5 and the other two are 3-4.

Thanks! I like the way the water looks in your shots.