ND filter confusion.

F

Foggy

Having begun to shoot a lot of outdoor scenes recently I have started to struggle with keeping a nice shallow depth of field without having to adjust my shutter speed to maintain correct exposure.

It seems I need an ND filter but I am having trouble working out what purchase to make,I really don't have a lot of money to spend but will stretch myself as I don't see the point in putting a cheap piece of glass in front of my very much nicer piece of canon glass(50mm F1.4,my new favourite lens!).

My kit lens has a 52mm thread but information on the canon lens is mixed,with some sources saying it has a 52mm thread and some saying it has a 55mm thread.

I was thinking a good solution to this could be to use a step up ring from 52mm to 55 mm then buy 55mm filters that will fit on both lenses no matter what.

Will a 55mm filter cause vignetting on my 50mm lens or is the 5mm extra enough?

I have been looking at the hoya kits that come with a pouch and a few filters, my worry is that a lot of the ones on ebay seem cheap and come from Hong Kong,I am suspicious that they are just cheap filters but with Hoya labels on them.

Does anyone have experience of these ebay Hoyas?

I need to order this weekend as I have several shooting days in the schedule this week and would need the filters by then but I also don't have money to burn.

Cheers.
 
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Your lens will have the filter thread size printed on it. It looks like 52 Ø, or whatever the size number is.

The super-cheapo filters are pretty dodgy, yup. I recently picked up a set of 5 for $17 or so; cheap plastic lenses, and the ND shades all had a greenish hue as well. Heh :blush:

Tiffen is a reasonable brand for a reasonable price.

Dunno about the stepup rings.

.
 
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You should have no vignette issues on a 50mm lens. Unless what you put in front of the lens is actually smaller than the threaded mount, you don't start to see vignetting until you get to wide lenses (16mm or shorter).
 
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I might suggest a variable ND filter. I picked up one in 77mm size, and a bunch of different step up rings, so that I can use it on a number of different lens. I think I spent $175 for the one I have. I know they run up much higher, but had read good reviews on the one I bought.
 
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Jeff Troiano said:
I might suggest a variable ND filter. I picked up one in 77mm size, and a bunch of different step up rings, so that I can use it on a number of different lens. I think I spent $175 for the one I have. I know they run up much higher, but had read good reviews on the one I bought.
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I too did what you have done. Picked up a $150 variable ND filter with some adapter rings for different lens sizes. I use it pretty much whenever I am outside
 
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I doubt there is any workaround the price for great filter. best are square filters for matter box,but those cost a lot. Variable NDs will have worse quality same as zooms vs primes. All NDs will give a colour cast and some sort of artefacts, top quality issues will be minimal, but once again pricey. if it is urgent one job thing ,than yeah a filter in the range of 100$ will suffice, but its going to be unwise if it is a long term investment. It only hurts once
 
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