GH5 If you only had 1 ND filter to choose? - ND4, ND8, ND16...

A

analogs

Well-known member
What would be the most useful ND filter to own, if you can only afford one for your GH5 camera (or similar) and want to use it for general purpose?

I have a Tiffen variable, but with the Mattebox I have, I cannot fit the Tiffen as it is oversized at 82mm so I am considering one non-variable ND filter.

Thanks.
 
Probably ND 1.2 (which is the same as ND16).

But it really depends on the circumstances you're facing. It's easy to figure out what you need: just see how far off your exposure was during a common shooting situation for you when forced to change your aperture or shutter speed for lack of a filter.

But maybe you don't have to choose. The Ice brand NDs are quite affordable. I picked some up recently and I'm pleased - the threading is not great and they're a little fiddly to get on. But the glass is good:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1423214-REG/ice_ice_nd6s_77_77mm_slim_nd8_nd16.html
 
Kind of depends on what you are doing but the reality is adjusting aperture by a stop or two isn't likely going to hurt the image all that much. If it is a situation where it is so bright outside you just can't get the image dark enough then chances are you are already stopping down that lens more than you should and one of two stops isn't going to do the trick.

I would get a decent level of ND to really have the impact of making ND make sense. If your lens is stopped down to f22 that's already too much and your image will greatly benefit from four stops of darkness. If you are at f8 and just want to get down to f5.6 the aperture is perfectly fine for that unless you are going for a very specific consistent look.
 
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