Ultra long daytime exposures - 5D mkiii

[faccray]

..love long daytime shots as well with my black glass.... here's one I took with a B+W 10 stopper on my 5DMK3

[arcanej]

@!ex, beautiful shots!

How did you mount the gel to the 14mm?

[Daniel Flather]

@!ex, beautiful shots!

How did you mount the gel to the 14mm?

The 14L has a gel holder in the back, much like the 8-15L.

[Krob78]

Been playing around with some black glass (or film) recently.  Here are a few of my first attempts.  I can get up to 20 minute exposures in broad daylight if I push everything to its max (or should I say min), but these are all around 4-5 minutes each.  All shot with the 5D mkiii and the 14mm 2.8 L II.


Empty at Rush Hour by @!ex, on Flickr


Road to Eldorado by @!ex, on Flickr


Neutral Density Time Warp by @!ex, on Flickr

That first image is exceptional Alex.  I really, really like it!  Great composition, color, and texture variety is pretty moving!  Very Cool 

[@!ex]

Been playing around with some black glass (or film) recently.  Here are a few of my first attempts.  I can get up to 20 minute exposures in broad daylight if I push everything to its max (or should I say min), but these are all around 4-5 minutes each.  All shot with the 5D mkiii and the 14mm 2.8 L II.

That first image is exceptional Alex.  I really, really like it!  Great composition, color, and texture variety is pretty moving!  Very Cool 

Thanks!

[arcanej]

Daniel Flather: I did not know that! I guess that shows how much I look at the back of a lens.

Where can one purchase gels that fit?

[@!ex]

Daniel Flather: I did not know that! I guess that shows how much I look at the back of a lens.

Where can one purchase gels that fit?

Any gel will fit, there is an outline on the back of the lens, can't remember exactly the measurements, but you just cut the gel with some regular scissors and then you pop it in (they are just like pieces of transparency paper).  A nice thing is that the standard gel size could actually give you more than one filter at the size you need, that way if you mess one up you can just cut another one.  I use a folded lens cloth to hold them in an old, small lens-filter case for portability.  Much nicer then carrying around a lee big stopper, which is why I prefer them.  Also they are much better in terms of color neutrality than glass because they are almost perfectly neutral, AND they are a LOT cheaper...

[revup67]

I want to use that technique to shoot empty streets...was there many people coming and going in during shooting? (like stairs and bridge ones).

With a B&W 10 stopper (example or ND 400 Hoya) you won't see any people coming any going on a 4-5 minute exposure. This is the beauty of that dark glass extending your exposure time.

Just don't forget to do the MLU (mirror lock up) to avoid vibration. 

I've read about the IQ degrading at F16 and F22 or higher (one of mine goes to F32) but I believe that only applies to shorter exposures example 1/15, 1/10, etc.  if you have that lens open long enough the sensor will pick up more detail, colors etc which would somewhat mitigate the worry over IQ (excluding diffraction of course).

[revup67]

Hey Alex..nice shots especially the first one - very clean.  Seems there might be a bit too much under exposure on the second and third though not sure if that happened in post and the over exposure on the sun perhaps too long on the time allowance?  Just some thoughts and I did see you mention these are not HDR.

[rahkshi007]

Another new one from the other day.  I bracketed this image before the long exposure, but the DR was so good on the single long exposure that I didn't even need/want to use any of the brackets for the final image.  This is just a converted RAW, pretty much straight from camera...


Is Where I Drew Some Blood by @!ex, on Flickr

amazing !

[AmbientLight]

Great shots @!ex and thank you for sharing some of the ingredients (Kodak gel). I really love how you have chosen to collect more light using longer exposures instead of using HDR. Nice work!

[Jesse]

So an ND 1.2 is 4 stops. Where can I get one of these crazy 10 stop filters? I've never seen more than a 1.2.

[@!ex]

So an ND 1.2 is 4 stops. Where can I get one of these crazy 10 stop filters? I've never seen more than a 1.2.

Search the internet.  I think B&H or adarama..

[@!ex]

Just don't forget to do the MLU (mirror lock up) to avoid vibration. 

Any vibration caused by mirror movement should affect the image minimally, as long as the vibration lasts for <1 second, and the exposure on the order of minutes

I've read about the IQ degrading at F16 and F22 or higher (one of mine goes to F32) but I believe that only applies to shorter exposures example 1/15, 1/10, etc.  if you have that lens open long enough the sensor will pick up more detail, colors etc which would somewhat mitigate the worry over IQ (excluding diffraction of course).

Diffraction is the main cause of image degradation at small apertures, and it occurs regardless of integration time.

-h

+1, MLU is pointless on these shots as any vibration would happen so fast that no light would even be registered on the sensor yet.

[SPL]

So an ND 1.2 is 4 stops. Where can I get one of these crazy 10 stop filters? I've never seen more than a 1.2.

I got mine from Adorama,...it is a B + W 110 ND filter,...they are fun!.....