ND Filter in software

[e90jimmy]

Hello Canon Gurus,


I have been listening to some photography Podcasts. They have been talking about the wonders of Neutral Density (ND) filters and how they speed up time, and cause wonderful blur, and on and on.


So my question, isn't this the inverse of what we get with ISO Sensitivity? "Not enough crank up the ISO".


Is it possible to Apply an ND filter at the firmware level?

 

[mackguyver]

Hello Canon Gurus,


I have been listening to some photography Podcasts. They have been talking about the wonders of Neutral Density (ND) filters and how they speed up time, and cause wonderful blur, and on and on.


So my question, isn't this the inverse of what we get with ISO Sensitivity? "Not enough crank up the ISO".


Is it possible to Apply an ND filter at the firmware level?

Yes, you can crank down the ISO, as low as ISO 50, and raise your aperture to f/16 or even f/22 to slow down the shutter, but unless the light is pretty low, you won't get a slow enough shutter to get the ND filter effect. You usually have to use an ND and set your ISO to 100 and shutter to f/16 unless the light is low or you have a really strong ND filter.

You can blur water and other objects in PhotoShop, but it is very difficult to replicate the effect of using a ND filter.

 

[sanj]

Short answer: No.

 

[Hillsilly]

We just need an ISO 25, 12, 6, 3, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 and 0.06. With ISO 50, that gives the same as a Big Stopper without the colour cast. Problem solved.

Other cameras (such as the Fuji x100) have an inbuilt ND filter.

 

[SoullessPolack]

Yes you can.

In a way.

What I do during the day time is I take continuous shots, of say 1/15th if that's as slow as my shutter speed can go, for however long my desired effect is, say 2 minutes. In photoshop, I open up each image from that 2 minutes and then use the lighten blending mode (I think it's lighten, not sure though as I've made it as an action for a few years now). Voila. Looks almost exactly like as if I had an ND on there. If you really look at it hard, it does have some difference to an actual ND, but you have to be actually looking hard for it.

In general though, it's much easier to carry an ND filter, and I only use that effect if I've forgotten mine.

 

[jeffa4444]

Hillsilly

If you read the little piece of paper that comes with the Big Stopper you can correct the color cast in-camera by adjusting the color tempreture. Once you get the correct value just note it and apply it each time you use the filter.

in camera ND is all over you cannot do graduated and grads applied in photoshop dont look the same. I like the control of applying filters myself and always carry ND grads & a polarizer. I plan shots for the Big Stopper & the Little Stopper so only carry them when required.