Jump to content

Setting exposure with ND filters


MikeSR

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

To begin with, this is not something that is causing me a problem, it's just that I don't quite understand what is going on.

 

Where does my MM measure light for exposure? I thought that it was via the lens. If it is, why do I have to manually set things up when I add an ND filter (e.g. 6 stops for x64)?

 

I don't seem to have any problems with my orange filter... but then I do tend to work on manual most of the time and tweak.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

The camera's light meter measures light from about one-third of the sensor area, approximately the area within the 75 mm frame. It does not matter what lens is mounted, he area measured is always the same one-third area of the sensor. The meter is centre-weighted. Since the meter reads the light falling upon it, there is no need to make any adjustments for any filter, including ND filters. If you use a hand-held meter then you do need to take the filter density into consideration. But if you use an in-camera meter there is no need for any adjustments.

Jean-Michel

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

The camera's light meter measures light from about one-third of the sensor area, approximately the area within the 75 mm frame. It does not matter what lens is mounted, he area measured is always the same one-third area of the sensor. The meter is centre-weighted. Since the meter reads the light falling upon it, there is no need to make any adjustments for any filter, including ND filters. If you use a hand-held meter then you do need to take the filter density into consideration. But if you use an in-camera meter there is no need for any adjustments.

Jean-Michel

That's what I thought but it simply does not match my experience... I'll do a couple of test shots tomorrow to demonstrate.

Link to post
Share on other sites

To begin with, this is not something that is causing me a problem, it's just that I don't quite understand what is going on.

 

Where does my MM measure light for exposure? I thought that it was via the lens. If it is, why do I have to manually set things up when I add an ND filter (e.g. 6 stops for x64)?

 

I don't seem to have any problems with my orange filter... but then I do tend to work on manual most of the time and tweak.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

You don't. As it measures through the lens the camera will compensate automatically. And a sensor has no reciprocity failure...

Link to post
Share on other sites

I find that the exposure is quite inaccurate with moderate to dark ND filters mounted. I always have to increase the exposure 1-2 stops (depending on the density) to avoid underexposure. The "A" setting works great without a ND filter but once mounted, it somehow causes gross underexposure; I'm just not sure why.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

I had gone looking before but couldn't find an appropriate thread - so thanks for pointing it out for me. It appears that it may just be a matter of it being a bit too dark for the camera to work out. At least it shows that I am not going nuts!

 

Anyway, I shall continue reducing the exposure by 6 stops and shall continue to get the results I am looking for (I hesitate to use the word "good").

Link to post
Share on other sites

I find my MM can still meter with some accuracy with a ten stopper on the lens if you meter wide open then stop down and do the exposure calculation in your head. And the only thing that has momentarily had me baffled was in forgetting to switch off Auto ISO from the day before, and then the camera compensated for the filter, although the image at 8000 ISO still looked nice.:)

 

So set everything to manual and for complete accuracy use a separate meter

 

Steve

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not all high density filters say 6 to 10 stops have the same amount of infra red transmission. Some leak quite a lot of infra red which the camera exposure meter has a residual sensitivity to. This can lead to underexposure and also a red/brown colour cast (in colour work) since the camera imager also has a residual IR response.

 

There are ND filters claiming to have reduced IR transmission but I've never tried them.

 

 

Bob.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...