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Home: Video University Forums: Sony DV and DVCAM Forum:
What type of ND filter for cinematography?

TeQ
Novice

Jun 19, 2005, 4:50 AM

Post #1 of 2 (743 views)
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What type of ND filter for cinematography?	Can't Post

Hi everyone, good day! My name is Hendra and im an engineer. Currently i have a sales project and require a big presentation (screening) for our latest product. There`s a long story not to hire a professional filmer instead im doing it myself. Straight to the point, im using a sony dcr-vx1000, If i want to make a movie with cinema effect (cinematography), what type of lens should i use during filming (Not post production). I saw a number of forum saying that ND filter is recommended, then which type of ND filter is recommended for outdoor shooting? There`s a number of ND filter from Hoya or B+W say 2x, 4x, 8x to reduce so and so ISO but im not positive wat they are doing with the picture quality. Then wat about Polarizer? please advise. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thx and good luck.

hlanden
The Dean / Moderator

Jun 22, 2005, 10:58 AM

Post #2 of 2 (722 views)
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Re: [TeQ] What type of ND filter for cinematography? [In reply to]	Can't Post

ND means Neutral Density. These filters restrict the quantity of light entering the lens. An ND 3 filter reduces the light by one f stop, ND 6 filter reduces the light by two f stops. ND 9 reduces it by three f stops.

One f stop would be, for instance, from f 11 to f 8
Two f stops would be from f11 to f 5.6
Three f stops woule be from f11 to f4

It is worth your while to lean ore about f stops, depth of field and such. This a major creative control which can affect what parts of your shot are in focus and which are not. The Kodak web site has some excellent tutorials on the thes controls and how they camn improve your photography. Don't worry that you are doing video rather than photography. There are amny important lessons to learn from photography that will dramatically improve your video. This is true even if you camera does not mark f stops on the lens.

Hal
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