Toronto Photography Meetup Group

on a couple of occassions I've driven to Hamilton to take pictures of the waterfalls. I've read about ND filters and how they're very useful when using longer shutter speeds for waterfalls. I went and bought a generic ND filter set on eBay (one that had a CPL, ND2, ND4, and ND8 in one set). Unfortunately, when I used the filters, all the pictures came out with this red hue to it.


This picture is out of camera, using an ND8 filter

The red hue is very prominent with the ND8 filter. It's not as noticable on the ND2 but it's definitely still there. Is this because I cheaped out and got a crappy set of filters?

I'm looking to get some new ND filters since the ones that I have are no good. Any suggestions? What brand should I get? Also, I've seen these variable ND filters. Are those any good for image quality? I think for convenience sake, I'm leaning towards the variable ND filters. But this definitely depends on price. Realistically, my budget is about $100 but I know some really good quality ones can run up a lot more than that.

Main uses would probably be waterfalls, landscape with water or cloud movement.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
JC

Take a look at this link which I think explains your situation;
http://www.bulbexposures.com/home/2011/ ... -cast.html

I tried to google the problem and didn't really find anything, maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough. That's very useful, thanks!

I found a Tiffen ND1.2 (ND16) within my price range with IR, that should solve my problem!

Thanks again!
JC

All of the strong nd filters have a cast, and it's all different. B+W has a magenta cast, while Lee has blue cast I believe. Learn how to fix it

I shoot a fair bit with a B&W 10-stop ND filter and have never seen magenta; blue is another issue though! I shoot in RAW so colour correction is not a big issue.

Three related comments:

• the variable ND filters are a waste of money. While it's a nice concept, they introduce unacceptable distortion and artifacts, unless you buy a really expensive one
• take care to block the viewfinder of your DSLR. Light leaks will destroy long exposures.
• the Lee system is the way to go, but it's too rich for my blood.

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JMHO...

I've never taken this into consideration before...even though the shutter is locked/mirror moved, which prevents us from seeing through the viewfinder, it could still leak light...I'll have to experiment on my next LE outing. Thanks for the food for thought!

Documented on my blog here:
http://www.faczen.blogspot.ca/2013/04/new-header-observant-among-you-will.html

faczen - good to know on the variable - i haven't done much research on those yet - so i'll stay away from those for IQ

i do shoot in raw but i'm still an amateur with photoshop. I've tried to reduce the magenta in the photos but I've been toning it down to the point where i think the browns in the stones around the waterfalls become very bland and dull. So I think I need to play around with it more and learn how to fix it properly