Ahoj! This is Zdenka. What is the difference between CPL and ND filter? And why every photographer
and videographer needs one of each in their camera bag? Well, I'll explain everything
in today’s video, let's get moving.
ND filter and CPL filter are more then just 2 pieces of glass to protect your lens from
dust and scratches. Whenever you go shoot outdoors, your photos or video will look perfect
perfect, bright, colorful and cinematic. They look the same and lot of people get them confused.
They think they are the same. They are not. They do completely different things. What
are they?
The main difference is that Neutral Density or ND filter lets you control how much light
is getting into camera, so you can control aperture, depth of field and also your shutter
speed. Similar way works CPL or Circular Polarizing filter, but is more selective on what light
passes through to your camera. They manage glare and reflections and help bring colors
which is key for landscape and travel photography.
Let’ look at ND filter or neutral density filter in detail. What this filter can do
for you? It doesn’t effect colors in the image but it allows you to use wide aperture
on a very bright sunny day. Here is a video sample where I am not using any filter. The
aperture is high therefore you don’t get that beautifully blurred background behind
me, that cinematic look we all want. Let me add the filter on, lower the aperture all
the way down. Now the footage looks much better.
Another thing ND filter allows you to do is to shoot with slower shutter speed on a bright
day. In Video for example, when you are trying to capture time lapses and motion lapses with
that sweet blur effect. For photography you can take photos of fast moving objects with
blur effect OR you can take those stunning landscape photos of lakes with that water
kind of looking like a glass, or rivers and waterfall where the water is kind of flowing
very very soft. For that obviously you need the ND filter.
Lastly this filter balances exposure across the whole photo so you will get properly exposed
foregrounds and backgrounds and darkened sky.
Let's look at the other filter which is CPL circular polarizer. If you own polarized sunglasses
then you know what the effect can do. First of all, it will help you bring natural saturation
in the photos and video. So the images will pop. When I was filming in the woods and it
was overcast and it was wet everywhere I was using this filter for my B roll so it made
the colors very rich and pop. It made my footage a lot more cinematic.
Another amazing use is when you take photos or videos of lakes, it will reduce glare and
reflections so you can see through the water. The same thing happens with cars. It will
make their color pop, it will reduce reflections. I was using this filter when I was filming
in this town to get the sky blue and all other colors pop.
To use this filter simply spin it around until you get the desired effect. Keep in mind though
that the strongest effect will happen at 90 degrees away from light source such as sun.
These 2 filters are very similar and they often get very confused. ND filter is better
for blocking the light. CPL filter is better at bringing the colors and reducing glares
and reflections.
I can tell you that I use both filters equally especially when it comes to video. When I
am filming myself outdoors then I definitely always using ND filter to reduce the light
so the background nicely blurry behind me and I am in focus but when I am filming B
roll, where I am not, just kind of the surroundings then I pop on the CPL filter which makes everything
just more bright and colorful and darkened sky. It just makes it pop. It makes it look
whole lot more cinematic.
By the way I created very detailed video on how to use the CPL filter, so check that out.
The link is here or also in a video description below. Also, in a video description below
you will find links to these filters in different sizes. Which size of the filter do you need?
If you grab a lens, I have here nifty fifty, 50mm lens. Then usually in the front at the
bottom, here... is a number. Here it says 52mm. That's the size of the filter you need
for your lens. You don’t necessary have to buy all the filters for each different
lens if they have different sizes. You can also get what's called step up rings. I included
the links in the bottom as well. They are very inexpensive, they will definitely save
you some money. And as always, if you liked today's video, hit the thumbs up, subscribe
to all future videos like these. If you have any questions, or comments or simply want
to say hello, or just share something with me, please do so in a comment section below.
You know I always read all the comments and I always respond. And I am looking forward
to seeing you in the next video. Cau.... Ahoj...
Hit the thumbs up….. Cau… Ahoj…