okay let's just get this set up perfectly okay I think we got that
perfectly shallow depth-of-field looks great right what is up people Dunna
here and in today's video we're gonna be talking about ND filters how you can be
using them to improve your photos and videos and a couple of helpful little
tips on choosing and using ND filters the folks over at PolarPro were nice
enough to sponsor this video and to hook me up with some nice new filters so I
can show you the amazing things you can do with them first let's break down what
ND filters are there are thousand videos out there that say a similar thing so
you may have heard this before if you want to step up your filmmaking game you
have to have these make your footage look more cinematic with this amazing
tool and the bottom line is they're right but since there are so many of
them I'm gonna try and keep my explanation brief and focus more on the
practical stuff later in the video the short explanation that a lot of us have
heard is that ND filters are like sunglasses for your camera they don't
work very well as actual sunglasses nd filters or neutral density filters are a
piece of glass that you put in front of your lens to make the image darker if
you've seen my video on the exposure triangle you know that you can
manipulate your light using your aperture shutter speed and ISO but
having an ND filter gives you one more function of control making your exposure
triangle into an exposure square for video it allows you to keep your
aperture where you want it for that shallow depth of field without having to
adjust shutter speed from the optimal setting for photography it allows you to
adjust the shutter speed for creative motion blur while again maintaining your
aperture however there are different types of ND filters out there there are
fixed ND filters that offer a specific number of stops of darkening like these
PolarPro quartzline filters I have the nd 16 which makes the image darker
by 4 stops and I have the nd 1000 which makes it darker by 10 stops but
sometimes fixed nd filters can be limited you need to have a whole set of
them to make different darknesses and it takes a whole bunch of time to screw
them on and off of your lens that is where variable ND filters come in handy
and polarpro just release these brand new Peter McKinnon variable ND
variable nd filters consist of two pieces of glass and the front one is
rotatable as you rotate the front piece the filter makes the image darker
hence the variable part of variable ND filter it's fairly obvious how
convenient this can be by being able to screw on one filter and just twist it to
change the light now in the past I liked using my fixed ND filters because they
often produced better image quality because of the way that variable ND
filters work with the two pieces of glass even with some of the more
expensive ones you can still get vignetting loss of sharpness and that
crazy black X if you push them too far these are things that you don't see on
fixed nd filters with a single piece of glass the nice thing about the Peter
MccKinnon filters is that they take all of those problems and they just toss
them out the window the Peter McKinnon variable ND filters or PMVND
as I like to call them name might catch on use polarpro's premium quality fused
quartz glass elements with the lowest refractive index on the market let me
break that down because I know it sounded pretty complicated you spent a
decent amount of money buying a nice lens right that lens is a tube with a
whole bunch of expensive pieces of glass in it that makes things look nice
someone took a lot of time and care to pick nice high quality glass to make
that lens with Polar Pro filters you're not putting some cheap crappy glass in
front of your nice glass and ruining it you're putting super high-quality fused
quartz glass in front to retain that quality so when they say the lowest
refractive index on the market basically what that means is that it isn't going
to ruin your sharpness or your color like some cheap quality filters all that
being said because I know someone's going to say something in the comments
these things aren't necessarily cheap to pick up if you want to make sure that
you're getting premium quality you're gonna have to pay a premium price just
like so many things in life I've gradually stepped my way up from really
cheap filters to more expensive ones and I'm super glad that I did because it
makes a huge difference but only you know what makes sense for you the
variable NDS from polar Pro come in two different darknesses there's a two to
five stop and there's a six to nine stop filter for different situations but
Dunna how can I use ND filters to make my photos and
videos better I'm really glad you asked that question Steve you always have the
best questions first of all how do you choose which ND filter is going to be
best for the situation whether you have fixed NDS or variable ones it's nice to
put the right one on the camera the first try eventually this is something
that you'll get a feel for in each situation and you might be able to guess
the right filter but I have a quick trick that you can use to make sure
you're right and potentially to help you choose which filters you might need to
purchase first of all set up and frame your shot put your ISO as low as it can
go and set your aperture and shutter speed where you think you'll want them
for the shot if you're overexposed at this point you need an ND filter in this
case I wanted a nice shallow depth of field so I'm shooting at f/1.4
and I'm gonna be shooting at 24 frames per second video so I want my shutter
speed at one fiftieth of a second now we're gonna dial our shutter speed up
until the exposure is correct but we need to count how many moves we make on
my camera and on many cameras the shutter speed is set to move in one
third stop increments this means that every three moves is one stop of light
so we can count exactly how many stops we changed it before the exposure was
correct once you've done this you can dial your shutter speed back down and
you'll know exactly what ND filter you need in this case I would have normally
used my polar Pro nd 16 filter that cuts the light down by 4 stops and then
adjusted some settings after that this works great if you prefer to use fixed
filters but now with the variable NDS I have the option to use the 2 to 5 stop
filter and dial in the exposure even more precisely without having to adjust
more settings one of the coolest new things about the new variable ND filters
is that they've marked exactly how many stops of light you're cutting on the
ring so setting up can be really quick now this whole calculation process is a
lot less necessary when you're using the variable nd filters since you have a
range to play with thus making it even easier with these filters the 2 to 5
stop is typically perfect for most of my run and gun video needs and the 6 to 9
stop is handy if I want to shoot at F 1.4 on a super bright day or if I want
to do some creative photography which brings me to my next point
nd filters can also be used to take long exposure photography to get a long
exposure you set your shutter time to a slower speed and it captures more motion
blur in the image but it also lets in a whole bunch more light potentially over
exposing your image this technique is awesome for smoothing
out moving water doing light trail photography or for trying to remove
people from photos for this use I could use the 6 to 9 stop variable ND filter
or in my case I'm going to use polar pros nd1000 PL which not only cuts 10
stops of light but is also a circular polarizer and I can cut some of the
glare off of the reflective surfaces and as if that wasn't already enough you can
do some really cool creative things with variable ND filters in video too you can
create in camera fades or you can change the brightness when moving from a bright
area to a darker area or vice versa the possibilities are basically endless
maybe not endless but they're pretty cool what you can do with them but as
always I want to know what you guys think
are you using ND filters for your videos or your photos using variable ones fixed
ones any cool tricks you want to share leave a comment below and on your way
down hit that like button and subscribe to the channel for more thanks so much
for watching I'll see you guys next time
ND Filters EXPLAINED | Featuring PolarPro + Peter McKinnon Variable ND