Variable ND filters

[Bud Anderson]

Anyone using variable NDs out there for cine? Worth it or not?

[stu aull]

good Q!

Stu Aull
Alaska

[Dominik Muench]

cant speak for cine as such but I'm using a 4 stage variable ND on my Nikon D3s for stills and DSLR video shoots and they work really well. the markings on the actual filter (Genus) aren't super accurate and not calibarted in actual stops, so its a bit more of a guessing game, but in general they're a neat little tool.

I also noticed that when you use the ND stacked together with a polarizer, the image can get a bit of a greenish tinge....which isn't really a problem cause it can be graded out easily but its something you should be aware of.

[nathanail nathanailoglou]

I also noticed that when you use the ND stacked together with a polarizer, the image can get a bit of a greenish tinge....

What filters are you using ?

[Dominik Muench]

for my red gear i use formatt or schneider, haven't noticed a colorshift there.

but for the DSLR filming, the polarizer is a Hoya and the ND Fader is a Genus.

[Paul J Steinberg]

I have a couple of the Singh-Ray VariND's (http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html) for DLSR shooting and they work quite well but if you're working outside and you have them dialed in strong you can get some weird artifacts and a double polarized sky (two patches of sky on opposite sides of the image go near black). You can see it on the first two shots of http://vimeo.com/33378245 that was shot on the 1DmkIV.

Singh-Ray say that their filters won't cause IR problems but I haven't tested them for that. After testing the Canon C300 (http://vimeo.com/33630265) with it's internal ND's I'm looking forward to retiring the Vari-ND's.

[Dominik Muench]

http://www.genustech.tv/filters/genu...er-filter.html thats the ND fader from genus, looks very similar to Pauls singh-ray, wouldn't be surprised if they both come from the same manufacturer.

[Mark Toia]

Just one thing to remember guys, Variable ND's are double polarisers... It's a great way to ND, but man it can make a shot look ugly, especially with wide angles.
Skin reflections can be stripped from skin and peoples faces look plastic... Skies can go so dark they also look fake... food for thought.

But overall they are a cheap great way to ND...

By they way, Singj-Ray Variable ND is the best... but I'm sure over all they are all pretty much the same. :)

http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html

[Dominik Muench]

seeing all these Epic serial numbers in your signature makes my heart bleed Mark ^^ Leon showed me some of the latitude tests you guys did a little while ago...Daaaaaaamn, i cant wait for mine.

[Mark Toia]

Yes... My old mate Leon has most certainly seen some good tests of ours over the years with RED.
My favourite latitude tests are these ones...

http://www.zoomfilmtv.com.au/ftp/Dyn...tude_test..mov
http://www.zoomfilmtv.com.au/ftp/Dyn...rast_test2.mov