Capturing long exposures on a budget

The results of long exposure photography are cool, and long exposure shots pack a punch and have the wow factor. To take long exposure photos you need a strong neutral density filter. It is possible to get the long exposure effects using weaker neutral density filters (such as three and four stop ND filters) but the effect is unlikely to be that strong, unless the ambient light is non-existent and you can stop the lens down to f22 or so that is. Trust me on this, if you want to get ‘proper’ long exposure shots you need a strong ND filter, such as a 10 stop ND filter.

The most well-known 10 stop ND filter is the “Big Stopper” which is made by Lee. This ND filter is very good, however it is damn expensive and when you consider it’s a 100mm x 100mm bit of glass, it isn’t good value for money.

There are other manufacturers besides Lee that makes and sells 10 stop ND filters as well. Some of these manufacturers are very good, and some of them are terrible. The price and quality of the 10 stop ND filters varies between them so you do need to take a bit of care before choosing what 10 stop ND filter to buy.

Over the years I have tried a Lee Big Stopper (it belonged to a photo buddy of mine at the local camera club – I didn’t own it myself), the Hitech 10 stop ND filter, a Zomei 10 stop ND filter and a few generic 10 stop ND filters I found for sale at some photography flea markets.

Out of the 10 stop ND filters I have used the one I would recommend is the Zomei 10 stop ND filter. The Zomei filter produced exactly the same results as the Lee Big Stopper and the Hitech 10 stop ND filters but at a fraction of the price. There is a color cast using the Zomei 10 stop ND filter, but this is easily sorted out using some photo editing software. Color casts aren’t uncommon when using 10 stop ND filters, and the Lee Big Stopper and Hitech 10 stop ND filter are also plagued with colour casts.

Overall the Zomei 10 stop ND filter is by far the best and it is the one I would recommend for all long exposure photography. For a full write up on this filter take a look at this “Review of the Zomei 10 stop NDfilter”.