How do you use circular ND filter when shooting film? No LCD feedback...

[mood_lover]

<p>I'm trying to shoot some shallow depth-of-field portraits but need to kill some flash power with an ND filter so I can get a wide open aperture. This is easy to do on a DSLR because I can take a test shot, and adjust my ND until I like how the histogram and exposure looks. However, I cant figure out a way to do this on my Canon A-1 or RZ67, does anyone have any ideas?</p>

 

[Jochen_S]

<p>You are talking about a fader consisting from 2 polarizers? Why don't you buy a fixed ND to pull your digital to the film speed you are using, stack the fader onto it via an adapter and transfer it to a film body? You could mount / adapt it to a Sekonic spot flash meter too.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

Buy a flash meter meter and use ND gels on your lights.

[peterbcarter]

<p>ND filters on the lights will reduce the contrast of the scene to be shot. That may not be what he is looking for.</p>

<p>ND Filters for your camera will give you a known reduction in light allowing you to know how many stops to open.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

ND filters on your camer will not effect contrast.

[peterbcarter]

<p>That's what was said...</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Putting an ND on the lens is not the way to go. It makes the image darker so you can't see anything, and would make focusing more difficult.<br /><br />What you want to do is reduce the power of your flash units. First, dial them down to their lowest power setting if you haven't already. Then you could put ND gels on them. You could also use sheets of tough spun or other diffusion material.<br /><br />To calculate exposure, you really need to either use a flash meter. If you don't want to buy a meter, that pretty much leaves you at calculating the guide number for the gelled/diffused flash, then shooting according to the guide number. (put the flash 10 feet from the subject, shoot a series of frames from f/2 down to f/22, develop the film and pick the "correct" exposure, multiple the f-stop for that frame by 10 to get your guide number. Future shots are made by dividing the guide number by the distance to the subject.)</p>

[AJG]

<p>I have often used ND gels on flash units when shooting at wide apertures, and I have never had an issue with reduced contrast. +1 for Ellis's answer.</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>Ellise's answer agrees with me. Putting ND filters on the camera will not effect contrast, but putting them on the flashes will.</p>

[AJG]

<p>Peter--you're probably correct, but I've done this hundreds of times and never observed the effect.</p>

[Dustin McAmera]

<p>The OP isn't asking what to do with the filters and lamps; he's asking if he can preview the picture.<br>

You could take the picture with a digital first, and take it on film once you like the result; or you could use Polaroid; with the RZ, you can even take the Polaroid in the same camera. <br>

If you're using wide apertures anyway, why use flash at all? If you used continuous lamps, you could see the picture in the viewfinder.</p>

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[eugen_mezei]

What is a circular ND filter? Some people like to do things more complicated then they need to be.