Tiffen 49ND9 49mm Neutral Density 0.9 Filter

Bought this with Tiffen's 0.3 and 0.6 filters. Why? Tiffen are great quality for the price. I'm happy to use the filters by stacking them, although I may go with a variable ND filter in the future. This time, I decided there was more potential for something to go wrong in the design of a variable ND filter, so I wet for three separate pieces of glass that can be stacked. It is more bulky, but this kind of kit is small anyway, and it was cheaper than the variable ND. My glass arrived quickly and is very high quality. Completely satisfied with the purchase. Best uses for this equipment: 1) Video work. If shooting video on your dSLR, you want control over the shutter speed. In most cases you'll want to be shooting at 1/50th or 1/60th of a second. Shutter speed affects the quality of the video, how action is rendered, in a way that is distinct to still photography. But shooting at these shutter speeds may restrict the aperture and/or ISO you can then select for a correct exposure. So, you pop one (or more) of these on your camera to get you to the aperture/ISO you want. 2) Landscapes where you want to blur clouds/water/other moving things. 3) If you want to shoot with studio strobes and/or speedlights to control the direction and nature of the light in your image, but you also want shallow DoF in the image. These filters are brilliant for this, and you can get really creative with it - this is how I use my filters most of the time, as I specialise in portraiture and video work. Someone posted that they're not very creative filters but, once you understand how they work, you'll find the precision they grant you enable you to get very creative indeed!

Why would anyone ever want to REDUCE the amount light coming into their cameras? With me and for many landscape photographers, it allows much longer shutter speeds to convey a real sense of blur, when the camera is bolted to a tripod. Say, with a waterfall in dull light and my Nikon D700, which has a lowest iso rating of 200, even with the lens stopped right down to its minimum, you might only reach 1/4 second - any longer and the image burns out. By effectively making that iso 200 an iso of 25 (as in 'old' Kodachrome) you can get a super-silky smooth flow of water at 2 seconds. Doesn't sound much, but makes a lot of difference in actual use. I use this excellently made Tiffen on my Nikkor 17-35mm f2.8 pro lens. In urban landscapes at night, I can get streams of traffic to build up more, creating a more spectacular photo without the streetlamps burning out the image so readily. Yes, a new one is expensive but its quality means that there are good secondhand ones out there, which is what I bought. The fact that they get rarely used means the condition is likely to be better than filters used everyday, such as UV & Polarisers. It is the only ND I own and which I rarely use but when I need one, I certainly don't wish for anything better.

Bought this for my 17mm Zuiko f1.8 lens. I would say overall good value for money with at this price. Colour wise there is no washout or shading change. It certainly enhances the taking pictures at wide apertures in bight light. Only downside is some slight vignetting on my lens. Seems good quality and pretty solid build.

Perfect

I use the 0.9 (three stop) filter a good deal and it is particularly effective when used in conjunction with multi-bracketed exposures, HDR processing software and when applied to strong sunlight. I find that contrast in general and in clouds especially is made to look very striking, and the derived colours are very attractive. You might find that RAW image previews are initially disappointing, but once your basic adjustments are done the results are very impressive. Tiffen produces a more expensive and durable range of filters, but this one is solid glass and easy to keep clean. A very good purchase and I would have no hesitation in buying Tiffen again in the future. A word of warning. Your camera previews will look very dark, through both the viewfinder and LCD screen, and it is easy to overlook unwanted details, especially around the edges of the frame. Be extra careful with composition and take your time. And because your exposures are going to be slowed down, use a tripod when necessary.

I bought this filter so that I could use a slower shutter speed in order to get some special effects in bright light conditions. eg photgraphing waterfalls to give them a surreal look. It certainly does the job for that kind of thing. I don't understand the technical claim that this filter eliminates overly bright washed out images. I thought this problem was simply down to over exposure which can be controlled by a combination of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Mind you, I don't claim to be an expert, being am amateur photographer and all that. In any event - I recommend it. haven't come across any problems with using it.

Does what it says on the tin, well built and gets the job done, these filters are quality products

I bought this to photograph waterfalls, river, skies etc with longer exposure during the day and this works well for that, it's a great filter and it's built to last. The best thing about it is that the actual darkening part is inbetween two clear glass pieces so it's easy to clean and ok with some marks on it which is good. It's good because mine came with marks on it, it's got 2 very small scratches along one edge, these don't show up in the pictures for the reasons above so it's not such a big thing but i'm still slightly put out that amazon didn't state this.

Good quality. Works great and easier than using a variable ND for shooting video.

Excellent quality filter, colour seems very neutral, threads are exceptionally smooth. Great bang for the buck!

Good quality product

Tiffen ( con Hoya e Genustec) è il TOP dei filtri ND (ed è importante non prendere cinesate che rovinano la ripresa). Questo tiffen, comprato a prezzo stracciato su Amazon Warehouse Deals, non smentisce la sua grande qualità ottica e dei materiali. Comprato per risolvere il problema del Lumix 20 mm f 1,7. E' si luminosissimo, ma non chiude oltre f.16, cioè manca f22, e nelle giornate di sole sovraespone severamente. L'unica (e semplice) soluzione è mettere un ND da 3 stop, e questa marca è consigliatissima

Para mí ha sido muy útil. Resultados satisfactorios. Recomendable.