A 10-stop ND (Neutral Density) filter is often all you really need for a variety of photography and videography scenarios, especially in bright conditions. Here are 10 reasons why:
1. Balance of Versatility and Practicality
A 10-stop ND filter offers a significant reduction in light (by a factor of 1,024), which is often enough to achieve the effects you want—such as long exposures, motion blur, or a shallow depth of field—without going to extremes.
It's a good middle ground: too few stops (like 3-5 stops) might not give you the dramatic effects you want, while too many stops (e.g., 15 or 20 stops) might overdo it and make it hard to manage exposure without losing detail or clarity.
2. Long Exposure Control
In daylight, long exposures can be tricky because the camera's sensor is getting too much light. A 10-stop ND reduces that light, allowing you to slow down the shutter speed significantly. This is ideal for photographing moving water, clouds, or creating smooth, creamy effects with long exposure.
A 10-stop filter is generally enough to extend shutter speeds into the range that produces the dramatic effect without making the exposure time unreasonably long.
3. Shallow Depth of Field in Bright Conditions
If you're shooting wide open (with a large aperture like f/1.4 or f/2.8) to get a shallow depth of field but it's too bright, a 10-stop ND filter helps you maintain that wide aperture by reducing the amount of light entering the lens.
This is particularly useful in outdoor portraiture or for situations where you want to isolate your subject against a blurred background in harsh light.
4. Ease of Use
A 10-stop ND filter offers a reasonable balance between stopping down the light enough for creative effects, yet without introducing extreme challenges when calculating exposure.
It’s also less likely to introduce significant color shifts or unwanted optical artifacts (like a strong vignette or noticeable grain) compared to more extreme filters.
5. Video Shooting in Bright Light
In video, you typically want to shoot with a shutter speed that is double your frame rate (for example, 1/50 for 24fps). In bright daylight, this can result in overexposed footage. A 10-stop ND filter allows you to maintain that cinematic motion blur while keeping proper exposure.
6. Size and Weight
A 10-stop ND filter is relatively compact and light compared to filters with more stops, making it easier to carry and swap out during shoots. Higher-stop filters tend to be thicker and bulkier, sometimes introducing noticeable image degradation, especially at wide apertures.
7. Limitations of Extremely Strong ND Filters
Filters that go beyond 10 stops, such as 15-stop or 20-stop ND filters, have diminishing returns when it comes to their practical application. While they may allow for longer exposures, they also tend to introduce greater challenges such as color casts, potential diffraction effects, and more complex exposure calculations.
They also often come with a higher price tag and can lead to longer times to adjust your settings, which could be impractical in fast-moving shooting situations.
8. Common Scenarios
Whether you're shooting landscapes with a waterfall, seascapes with soft water movement, or long exposures of clouds or city traffic, a 10-stop ND filter generally provides more than enough flexibility to capture the effect you're after, without going to extremes.
9. Reciprocity
In most practical cases of long exposure for landscape scenes you very most likely will not require any ND filter whatsoever and you can work it out by means of manual camera settings. To learn more on how to achieve long exposures without using ND filters, read my blog/tutorial on "Long Exposure without ND filters".
- Smaller Apertures (f/16 or f/22): If you're shooting at smaller apertures to get a deeper depth of field, you can often achieve long exposures without overexposing the image, even in brighter light conditions.
- Low ISO Settings: Using a low ISO, like ISO 100 or lower, helps control the amount of light hitting the sensor, allowing for longer exposures without introducing noise.
- Shutter Speed: In many cases, the desired long exposure times (e.g., several seconds or a minute) can be achieved without the need for an ND filter.
10. Light conditions
- Time of Day: During early morning or late afternoon (the golden hours), the available light is already lower, so you can achieve longer exposures without overexposing your image.
- Cloudy or Overcast Days: The diffuse light from overcast skies naturally reduces the intensity of light, which can allow for longer exposures without the need for an ND filter.
Conclusion:
A 10-stop ND filter is a great all-around tool for most photographers and videographers. It's powerful enough to create the typical long exposure effects and control light in bright conditions, but not so powerful that it becomes cumbersome or impractical for everyday use.