I was hoping for a good sunset but alas the weather decided otherwise. Anyway with a couple of fellow PRIME photographers , we decided to still venture out to Raffles Marina to do some photography.
I personally wanted to re-confirm how easy it was to use NiSi's new S5 Filter Holder system in low light conditions (after 7pm)
I am glad to re-confirm that the S5 system is extremely easy to screw on to the hood of my Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8G ED Ultra Wide angle lens. Definitely under 60 seconds , actually it took me just about 30 seconds to get it on firmly without any issues at all.
Now comes what I thought was the "tougher" part , inserting both NiSi 150mm filters into the holder when I can't really see the filter grooves clearly with my poor eyesight ha ha ha. I inserted the following filters in sequence :
1. 10 Stops ND (Nano IR ND1000 (3.0) , 150mm x 150mm - slot nearest to the lens
2. 3 Stops medium GND (Nano IR GND8 (0.9) , 150mm x 170mm - into remaining slot
Even my fellow photographers was interested to hear if any "swear" words would be uttered by yours truly ..... but I had no problems at all. Even in the low light conditions , I had no issues inserting both filters in firmly and smoothly.
The reverse side of the NiSi 10 Stops Nano IR ND1000 (3.0)
You can see the foam which prevents light leak (light leaking into the DSLR impacting IQ)
Image by iPhone 6+
The elegant looking filter cases and the S5 filter holder with both filters inserted
Image by iPhone 6+
The Lighthouse scene at Raffles Marina on a very grey cloudy evening.
I had wished for a better (non - greyish) weather to show off the advantages of using the appropriate filters. Even then , the images (top) below show the advantage that can be garnered by using the filters in place.
With both NiSi filters in place (original JPEG FINE*)
ISO200 , f10.0 , 3 minutes exposure
Without any filters in place (original JPEG FINE*)
ISO200 , f10.0 , 1/4 seconds exposure
Advantages with filters in place
1. Better exposure balance between the brighter & darker portions of the scene
2. No visible color cast with the Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8G ED
3. Better details retention in the highlight areas
4. Ability to expose longer (3 minutes) removes the people present in the scene
5. Ability to capture motion streaks with the slow moving clouds
Dis-advantages
1. I need to do additional work to remove and keep the filter system ( I am being humorous here)
The FINAL Post-produced Lighthouse scene
With the base image image captured with both filters in place , I had a great starting point to put on my finishing touches to the scene.
1. Tweaked the contrasts
2. Increased the color vibrancy (note the colors in the original were truer to the actual scene)
3. Corrected the UWA distortion (distortion is unavoidable & normal),lighthouse & lower left area
Click on image to enlarge to a Flickr Lightbox version
....... and the base image also makes for a great monochrome conversion with the clouds motion streak and balanced exposure. So even though I had wanted great weather , this is evidence that with the right setup , one can still produce attractive images irrespective of weather.
Click on image to enlarge to a Flickr Lightbox version
Thanks for reading !! Have a great day folks and Happy Shooting !
More from NiSi and my D850 to come.
Cheers.
Andrew