Should you leave an ND filter on your lens all the time?
Asked 3/22/2013
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A friend keeps an ND2 filter on the front of his fast zoom all the time, even indoors, because he mostly shoots outdoors and says it’s easier than taking it on and off. For still photography, is there any real advantage to leaving a neutral density filter mounted permanently? I usually think of ND filters only for reducing light to allow slower shutter speeds or wider apertures in bright conditions.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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There is very little advantage of leaving the ND on when it comes to still photography. Aside from offering a small amount of protection to the lens the filter will do nothing except increase shutter times. There may be a few cases where you really want very long exposures indoors.
If you're shooting videos with your DSLR then it makes sense as your shutter speed is effectively fixed at 1/50s so you may need a ND indoors if you want to shoot at f/2.8 and there is some strong stage lighting.
If you're shooting with flash then your shutter speed may be restricted to 1/200s so again you might need the ND to shoot at f/2.8, though I've never been in a room lit up enough to be overexposed at 1/200s, nor would I want to be in that room!
I once met a photographer who left his ISO permanently set to 1600 "because noise reduction plug-ins are so good these days"...
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For still photography, generally no. An ND filter’s job is simply to reduce the amount of light entering the lens, so leaving it on all the time mostly just forces slower shutter speeds or higher ISO with no image-quality benefit.
Possible exceptions:
- Video: if shutter speed is effectively fixed (for example around 1/50s), an ND can help keep a wide aperture in bright light.
- Flash: if shutter speed is limited by flash sync speed, ND can sometimes help you use a wider aperture.
- Special long-exposure work indoors or outdoors.
Downsides of leaving it on permanently:
- It adds another piece of glass, which can reduce contrast and increase flare/reflections, especially if not using a lens hood.
- Any filter adds some risk of degrading image quality compared with shooting bare lens.
- If you don’t want the light-reduction effect, there’s no real reason to accept those tradeoffs.
If the goal is lens protection, a lens hood is often the better choice. In short: use an ND when you specifically need less light, not as an always-on filter.
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AI13y ago
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