This little DIY "hack" from MrCheesyCam on YouTube shows you how to add a 3 stop ND filter to lenses that you might otherwise not be able to (such as the MFT Rokinon Fisheye as shown in the video). All the components needed for this nifty little mod cost well under $10.
Using the Rosco gel (#3404), you can cut down on the light coming hitting the sensor by 3 stops, allowing you to shoot wide open on your lens without having to jack up shutter speed or drop down into the "low" ISO settings.
Here's a comparison (from the video) of the effects of this mod:
Disclaimer: I haven't personally played around with this mod, I anticipate giving it a try with one of my fisheye lenses but there's always an element of risk when messing around with your camera or optics. Be careful!
If you do give the mod a shot be sure to tell us how it worked for you in the comments below.
[Via MrCheesyCam]
15 Comments
Good idea if you have rokinon lenses...
Why would you put a cheap strobism gel after say an 85 1.4 or even a 50 1.8, be ot Canon or nikon.... You pay big bucks for optical quality then put a cheap filter on...
You can add a filter to an 85mm or 50mm Canon lens on the front. You cannot add a filter on the front of a Fisheye. That is the point of this video.
Good point and nice mod :)
Because it eluded from everyone with thousands of dollars of video gear to budget for a 100$ matte box?
Most matte boxes won't work on a fisheye, fisheyes are 180 degrees corner to corner which no matter how huge the matte box is you'll be able to see it
Hm well I stand corrected, resourceful hack then.
And let's face it, matte boxes, though making the rig look considerably more 'I AM A FILMMAKER LOOK AT ME', are truly a 20th century pain in the ass. It's high time we had a digital ND, a material where voltage is applied to vary the light transmission of the glass. The CheesyCam trick is cool but on the practicality side, it's a nightmare. Heliopan vari-ND the way to go if your camera lacks a built in filter I think.
An LCD will change darkness with voltage, though I'm not too sure what advantage you'd get over a traditional variable ND filter.
While were thinking of outside the box ideas, what could be interesting is a lens adaptor (say Canon FD to Sony E) with a little slot for a filter. - Heck you could easily build one at home with a cheap ebay adaptor and a hacksaw.
Hahahahahahaha...sub $10 filter on glass worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Has anyone not actually inspected a photo after doing this? I have for curiosity, and it absolutely wrecks quality and sharpness. Pictures out of an old 4mp Canon 1D look better than this thing does behind a lens on a 5D3.
If you're referencing the images above, that's a screen grab from the video. Those aren't the actual results. I have provided a 400% zoomed in example, and as an option to a 'fisheye lens' in which you can't easily add a filter, the results are more than acceptable.
Well then... I guess I don't have to fret over that ND issue with my 14-24 anymore.
Holy smokes ! It's never a good idea to place anything inside the mirror box..period. At 11 FPS, if this was to have come off.... Oh the humanity !
My Sigma 12-24mm D DG HSM already has a filter plate at the rear of the lens, so no worries with the sticky tape as it's made for doing this. :)
And you couldn't just turn the exposure down because.... Split this in half or/and print your on gradients on some transparent slides sheets and then you have a hack. This is just proof of concept, nothing more.
Gel in front of the lens to change the color of our wool and other things when light painting. Not quite the same but could be implemented easily for the light painters out there.
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