A Good Assistant of Landscape Photography —— Evaluation of Nestor Square Filter System

Before evaluating IT 168, someone asked me how to take good photos. Many people spend most of their time and energy on buying cameras and lenses, but ignore the importance of filters. In fact, they want to shoot a slow shutter. In the case of sufficient light during the day, the medium gray mirror can effectively slow down the shutter speed, while the gradient gray effectively retains the details of highlights. So today I will talk to you about the application of filters in landscape photography.

First of all, landscape photography is different from other photography. It is patient and meticulous. Behind each landscape film is the photographer's patient debugging, 1 and even several filters try again and again. This is very different from news photography or street shooting, which mainly focuses on snapshot. At the same time, it also tests the internal strength of a photographer. To make a good landscape film, a good filter system and tripod are essential.

▲NiSi filtration system

Then some photographers may say, if I narrow the aperture of the camera, can't I also achieve the effect of slow shutter? If I darken the sky in the future, can't I achieve the effect of gradually turning gray? However, in the case of strong light, even if the aperture is small, the shutter speed is still very fast, and the extremely small aperture will seriously reduce the image quality. Moreover, if PS darkens the sky in the later period, the details will definitely be lost, and once the photos are overexposed, they can't be pulled back. Even if the photos are in RAW format, it is better to shoot more details directly with gradient gray.

Medium gray mirror is a kind of filter added to the camera lens, which plays a role in weakening the light entering the lens. Medium gray mirror has no effect on color and does not change the light contrast of the subject, so it is also called neutral gray light-blocking film (on average, it only weakens the light intensity). It is mainly used to reduce excessive light. It can be clearly seen from the proofs that even during the day, the slow shutter effect that only exists at night can be taken. Nestor's ND 1000 square gray mirror can reduce the exposure by about 10 step, that is to say, under certain light conditions, if the shutter speed is 1/500 seconds, after adding this filter, the shutter speed will become 2 seconds, so you can shoot at a slower shutter speed, which is very helpful for atomizing running water or clouds.

▲ Ness ND 1000 Square grey mirror

The gradient lens is also a common filter in landscape photography. According to the different color temperature, there are gradient orange, gradient blue and so on. But now most people use gradient gray, and later the color temperature can be adjusted by software. This article GND8 can probably lower the shutter by 3 steps in the darkest place. Outdoor shooting scenes often encounter the situation that the brightness of the sky is higher than the ground, so gradient gray can come in handy.

▲ Nyquist GND8 soft gradient grey mirror

In terms of material, this filter adopts top optical glass -(H-K9L) combined with nano-coating. After melting, the H-K9L glass undergoes precise annealing to reduce the deformation of the filter caused by stress, and the optical polishing technology of double-sided ultra-smooth surface ensures the ultra-high definition of the image. It can weaken the light passing through the lens to reduce the exposure, and at the same time ensure the clear imaging quality of the picture, which can meet the harsh requirements of the first-class optical lens. Both sides of the surface are coated with waterproof and anti-glare ultra-wideband antireflection film (BBAR, green), which effectively eliminates glare and ghost, leaves no dirt and water marks, and enhances the scratch-proof function. It has anti-pollution and waterproof effects. At present, filter materials are divided into optical glass, float glass and polyester fiber (resin), but professional filter materials are usually high-quality optical glass.

▲ What it looks like after installing the camera.

Filter bracket is also a part that should be paid attention to when purchasing. The filter bracket of Nyquist 100mm system consists of a 100mm filter bracket, a 77-86mm adapter ring, two clamps and two screws. Two filters can be placed in two clips at the same time. The material is made of aerospace aluminum CNC- bulk, and the surface is oxidized black and matte. All nut parts are made of copper and plated with black nickel, which makes this product durable and reduces the influence of stray light on imaging. Personally speaking, it is very strong and easy to use.

▲ 100mm filter bracket

The price of Ness 100mm square plug-in filter bracket is 560 yuan, and the total price of ND 1000(860 yuan) and GND 8 soft gradient (860 yuan) is 2280 yuan. Compared with more expensive foreign brands such as Tianfen and LEE, the price of the same configuration may be more than double, and Nais's filter system can basically meet the creation of most landscape themes.

Nais 100mm filter system bracket Tmall flagship store price 560 yuan Click to view details.

Ness ND 1000 Square grey mirror Tmall Flagship Store Price 860 yuan Click for details.

Ness GND8 Square Soft Gradient grey mirror Tmall Flagship Store Price 860 yuan Click to view details.

NiSi filter real shot sample

In order to better experience the Nyquist 100mm filter system, the author took it out for shooting, using a Nikon D800 camera. The lens is AF-S 24- 120 VR.

▲ Nyquist GND8 gradient gray filter real shot

▲ Ness ND 1000 square grey mirror real shot.

Of course, in order to better experience the experience brought by the square external filter, users have to pay more patience and energy. I can't shoot at once when I go to a place. You must first set up a tripod and fix the filter bracket. After autofocus is completed, change the driving mode to MF (because ND 1000 is too dark, the camera can hardly focus), then insert the filter, and finally shoot. In order to make the shooting effect more perfect, you need to use M file at this time.

▲ What it looks like after installing the filter.

▲ The knob at the back is used to fix the bracket.

As mentioned earlier, the function of the medium gray mirror is to weaken the incident light. This Nyquist ND 1000 can reduce exposure value by 10. How useful is this? Look at the picture below. The shooting time of the picture below is about 3 pm 15, and the sunshine is still very strong. Even if a very small aperture is used, the shutter speed will not slow down and the image quality will decrease. So it's time for ND 1000. It can be seen that the incident light is greatly weakened, the shutter time is as long as 25 seconds, and the water surface is easily photographed as fog.

▲ Only the medium gray mirror was added, and the upper left sky was partially overexposed.

So was this photo taken? Of course not. Although the water surface was photographed as fog, because the brightness of the sky far exceeded the brightness of the water surface, it can be clearly seen that the upper left corner of the photo has been overexposed. Therefore, in addition to the medium gray mirror, a gradient grey mirror should be added to reduce the brightness of the sky without affecting the exposure of the water surface.

▲ The brightness of the sky is suppressed when the medium gray mirror and gradient grey mirror are used at the same time.

You can see that the sky above is not overexposed, and the exposure tone of the whole photo is basically the same, and the light intensity contrast is not great.

In addition, the gradient mirror can be divided into soft gradient and hard gradient. For scenes where the sky and the ground are not clearly divided, soft gradient is the best choice, such as the following figure.

▲ Nyquist gradient gray filter is not used, and the sky is white.

▲ After using the Nyquist gradient gray filter, the sky darkens.

By using the gradient gray filter, the details of the distant peaks are more obvious, and there is no obvious dividing line between light and dark in the photo because of the gentle gradient.

In addition to photographing the water surface, you can also photograph moving clouds. When climbing the mountain, I encountered a slight fog, and I was foggy together. When shooting a landscape theme, slowing down the shutter speed is definitely one of the ways to make the photo shine quickly, but maybe you have to be a little tired and walk around with a tripod and a filter.

▲ Shoot the moving clouds in the mountains with Nyquist ND 1000.

▲ Shoot the moving clouds in the mountains with Nyquist ND 1000.

In addition to outdoor scenery, you can also shoot in the city. Because the slow shutter is more suitable for moving objects to form smear, the best shooting object is water, people or vehicles. If the contrast of ambient light is strong, you still need to use the gradient gray filter.

▲ Ness ND 1000 medium gray mirror with GND8 gradient grey mirror to shoot the sunset.

▲ Nyquist ND 1000 medium gray mirror shooting.

▲ Ness ND 1000 medium gray mirror shooting light is on.

Overall, I am satisfied with NiSi's filter system. First of all, the optical glass material is excellent in optical quality, and no obvious color cast problem is found. The waterproof and oil-resistant function allows me to use it boldly outdoors. The price is more affordable than foreign brands, and the quality can definitely meet the needs of most domestic landscape photographers. The only regret is that the original factory only has a black soft bag, so it needs to be carried very carefully outside.

Xiang Ou IT 168 Editor's point of view: Although many SLR cameras now have various filter effects, for a rigorous landscape photographer, the effect of internal processing of SLR cameras cannot be compared with that of external filters. The workmanship and design of NiSi filtration system are of high quality in domestic filtration systems, and the price is reasonable. It is suggested that lovers who like landscape photography can try it.