Lens Filter
Capture beautiful images as you intend.
You want to show the water flowing, but the shutter speed is too fast, so it stops the water movement. Should you just give up on shooting with slow shutter speeds during the day?
This is where the ND (Neutral Density) filter is useful. It reduces the amount of light that enters the lens. There are various types of ND filters, such as the ND2, ND4 and ND8 (LUMIX optional accessory). The ND2 reduces the amount of light to 1/2, the ND4 reduces it to 1/4, and the ND8 reduces it to 1/8.
As a result, when shooting at a shutter speed of 1/250, an ND2 will slow it down to 1/125, an ND4 will slow it down to 1/60, and an ND8 will slow it down to 1/30. The ND8 filter can be used with LUMIX.
Shooting Tips
• Reduce the aperture. The greater the F value, the less light will enter the lens.
• Set the ISO to a low level. When the ISO is high, the shutter speed is faster.
Show the Flow of Water
In bright places where you can only slow down the shutter speed a certain amount, you can lower it more by decreasing the intensity of the light entering the lens. This lets you express the flow of water in mountain streams, waterfalls and fountains.
Open the Aperture under Clear Skies
Fully opening the aperture under clear skies often results in overexposure. Mounting an ND8 filter reduces the light intensity by three stops. In other words, when fully opening an F2.8 aperture, the light is suppressed to the same level as an F8 aperture.
Control Image Fading under Clear Skies
The strong sun rays reflected from the ocean in summer and ski slopes in winter frequently result in overexposure even when you reduce the aperture or raise the shutter speed. Mounting an ND filter suppresses the light intensity to prevent fading.
You thought you got a beautiful landscape image, but even with such a beautiful subject, the blue of the sky or the green of the grass faded. Has this ever happened to you? It's caused by reflection.
The PL (Polarized Light) filter suppresses reflections and depicts natural subject colors. The PL filter emphasizes the hues of the sky and the contrast of the greenery and curbs reflections from water and glass surfaces, so you get crisp, transparent photos.
Shooting Tips
• When a PL filter is mounted, the light amount drops and the shutter speed slows down. Watch out for blurring.
• When you're shooting with your back against the sun, or when you're shooting against the light source, the filter has no effect.
• If the effect of the PL filter is too strong, the contrast level can become too high. Check the effect while rotating the filter frame.
• Turn the rotary ring and adjust it to the position where the reflection is weakest. When you want to shoot a clear blue sky, the optimal position is where the landscape is darkest when viewed from the LCD / LVF.
Show Dark Blue Skies
Light that is reflected from water vapor or airborne dust can turn skies gray. When the exposure is adjusted mainly to match the subject, this gives the sky a drab, whitish appearance. It's quite difficult to shoot impressive-looking skies. Using a PL filter brings out the vividness of the sky and clouds.
Show Bright, Vivid Greens
Greens that look beautiful in nature can easily turn lackluster when photographed. One reason for this is that plant leaves sometimes reflect sunlight. Using a PL filter eliminates the reflections and renders plants in all their natural, vibrant beauty.
Control Reflections from the Water Surface
The PL filter is also effective for eliminating reflections from water and glass surfaces.
This allows you to express the beautifully transparent water of a river or ocean. It also suppresses reflections from the glass surfaces of cars, buildings, and other objects to give you sharper, crisper photos.
