long exposure techniques: discuss

[Georg Baumann]

Greetings,

I have a question for you folks, I took this 8 minutes exposure with B&W ND 3.0 and stacked upon Kaesemann XS-Pro Circular Polarizer.

Now I want to stack another ND filter before the Pol to achieve >30 minutes exposures.

However, even the ND3.0 + Pol made it very difficult to see something through my viewfinder. After a while the eyes adjusted and I could make out the Pol. effect and adjust accordingly. But with an additional ND, I can see nuttin anymore and even autofocus will not work anymore in full sunlight on a bright day.

Am I correct to assume that I need to focus manually to infinity, pull back a wee bit perhaps, and do upfront calculations how long the exposure needs to be and then shoot "blind" so to speak?

Or is there another way?

Thanks
Georg

 

[Georg Baumann]

...figured it out.

 

[Shashin]

Focus and compose, then add your filters.

If I were you and you want to do this kind of work is to get a dense ND filter. The Hoya 9-stop NX400 ND filter is good value.

 

[Georg Baumann]

I use a couple B&W ND's including the above mentioned 10 f-stop.

I just came to think that I might "mark" my circ. pol. Filter for such blind folded setup situations. I can see the Pol. effect with a 10 f-stop attached, but not anymore when another ND is added to the stack.

Thanks Will!