Welding Glass filters

ScarySquirrel · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:02

Hello,

Has anyone tried the welding glass filters as an alternative to a 10-Stop ND Filter (as these are expensive and often hard to source in the UK)?

I just bought a piece of glass (Grade 10, so should be about 10-12 Stop) for £2.30 delivered, and I wondered if it would fit in the Cokin P holder with the 77mm adapter for my 24-70L?

For context for those who don't know what I am on about - http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=151141

Thanks in advance.

Downsy · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:09

It's about 2 mm too big for the Lee filter adaptor and a little thick as well. You might have better luck with Cokin

growse · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:09

Aren't welding glass filters green?

syke · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:17

growse said:
Aren't welding glass filters green?

Yes, you just change the white balance etc back. It's very effective, especially for the price, just need to be creative on how you mount it to the camera, some have ruined Cokin P ones to do it, some made them out of Licra.

ScarySquirrel · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:24

Downsy said:
It's about 2 mm too big for the Lee filter adaptor and a little thick as well. You might have better luck with Cokin

Errrm, that's why I asked if they would fit a Cokin filter

Mr Jones · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:26

Or buy a 4ND and 8ND filter from ebay for under a tenner, pair them together?

olv · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:28

Cheap ebay filters give pretty awful colour casts in my limited experience with them.

If you can give me some dimensions i can measure my p series holder for you.

syke · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:28

Mr Jones said:
Or buy a 4ND and 8ND filter from ebay for under a tenner, pair them together?

They're pretty awful though, unfortunately. The Welding Glass works surprisingly well compared to the cheap eBay ones.

ScarySquirrel · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:30

Mr Jones said:
Or buy a 4ND and 8ND filter from ebay for under a tenner, pair them together?

For £2.30 I think I'll give this a punt.

ScarySquirrel · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:31

olv said:
Cheap ebay filters give pretty awful colour casts in my limited experience with them.

If you can give me some dimensions i can measure my p series holder for you.

Thanks dude, they are 4 1/4" x 3 1/4", although I don't know how thick they are unfortunately.

martinturner · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:32

I have a B+W 110 10 stop ND and I also have a Cokin P setup (which I use with ND grads). Personally, your biggest hurdle will be light leakage. I think this is always the case with the slot in type filters (I cannot comment with regard to the Lee holder/adapter). The round filters block out all unwanted light. For ND grads it does not matter too much, I could literally hold it over the front of the lens and it would work without the holder/adapter and it would pretty much do the job. But, with a 10 stop ND, the whole point is to not allow any unwanted light in as it would defeat its purpose.

I think what you could do is stick a sheet of the welding glass stuff to an empty screw in thread and use some sort of thick resin to seal up the join.

Its probably worth a punt, as you have the welding glass, personally, I would advise you to wait for the B+W to become available.

Would be interested in your results though all the same

ScarySquirrel · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:36

Thanks Martin.

I'll see how it goes.

Annoyingly, I had a B+W 110 10 Stop filter which I sold for.......wait for it, £37!!!!!! I sold it as I got rid of my Sigma 10-20 when I upgraded to full frame, only to buy a 24-70L which also has a 77mm thread.

To say I am gutted would be an understatement!

martinturner · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:37

A '10 stop' ND is much stronger than a stacked 4 and 8.

martinturner · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:38

ScarySquirrel said:
Thanks Martin.

I'll see how it goes.

Annoyingly, I had a B+W 110 10 Stop filter which I sold for.......wait for it, £37!!!!!! I sold it as I got rid of my Sigma 10-20 when I upgraded to full frame, only to buy a 24-70L which also has a 77mm thread.

To say I am gutted would be an understatement!

I'm gutted you have a better camera than me, but you don't hear me complaining

syke · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:38

ScarySquirrel said:
Thanks Martin.

I'll see how it goes.

Annoyingly, I had a B+W 110 10 Stop filter which I sold for.......wait for it, £37!!!!!! I sold it as I got rid of my Sigma 10-20 when I upgraded to full frame, only to buy a 24-70L which also has a 77mm thread.

To say I am gutted would be an understatement!

A lot of people use Duct tape, licra (scuba gear or whatnot), to stop the leakage. Problem is, basically ruining your Cokin holder. If you flick through the TP thread, you'll see ways people have mounted it, from elastic bands etc

Mr Jones · 26 Oct 2009 at 11:43

martinturner said:
A '10 stop' ND is much stronger than a stacked 4 and 8.

Ah yes, totally forgot, it's counting stops, not the ND number...

olv · 26 Oct 2009 at 16:00

ScarySquirrel said:
Thanks dude, they are 4 1/4" x 3 1/4", although I don't know how thick they are unfortunately.

It will fit if it is less than 1/8" thick. the holder is just wider than 3 1/4".

Jotun · 26 Oct 2009 at 23:22

Yup I saw that thread a while back and ordered myself one. Only had a quick play with it since then though.

Original camera image here

As martinturner said, light leakage is a bit of a problem. I used some bluetack around the edge of the screw in bit off my holder. It wasn't quite perfect though as you can see, light has got in.

john_s · 27 Oct 2009 at 08:53

Great idea.

Might have to have a shot at this. Can't go wrong for a couple of quid!

ScarySquirrel · 27 Oct 2009 at 11:27

Sod it, I just bought another B+W 10 stop filter as I can't help but feel that putting £2.30's worth of glass in front of a £700 lens and a £800 camera body is a bit silly, plus I am bloody lazy and I cannot be bothered with finding ways to stop the light leakage.

Long exposure photography is something I want to do A LOT more of, so I may as well