The Mighty Humble Kit Lens Forum

[ayki]

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Nikon D7K KIT (NIKKOR 18-105mm DX VR Lens)


Squeaky Squirrel by ayki<3, on Flickr

[petite fleur]

unsa mas gamit CPL or ND?? i wanna buy like usa2x lang sa hehe

[scoobi]

If you need to freeze moving water and clouds in day time then choose nd. If you want to enhance the sky and cut glare of water and other metallic objects then choose cpl. I use the nd more since I can enhance the color of the sky in PS and I shoot RAW. Btw, the Picts posted here where water looked like glass or smoothened, that's the effect of ND, but you will need a shutter release (Php 400 for the cheapest) and a tripod to reduce camera shake as these shots require long exposure.

[arisarnado]

If you need to "freeze" moving water, try using shutter speeds 1/1000 and above.

If you need to freeze moving water and clouds in day time then choose nd. If you want to enhance the sky and cut glare of water and other metallic objects then choose cpl. I use the nd more since I can enhance the color of the sky in PS and I shoot RAW. Btw, the Picts posted here where water looked like glass or smoothened, that's the effect of ND, but you will need a shutter release (Php 400 for the cheapest) and a tripod to reduce camera shake as these shots require long exposure.

[jadestoner]

for water that looks like glass bah. usually how long man ang shutter ana? more than 30s or 30s lesser will suffice nah? i'm planning to learn black card technique man gud and i'll use my kit lens since it can go to f/22 and higher. hehehe. any advice? thanks!

[scoobi]

If you need to "freeze" moving water, try using shutter speeds 1/1000 and above.

Sorry bro, I was referring to freezing it to make it look like a glass and not freeze it's motion. In reference to petite fleur's query about the effects of filters for landscape shots.

As for using 1/1000, this would mean having your aperture wide open to prevent under exposing the shots. For kitlens widest would be at f4.5. I'm not exactly sure if this is wide enough for the 1/1000 shutter speed not including the additional stops that an ND or CPL filter would add.

In landscape according to my research and experimentation, the relative sweet spot would be f11to F16 to maximize depth of field and over-all sharpness ( depending also if the hyperfocal distance has been computed properly and focused on). Shooting f11, ISO 100 at 1/1000 shutter speed would make the picture under exposed without the ND or CPL filters.

[scoobi]

for water that looks like glass bah. usually how long man ang shutter ana? more than 30s or 30s lesser will suffice nah? i'm planning to learn black card technique man gud and i'll use my kit lens since it can go to f/22 and higher. hehehe. any advice? thanks!

5s to 10s can produce the result if it's at dusk or a little bit dark already this includes properly exposing the background. If the sun is high, you may need ND filters 3 stops or more to prevent over-exposure not onlythe background but the foreground as well.

The numbers I shared is not absolute as it depends on available light and you can use it as baseline as you experiment with the right combination. I normally shoot at f11 (to achieve DOF), ISO 100 (to reduce noise) and start at 5s exposure then increase it if necessary ( to achieve the glass effect of the water) at dusk. I just experiment which ND filter/s I use to properly expose the foreground and the background. I normally play around with F11 to f16. Shooting at f22 makes the shot soft and this means additional exposure time if you decide to use ISO 100 and just getting a few shots as long exposure eats up battery juice fast.

Btw, I use both UWA and kitlens and the result are almost the same at 18mm for both lenses and I'm using the Nikon system.

[jadestoner]

^^thanks sa info! hmmmmm.. so basically keeping the f/stop around 11-15 keeps a sharper image, 5-10 seconds is ok nah, then iso 100 to avoid noise. as for the ND filters are useful jud esp when the foreground is well lit to avoid over exposure. i'll have to borrow filters first and try jud before deciding to buy. its nice to know na payts ra ang 18mm for landscape shots nah, just the filters ang important. hmmmmm. in focusing kay you focus first before attaching the ND filter dba? hehehehe

[scoobi]

^^thanks sa info! hmmmmm.. so basically keeping the f/stop around 11-15 keeps a sharper image, 5-10 seconds is ok nah, then iso 100 to avoid noise. as for the ND filters are useful jud esp when the foreground is well lit to avoid over exposure. i'll have to borrow filters first and try jud before deciding to buy. its nice to know na payts ra ang 18mm for landscape shots nah, just the filters ang important. hmmmmm. in focusing kay you focus first before attaching the ND filter dba? hehehehe

you can increase the exposure higher than 10S depending on the result bro you are looking for but baseline is 5 to 10S then work your way up, I normally check the histogram of my shots if it's balanced cuz I don't trust the LCD display, mu ngit-ngit sya when transfered to my PC.

If ND8 imong gamiton, you can still autofocus since it's just 3 stops and when lighting is good. You can also use focus lock but if you use 4 stops and up you may need to manually focus. you can use your camera's timer if wala'y shutter release but you need to turn off the VR, OS, VC or IS of your lens as it will ruin the shot when mounted on a tripod.

If you decide to buy, I would suggest to get the square ones (P series) and just buy the holder and adapter ring for lens size(Haida holder is around 450 petot) this will give you the flexibility and avoid the hassle of screwing your filter after you manually focused your lens since you just need to slide the square filter to the holder and adjust it accordingly. This is also effective for the GND ones and you can stack by just sliding the filters and not screwing the filters on top of another especially if you have a UV filter attached to your lens. There are affordable square filters such as Tian Ya filters. I'm using Hi-tech which is in-between the cheapest and the most expensive such as Lee and Singh Ray.

The kit-lens is sharp and with the maximum 18mm at the wide end, vignetting would be avoided especially with the ND filters on. at F11 payts man gyud even agains UWA lens or high end ones. I have a nikkor 12-24 f4 and I normally get sharp shots at 16 to 20mm at F11 which is at the range of a kitlens. It's sometimes sharper than my nikkor uwa lens at certain shots.

[kid joe]

nikon 18-105 vr kit lens