Re: Chance to shoot gh2 on two days notice
 

Colin,

Thanks a lot!

Re: Chance to shoot gh2 on two days notice
 

Bruce, re: the ND filters.
I'm ordering the Formatt 1.5 from B&H for the 37mm thread Olympus 45mm, but I can't seem to find a cheap 46mm for 12mm Olympus. The only one I can fing is a heliopan for $95!!.
Any suggestions

Re: Chance to shoot gh2 on two days notice
 

Chris,

Shane Hurlbut (DP for "Act Of Valor" much of which was shot with 5D MkII's) says Tiffen delivers the quality in filters he wants. I've used Tiffen for years as they do what's advertised and intoduce no distortions, it's a good "workhorse" quality line and mostly inexpensive.

What I've done standardize on 52mm filter size; I ordered 37-52mm and 46-52mm stepup rings, and in 52mm size I have the 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2ND for 2 stop reduction, 3 stops, and 4 stops respectively. I wasn't aware there was a 1.5ND in the Tiffen line and they have that in 52mm, I'll be ordering that later today as the 5 stop reduction may be just right for West Texas sunlight.

The 52mm size seems to have a wider selection, I have a deep rubber lens hood (those are inexpensive at B&H) and the stepup ring, 52 mm filter, and rubber lens hood works on all my lenses (except the 2 Lumix zooms I have are 52mm and don't need the stepup ring.

Since Tiffens are relatively inexpensive I also have 0.6 and 0.9ND in 37mm size but I keep them with my Olympus Pen E-P3 bag, the "kit" zoom has 37mm filter threads.

One problem with the variable ND filters is that some (if not most) have different filter thread on the front than the one that threads into the lens. One I tried in 46mm had a 49mm filter thread on the front. But I prefer the single strength ND's in the system I described above. I feel that out in bright daylight the two most used could be the 1.7ND and the 1.5 (4 and 5 stops respectively).

I hope this info helps, I notice that B&H has an ND kit with 3 Tiffen filters. 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2 priced at about $41.95. If Tiffen is good enough for Shane Hurlbut, it's good enough for me.

Re: Chance to shoot gh2 on two days notice
 

Thanks Bruce, great info and I'll definitely follow up. Thats a good idea standardising at 52mm. Yes, I thought a 1.5 (5 stops) ND may be better. Here in Oz it's bright too and I'm regularly up at 1/500th on a f2/f2.8, which introduces stutter on pans.
I notice some brands of ND go up to 2.4 ( 8 stops) which may be overkill !!
I'm not sure if I can use step-up rings with my olympus 12mm hood either, so I'll check that also.
Cheers

Re: Chance to shoot gh2 on two days notice
 

First off, that 1.7 ND in my post above should be 1.2 (4 stops reduction).

Second: Tiffen does make a 1.5ND but the one I found at B&H is in 52mm, I'll be ordering one of those soon.

Third: You get into a different ballgame with wide angle and lens hoods. The ones I see marketed look like they can't do any real effective "shading" of the lens front surface. The Lumix 20mm is not wide angle (kind of "wide normal") yet standard lens hoods vignette, so my answer for that one is a Cinetactics MatteBloxDV (a stiffened ballistic nylon large lens shade with French flag and optional oversize French flag), it is large enough where the 20mm doesn't pick up any of it.

I haven't had a chance to try it out on my Lumix 14mm but when I do I may have some idea of how it might work for the 12mm Olympus lens.

Often with a wide like that lens you might be able to get away with no hood as long as you don't point it in the direction of the sun. It may help to have an assistant "shade" the lens with a large notebook or clipboard. You can see where the sunlight is hitting the lens and block it from that direction while keeping the "flag" out of the field of view.

Re: Chance to shoot gh2 on two days notice
 

The lens hoods I have for the 20mm and the 14-42 zoom don't really do much for shading but they do help me from missing the controls and putting my fingers in front of the very thin lenses.