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HSS vs ND Filter. I will let you know!

Started Feb 12, 2016 | Discussions
Dmpreciado Regular Member • Posts: 195
HSS vs ND Filter. I will let you know!

So i was wondering about HSS and samsung because ive been wanting to get some fill from a flash while shooting out in the daylight without compromising my f stops. well i was doing a lot of looking around and have come to a conclusion that HSS just isnt for samsung (not yet atleast) so i decided to go the other route and just buy a NDX filter for my 50-150 s. i get it tomorrow (saturday) and will probably be doing test shooting that same day if i get it early enough or sunday. Hopefully this will allow others to follow in my foot steps to up their portraiture photography.

TL;DR i wanted hss, couldnt find a legit/great way, trying other highly regarded method of using ND filter + flash sync speed of 200 or less. stay tuned.

PSS anyone in san diego or LA? id love to go out and shoot sometime with a fellow NX user.

Samsung 50-150mm F2.8 S
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otto k Senior Member • Posts: 2,252
Re: HSS vs ND Filter. I will let you know!

On most flashes you will lose around 3 stops due to HSS (but they rarely declare it directly) so shooting with HSS and 3 stop ND filter should be equivalent, but even with 1/250s shutter (NX1) you are still only at equivalent 1/2000s in HSS. So HSS gives you around 2 extra stops to work with. For my NX500 it's 1/1600s vs 1/6000s so almost the same 2 stops. Last time I tried, I had to stop down to f/4 in quite strong ambient light even with 3 stop ND.

Then again, I can buy almost 8 full manual flashes for a single SEF580...

Please do inform us how it goes.

 otto k's gear list:otto k's gear list
Canon EOS 600D Samsung NX1000 Samsung NX500 Sony a6400 Samsung NX 30mm F2 Pancake +10 more
OP Dmpreciado Regular Member • Posts: 195
Re: HSS vs ND Filter. I will let you know!
1

Yes well the only reason I am doing this is for cost effective with a little bit of "if the flash output is going to be so small from a flash why am I spending so much" for hss kind of deal. I'm not planning on trying to over power the sun and I will most likely nevet shoot against the sun. I want to shoot in late morning late evening light and use the flash to get rid of any harsh mild shadows. I've seen wonderful results in videos and it's more of an experiment really. If anything I'll probably still be scouting out for some nice soft even shade or ambient light

OP Dmpreciado Regular Member • Posts: 195
Re: HSS vs ND Filter. I will let you know!

Alright! Well let's get the results out there! I purchased the Hoya 3-400 Variable ND filter. In Hoya terms to normal people stop terms that is a 1.5 - 9 stop adjustable nd filter. I placed it on my 50-150 s lens and i can verify happily say I do NOT get any vignetting on any mm from 50 to 150, nor do I get the dreaded x at any mm length.

Photo I tool was of a beautiful palm tree outside my door about 6 feet away. I was able to achieve the same photo exposure with it on at f/2.8 iso 100 and ss200. Without filter f/7.1(?) Iso 100 ss200.

It was at 1:22pm in sunny southern California so the sun was up almost middle of sky, no clouds really harsh sunlight and that was wonderful even exposure with no blowing out highlights.

My conclusion: 1 this filter is beautiful. Picture quality + sharpness is 9/10 you notice a slight take back in sharpness but it's very minimal. HUGE point for it being able to properly autofocus with this filter on. Not speedy Gonzalez fast (I'm allowed to say that because im mexican) but still always focused and no malfocusing at any try. those who want flash in daylight but also want to keep your bokeh and great aperture I would highly recommend this.

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