Hoya ND8 Filter help

I bought this....


....thinking I would be able to open up the stutter times to 20+ seconds. I tried it Saturday in the garden on 4 seconds and I got a white out (the sun was behind me).

I wanted to try the seaside shots where the water comes out dreamy. What am I doing wrong if everything is blown after 4 seconds?

what are your other settings ?

I was on shutter. 4 seconds.

Sorry I can't see the image to comment but that's just down to where I'm viewing though.

Are you saying that your getting completely over exposed shots so are unable to use longer shutter speeds ?

Check your ISO is at it's lowest - this will lengthen your shutter speed.

Check your aperture - you may need to go really small to lengthen your shutter speed. This is OK if a really deep depth of focus suits but not too much use if you want to use a larger aperture for shallow depth of field.

It's also worth mentioning that a lot of the long exposure shots you see are taken using a 10 stop ND filter which is much stronger.

ND2 = 0.3 (filter density) when used is = to 1 f-stop reduction in light
ND4 = 0.6 (filter density) when used is = to 2 f-stop reduction in light
ND8 = 0.9 (filter density) when used is = to 3 f-stop reduction in light
ND64 = 1.8 (filter density) when used is = to 6 f-stop reduction in light
ND1000 = 3.0 (filter density) when used is = to 10 f-stop reduction in light.

Skyfilter Im sure you can stack your two N8's and that should get you somewhere near

What Phil says sums it up really Also - perhaps try shooting at low light - early morning or late evening, and see if that helps, as it will naturally be darker then

xx

Thanks Cakey, Phil, Z.

Yes Phil. I was say I'm getting completely over exposed shots so are unable to use longer shutter speeds?
I Done what you suggested and got these results....


All 10 seconds, 100 iso, f22. Straight out the camera. The hanging basket is blurry because it was windy.


No filter





Hoya ND8 filter





2 filters together. Hoya ND8 filter + cheapo ND8 filter

the blur on the hanging basket is the same blur you are after for your water so it looks like the two filters will work ,give it a go before you buy a third filter hahahahaha

Be careful if using stacked filters as this may result in a lot of flare and image degradation as the light is having to pass through four extra possible causes of refraction, front of first filter, rear of first filter as it it leaves it, front of second filter as it enters it and the rear of of second filter as it leaves it.

Personally I find it difficult to justify spending hard earned cash to buy the best lens one can and then stick two inferior filters on the end of it.

One filter is OK if of a high grade but two.....Doubtful.

Steve

Thanks Cakey and Steve for the help. I was just testing with 2 filters to see what would happen.

It doesn't look like I've picked the right filter for what I want. After reading reviews and watching videos, I was under the impression I could go to 20+ seconds with the Hoya.

Cheapo one is going in the bin and I will send the Hoya one back. Start looking again for the right filter.