Salvage Saturday

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Middle Prong Little River, Tellico Plains, TN Recent image but I used a Variable ND filter which gave pronounced darker areas in portions of the image. Combined this layer (and masked out the dark portions) with other layer without filter combined to salvage image.

View attachment 48197
Hey John,

This sure looks great!

What focal length is this? I had looked into getting the vari-nds for years. In fact I had bought one and then returned it when I found they only really work well with focal lengths of 50mm and longer? Or maybe it was 70mm and longer? But that at 14mm and 24mm the vari-nd would create an "X" pattern across the image. So if that's what you got, kudo's on recovering from that.
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Middle Prong Little River, Tellico Plains, TN Recent image but I used a Variable ND filter which gave pronounced darker areas in portions of the image. Combined this layer (and masked out the dark portions) with other layer without filter combined to salvage image.

View attachment 48197

Great salvage here, thats a hard task to fix ND when it's too much. I quit using ND variables and with todays software I seldom need them.
 

AlanLichty

Moderator
Hey John,

This sure looks great!

What focal length is this? I had looked into getting the vari-nds for years. In fact I had bought one and then returned it when I found they only really work well with focal lengths of 50mm and longer? Or maybe it was 70mm and longer? But that at 14mm and 24mm the vari-nd would create an "X" pattern across the image. So if that's what you got, kudo's on recovering from that.
I have a Singh-Ray VariND that I have been using for over a decade with my 17-40mm and 24-105 lenses. It is the case that at the wide settings of each lens you will be able to see the edges of the filter but for my 24-105mm lens going up to around 28mm makes that disappear. Roughly 20mm for the 17-40mm also works. I have never had issues like an X pattern.
 

John Holbrook

Well-Known Member
Hey John,

This sure looks great!

What focal length is this? I had looked into getting the vari-nds for years. In fact I had bought one and then returned it when I found they only really work well with focal lengths of 50mm and longer? Or maybe it was 70mm and longer? But that at 14mm and 24mm the vari-nd would create an "X" pattern across the image. So if that's what you got, kudo's on recovering from that.
Jim, yes, this was a Tiffen Vari-ND filter, 82mm used on a Nikon 24-70 f2.8 S lens (mounted on a Z7II) at 24mm—I read reviews cautioning prospective buyers that the “X” may occur at wider focal lengths—after purchasing! It’s still useable at longer focal lengths and darker areas are not as apparent at a less stronger setting. I have not experienced an “X” just darkening at opposite corners of the image.

I’ve since purchased a Tiffen ND filter set (2, 4, and 6 stop) for wide angle use.
 
Last edited:

dan swiger

Well-Known Member
Probably late Feb 1969, somewhere along the road from Qui Nhon to the Central Highlands, Vietnam
The ubiquitous rice fields Taken from a jeep.
Probably a week after I bought my 1st camera, a Topcon RE super, which I still have ( and use)
From a Kodachrome slide in poor shape. I ended up applying Topaz Sharpen AI
I've been going through this collection slowly,
NamPics_690210_003_P1w.jpg
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Thats a great looking slide conversion. I assume you were deployed there at the time. And thanks for your service.
 

dan swiger

Well-Known Member
Thats a great looking slide conversion. I assume you were deployed there at the time. And thanks for your service.
At that time I was deployed to a Korean division (ROKCAPDIV), which was about 20 miles to the west.
I think this was along Rte 19. At this time, the road was mostly open.
A funny thing (in retrospect) happened to me when I was just over there.
While driving this road, a Vespa backfired, causing me to lock & load.
No shots were fired and my driver had a laugh. I was 19 1/2 at the time.
 
Top Bottom