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Testing the Singh Ray VariND with various Canon EF lenses on the 5d Mark II.
Setup: Singh Ray VariND 82mm
Caemra: Canon 5d MKII
Lenses Used: All Canon EF lenses - 24 1,5 16-35 MKII 2.8, 50 1.4, 85 1.2, 135 2.0

Indoor, I was able to shoot incredible low light footage with manageable control over the aperture with no additional glass. I was surprised to find out that outdoor was going to be the more challenging environment. After lots of reading, I came to realize that the only way to shoot bright days is with ND filters if you want any form of control over the iris. After more reading, it became clear that the easiest way is to use a VariND which will give me the flexibility of losing 2 to 8 stops.

Well, here are sample shots I did yesterday at around 10am. My kid was still vegging at home when I dragged him to Vazquez rocks. As you can see, he looks sleepy. LOL!

I used step up rings for most lenses to use the 82mm VariND. My first disappointment was the 24mm. As you can see, vignetting was a problem. This is with a 77 - 82 step up ring. Oh well, sigh... The 16-35 mkII did ok after maybe about 25-36mm. All the others were just fine.

I know some of the shots are out of focus or over exposed but that was just operator error and first time use. I'm also busy making sure my babies do not fall of a cliff. (Babies - my cute kid and my 5d). ha ha ha!

In the end, I concluded to myself that there is no other way I'd shoot outdoors in daylight without the Singh Ray VariND. It made it really easy to dial in the aperture and iso I'm trying to set and lock - not to mention it would not be possible to get any kind of shallow DOF without NDs.

Yes, there's the vignetting on really wide angle lens @ 26mm - bummer for my 24 1.4 which is one of my favorite lens. but it's really all about finding the limitations and working with what we have. So if I need a 16mm shot, I just don't use the variND. Ill put in a circular polarizer and use deep depth of field. Nothing wrong with that. I had some problems with initial focus assist sometimes but I think I should focus first before making it dark.

So now that I have the VariND, I can't live without it. That's what I got out of this fun little test.

I'm sure there's a lot I didn't cover so feel free to ask any questions. I do not work for any of these products I mentioned.

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  • Wayne Avanson plus 7 months ago
    Great Test there Ronnie,

    Am interested in a VariND myself. I have a few NDs and would usually pile them up to make it deeper, but the result alters the picture colour slightly. I would be interested to know what density values the filter goes from and to, and which ones you dialled in for each of the shots. (does it have values marked on the side of the filter so you know what value you're using or not?

    The Bokeh at 1:29 is surreal! Makes it look like a severe Gaussian Blur in photoshop…
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    Hi Wayne. The VariND has density values as follows:

    2 stops = .6
    3 stops = .9
    4 stops = 1.2
    5 stops = 1.5
    6 stops = 1.8
    7 stops = 2.1
    8 stops = 2.4

    You can actually push it more but not recommended and may cause unexpected results since they really callibrated this thing. Yes, there are markers from minimum to maximum so you can repeat the settings. For each shot, I just went by feel and could really have dialed them better if I had more time. I do feel I have enough control with minimal hassle and know it's limits to do an effective shoot. Thanks. Ronnie
  • Wayne Avanson plus 7 months ago
    Cheers Ronnie. V helpful.
    Avey
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  • Goldenboi24k 7 months ago
    Why would you need a ND filter when shooting video ??
    I can understand a CPL but not ND. Also where you using a slim filter ?? Because those dont vignette
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    ND filtter is needed for video in extreme sun outdoor and if you want some shallower DOF. In stills, you have the luxury of high shutter speed to compensate for all the light coming in when shooting at wide aperture. In video, your shutter speed is limited to 30/60/125 but thats about it. Because of that too much light will come in if you want to open up the aperture. So, the ND filters solve this problem. In fact, if you want to go from F22 or F16 down to F2.0 for example, that is several stops you need to to get there - hence a really dark ND. That is why the VariND works well here in this scenario giving us 2-8 stops via dialing.

    I use slim filters for my wide lenses - anything wider than 26mm. Anything > 26, doesn't seem to vignette with a normal standard filter. If you look at the 1st scene,, there is vignette using my 24 1.4.
  • Goldenboi24k 7 months ago
    OIC. Do you know why filters cause vignetting ??
    I dont understand at all.
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    It only happens in wide angle lenses. The lens need as much of the openning to see. If the front of it is blocked enough "barrel effect" with a thick filter, the sides start to show in the corners.
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  • Tomas Pauko 7 months ago
    You should get something to stabilize your camera... steady tracker or something like that... it really helps. I`ve just bought B+W ND 106 for my 35mm 1.4 and FD 85mm 1.2... it will be 6 stops reduction... do you think it`s enough? Or too much?
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    Thanks Tomas. I have a Merlin to put it on but didn't have much time to be swithching lenses in the dust and recalibrate. The footage sure did need some stabilization. 6 stops will be enough for not so sunny believe it or not. In direct sun, you will find, you can stack another 3 or 4 stop in there - especially if you want to open up to 1.2 with your 85. I'd say stack your circular polarizer if you have that for the 85. It shouldn't vignette.
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  • Sebastian TR plus 7 months ago
    very nice, love the CU at 2:55...

    Id be very keen to see some A to B tests in different outdoor environments with and without the ND's.

    keep up the great work.
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    Thanks Sebastian. I will try. On outdoor bright light with shallow DOF, the a/b will be Burned over-exposed WHITE vs. a beautiful bokeh shot. LOL! Here's more sample of outdoor shots:

    Beginning of:
    vimeo.com/4585632

    and video parts of:
    vimeo.com/4586100

    Ronnie
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  • Goldenboi24k 7 months ago
    how did you fit a 82mm filter on the 85mm ??
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    If you mean for my 16-35MKII lens, it's an 82mm ring so it fits right on it. I don't have a lens with 85mm. You could with a step down ring but it's never good to step down as you'll get vignette for sure.
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  • Alistair Briggs 7 months ago
    Hi. Nice shots. To avoid vignetting, use a wide angle (16:9) video Matte Box and pro 4x6 ND filters. You could get a similar result to your wide shots with a polariser (polarizer). As to the latitude of the camera itself - shoot me down, but I believe you can alter the ISO as much as you want to compensate for very bright light conditions?
  • Ronnie Silos 7 months ago
    Thanks for your comments. I love your videos BTW. Here in LA, CA, I'm trying to keep my 5D to stay looking like just a dslr because all the places worth shooting, you need a permit for - unless you are just shooting "stills" like a tourist. I thought about a Matte Box and that really is the right solution especially when I want to use a graduated ND. I only use the Singh if I want shallow DOF in bright conditions. The problem is once the iso is at 100 and no more room for adjustment, it forces the aperture to close to get less light. Only then would it need a really dark ND.
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  • Ilunga Kassanda Zoe 7 months ago
    This is simply beautiful
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  • rawmeyn 6 months ago
    Hi!
    Did you always film with a wide open aperture? For some reason I liked the blurry 50mm footage best :)
    I´m gonna buy a GH-1 and the kitlens there is pretty slow. It´s f4-5,8. So I want to use it wide open for DOF. Do you think a 6stops filter is enough for that? I was looking into that Vari-ND but unfortunately they don´t sell the in Europe and ordering from the US is pretty expensive and I would have to pay additional tax.
    So I also was looking into a B+W ND 106 like Tomas above.
    I also plan to use fast Canon FD primes (50/f1,4 and so on) with adapter. For them I´m gonna buy a B+W ND 110 which gives me 10 stops...
    do you think this could work out?
    thanks a lot! :)
  • Ronnie Silos 6 months ago
    Hi. No, I don't always shoot wide open. I was simply testing how to achieve shallow DOF in bright light conditions. In fact, in a lot of cases as you will see with feature films, it's not really that common to have such a narrow dof. To tell a story, most of the time, you need to also show what's around you. Save those shallow DOF for more personal and closeup shots. A 6 stop will definitely help and be good enough for the lens you mentioned. The BW 110 will definitely work. The only hassle will be taking it off while framing so you can see what you are shooting then putting the nd on after framing. You may also consider making a varyND yourself. I've seen some good results stacking a circular polarizer on top of a linear polarizer. I know there are optical problems on the extremes but may work well if you mark the min/max just as the singh ray varind does. Good luck.
    Hi. No, I don't always shoot wide open. I was simply testing how to achieve shallow DOF in bright light conditions. In fact, in a lot of cases as you will see with feature films, it's not really that common to have such a narrow dof. To tell a story, most of the time, you need to also show what's around you. Save those shallow DOF for more personal and closeup shots. A 6 stop will definitely help and be good enough for the lens you mentioned. The BW 110 will definitely work. The only hassle will be taking it off while framing so you can see what you are shooting then putting the nd on after framing. You may also consider making a varyND yourself. I've seen some good results stacking a circular polarizer on top of a linear polarizer. I know there are optical problems on the extremes but may work well if you mark the min/max just as the singh ray varind does. Good luck.
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