LEEElements Big Stopper Circular Filter, 10 Stop Neutral Density For Long Exposure Photography

This 10-stop neutral density (ND) filter arrives well packed and sealed, in a nice looking, Lee Filters branded cardboard box, that would be more than suitable should you be wishing to give it as a gift.The filter I am reviewing has a diameter of 77mm, but there is no reason to believe any of the other sizes would be any different.Lee Filters (owned by Panavision) set the standard for 100mm square filters. And their 100mm 10-stop Neutral Density filter, the Big Stopper, was so well known that for many the name Big Stopper has become synonymous with any 10-stop ND filter.This filter is Lee’s circular version of that famous filter. The advantage of the circular version is that it can be attached directly to the lens without any need to also attach any kind of filter system, which adds extra weight and bulk to the camera.As you would expect for the price, the build quality is excellent, and the filter feels extremely robust. It screwed on and off my lenses and step up/down rings very smoothly, with its knurled edge making it easy to grip. There is also a front thread, should you wish to attach another filter, lens hood, matte box, etc.In use, image quality is excellent and there was no discernable colour cast or colour shift that I could notice, no matter what conditions I used the filter under.In conclusion this is an extremely good, well made filter that more than lives up to the brand’s reputation. It is expensive, so not something I would recommend to everybody, unless you have very deep pockets. For those wanting to dabble with filters or only wanting something for the occasional shot, there are cheaper options that will be 90% as good. But for those who need a 10 Stop ND filter, know they will get the use out of it, and want the best, then this filter should definitely be at the top of your list.~ Amazon asked me to review this product and to give my honest opinion about it. That’s what I have set out to do, so I hope you found it helpful. ~

There is no doubt that the price is high, which may put many people off, but with the price comes a rather premium build and fantastic results. I do a lot of photography and I am required to work sometimes from 3 am into the early afternoon, which also means I have to go to bed early. I completely miss the golden hour of sunrise or sunset. With this 10-stop neutral density filter, I’m completely able to go out at high noon on the sunniest of days and get a good long exposure. The quality of this product is worth the cost.In my opinion, this is far too powerful for video work but is perfect for long-exposure photography. I found minimal vignetting, no problem shooting in live time or live composite and the colours were great. I can give water a flat mirrored look and you can see some tracers of light along the tree line or a light painting effect that would look awesome at night. There are no issues with colour change or image quality. The higher contrast is intentional. The filter is a smooth screw in experience. Other filters I have used feel a little rough to screw or secure in place, they were nowhere near as smooth as this one.This is a good place to start if you are looking for a good ND filter for long-exposure photography. This is a 10-stop non-variable ND filter so you have a lot of versatility in how you can capture your images. Granted the price is a little steep but you can get some rather good-looking shots. If you are a professional photographer this is perfect for you, however, if you are an amateur I would recommend you start with the cheaper ND filters that are on the market.This is a very impressive filter and I have no hesitation in recommending it.Hope this review helps.

This filter is ideal if you want to blur motion by using long exposures of more than 1 second in daylight.I have used the original Lee 100 mm filter system version of this filter, which won many accolades. Back in 2010, the exposure meters on cameras such as my Canon 50D did not work very well in low light. You had to put the camera into manual mode, focus on the subject and measure the aperture value and shutter speed. The shutter speed was then adjusted by 10 stops when the Big Stopper was attached before the photograph was taken. For example, a 1/60th shutter speed becomes 15 seconds.Cameras have advanced considerably since 2010. The high dynamic range of images captured with my Canon R6 means that I do not need to use a grad filter for landscape photography, which was the main reason that I purchased the Lee 100 mm filter system. The only filter I use routinely now is a circular polarising filter, using screw-in filters for each lens.I was therefore delighted to see that Lee have now released Big Stopper as a screw in filter as it allows me to carry the filter without the bulk of the rest of their square 100 mm system. The 77 mm filter size fits all of my Canon zoom lenses: EF 16-35 f/4, EF 100-400 Mk 2 and RF 24-105 f/4.The exposure meter and autofocus systems of the Canon R6 are able to work in far darker conditions than the 50D. As a result, I found that I could just attach this Big Stopper to my camera lens and focus and shoot as normal, albeit with far longer shutter speeds. It still makes sense to shoot in manual mode and fine-tune exposure after looking at the histogram but at least there is no need to continuously remove and re-attach the filter between shots.The effect of the filter can be seen in the two photographs of the Atlantic Ocean taken with the Canon R6 and 24-105 mm lens set to 24 mm, with an aperture of f/22 and ISO 100 in Av mode. Without the Big Stopper filter, the camera set the exposure time to 1/40 seconds, and produced a perfectly exposed photograph. With the Big Stopper filter in place, it was able to autofocus perfectly and the camera set the exposure time to 15 seconds. Interestingly, the original Exposure Guide stated that a 1/60th second exposure should be converted to 15 seconds, which is very similar. However, when processing the RAW files in Adobe Lightroom, it was clear from the histogram that the pictures taken with the Big Stopper were underexposed by 1 stop. This applied to most of the pictures that I took when using the R6 in AV mode, although not all. It is therefore essential to look at the histogram and apply an appropriate compensation. This can be done in camera or afterwards in Lightroom.The new Big Stopper is just as easy to use as a UV filter with one caveat. This filter has a thick knurled edge, which makes it easy to grip when fitting onto the front of the lens. However, I found that this also stops the lens hood from slipping on once the Big Stopper filter is on place. It is possible to fit the lens hood first and then screw in the Big Stopper afterwards but it is a little awkward and only possible with the shallow lens hoods that come with the the 24-105 and 16-35 lenses.

Works exceptionally well on my daylight long exposure shots. I recommend it without reservation.

Sturdy and serious ND 10 filter. Received the 77mm filter yesterday and ordered a 82 mm filter today. I recommend this filter without reservation.