Swains International PLC is pleased to introduce shop4filters, the first dedicated website for purchasing your Tiffen filters online.
Whether you are shopping as a Professional or an Amateur Photographer the shop4filters website will include the full Tiffen filter range to suit all of your photographic needs. The site will also feature several ‘centres of excellence’, selected Swains stockists that will provide the same special offers and prices as the shop4filters website. These centres of excellence will be promoted via the website and be located across the country, making it even easier for you to get hold of a Tiffen filter and have the personal service of an in store expert.
Shoppers will have the opportunity to experience a fast, seamless experience whilst searching for Tiffen filters and not only will you be able to purchase direct, there is also a range of interesting articles technical and non technical available on the shop4filters website. This will include pieces on using ND filters. Industry experts will also be undertaking photo assignments and writing articles for this site, including articles from the movie world where the Tiffen heritage is a major part of the motion picture industry.
Tiffen are the first choice of filters for movie makers and have been used on blockbuster movies such as Harry Potter and Slumdog Millionaire to name but two!! Tiffen filters are also used on the majority of NASA space missions.
This unique website will also provide great before and after shots using the Tiffen filters which will help to show you the magnificent effects you can achieve.
Terry Carey, Managing Director of Tiffen International Ltd is excited about the joint venture with Swains and said “Tiffen’s award winning filters have been improving images for over 70 years and with shop4filters we will make them even more accessible to consumers.”
Tiffen has been recognized numerous times for its product and engineering excellence earning two Technical Achievement Awards and a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, an Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Deluxe Outstanding Technical Achievement Award of the BANFF Television Festival, the Star 2005 TV Technology award, the 2006 Cherry Pickers Award plus the 2006 CES Innovations Award and many more.
The ND filter is one of the more useful additions to the filter bag. Digital image processing can do many things but it can’t reduce the light reaching the film or CCD. That’s the job of the camera’s exposure system and an ND filter throws in a helping hand.
The name explains its purpose. It’s neutral (in colour) and it has a density (level of opaqueness)
Neutral Density filters come in a range of densities. The basic ND2 is 2x exposure factor (or one f/stop) and an ND4 is 4x (two f/stops). There’s also an ND8 (8x or three f/stops) and a less common ND64 (64x or six stops).
The filter goes over the lens and reduces the light reaching the film by the exposure factor of the filter.
If for example you had an exposure of 1/125sec at f/11 and you added an ND8 the shutter speed would reduce to 1/15sec or the aperture would need to be opened to f/4.
The reason to use an ND filter suddenly become obvious. If you want to force a slow shutter speed, for motion blur, or you want the lens at the widest aperture, for shallow depth-of-field, the ND filter can help.
It can also be used in combination with a flash to effectively reduce the guide number for close range photography.
The ND2 is hardly worth bothering with so we’d suggest you’re first ND filter be a ND4.
