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You know, I planned this video for a nice, sunny day. And we had sunny days! And then this happened! It's cold, it's rainy, it's snowing, it's… ohhh

Hey folks, I'm PhotoJoseph, and this company China Bway Optical, asked me to tell you about their new magnetic photography filters. 

Now, China Bway Optical Company has been around for over a decade. They're a Chinese camera filter brand who were the first to develop and market the magnetic filter mounts in China. They manufacture their filters in their own factory, and they actually hold a patent since 2017 for their magnetic filter design. 

Their new Magnetic Pro Lens Filter Kit is available in a variety of combinations, but the filter set that I'm working with today includes the magnetic filter mount, and a variety of step-up rings, a circular polarizer, or CPL filter. A neutral density ND64 (also known as an ND 1.8) filter, an ND1000 (aka an ND 3.0) filter, and a graduated ND filter, or GND. This one is an ND8, or ND 0.9 GND

Now ND numbers can be a little confusing, but if you visit the wikipedia page on neutral density filters, which I've linked just below the like button, you'll see a handy chart in there. The ND 1.8 filter, which is an “optical density” of 1.8, is also known as an ND64. Now ND64 means that 1/64th of the light is transmitted through the filter, which is a six stop reduction. There's an easy way to figure this out. First, remember that every stop of light up or down is doubling or halving the amount of light. So a one-stop reduction would be half the light. One half, or 1 over 2, is an ND2. Cut that in half again, for one more stop reduction, and that's an ND4, so one fourth of the original light. Now let's just keep doubling; doubling that to ND8, ND16, ND32, ND64… and that's the first ND filter; a six stop reduction. The second one is an ND 1,000 which is a 10-stop reduction. The math is actually 1/1,024th, but 1,024 is often rounded to 1,000. Because, y'know, marketing. But that ND1000 is 0.1% light transmission, meaning that your exposure can be 1,000 times longer than normal with this filter in place.

So how do you easily do that math, to find the right exposure? There's a variety of charts and calculators out there, but I will warn you of this. As you get into the higher ND levels, like when using this ND 1000 filter, you will find different calculations, varying by a second or so in either direction. Which doesn't seem to make much sense because math is not exactly subjective, but it's more a compensation for variances in filters among different manufacturers. While it's easy enough to manufacturer an accurate one stop reduction, it's a lot harder to manufacture an accurate ten stop reduction, and not have it, say, be, nine and a half stops. So most calculators take this into consideration, assuming it's going to be a little bit less, so for example most calculators will show a 1/60th second base exposure calculates to a 15 or 16 second exposure, even though the math of 1/60th x 1,000 is 16.7 seconds, or if you actually use the technically accurate 1,024 number, you get a flat 17 seconds. Anyway much of it's moot because the difference between a 15 and 16 second exposure is hardly noticeable, but more importantly, in an exposure that long, your lighting may change. Clouds can pass over the sun, or if it's near sunrise or sunset, the sky might get noticeably brighter or darker during that time. So when you're talking about exposures this long, your calculation should really just be considered a starting point. 

Anyway, back to calculating that starting point. There's a handy app I found on the iOS App Store called NDExposure which I'll link to below that makes doing the math really easy, but as an example, if a scene would normally be 1/60th of a second exposure, with an ND1000 filter, that'd be a 15 second exposure. Starting point. Give or take. According to this calculator.

By the way that other included filter, the graduated neutral density; the GND, or GND8 filter, is a 3 stop reduction, meaning that your top of the shot is three stops darker than the bottom of the shot. Unless you flip the filter upside-down.

We'll have a look at how these all work practically, in just a moment, but first let me show you what this kit looks like.

The Bway kit comes with a protective carrying case with an easy-to-attach belt clip. The included step rings allow you to use the same filter set on a variety of lens sizes, and the filter holder securely snaps onto the step ring. Then the filters magnetically attach to the holder, and can even be stacked. The magnetic design makes it quick to replace or remove filters, which can be especially important when using a very strong ND, like the ND1000, which you will need to remove to compose your shot and focus the camera, then since it's magnetic, it instantly reattaches without worrying about unintentionally rotating the lens and potentially changing focus or zoom. The filters can be stacked to combine their effects, for example combining the polarizer with the ND1000 and even with the graduated ND filter. 

This is version two of Bway's magnetic filter system. Compared to the original design, the new system is larger and so it won't vignette all the way down to a 16mm full frame lens (or 8mm on micro four thirds), even when stacking multiple filters. The graduated ND filter can be adjusted slightly up and down, and the new metal locking design ensures that the filter holder is locked in place on your lens. And in many cases, your original lens cap can be used as well, even when the filter adapter is in place. I've put links to both the original and the updated filter kits in the description below. 

The graduated ND filter is something I personally haven't worked with in years. I think I'd become so accustomed to being able to draw a linear exposure gradient in apps like Lightroom that I kinda forgot that this can be done optically. And I gotta say, for landscapes, this is a really great tool for getting much better results straight out of camera, before you even start editing. 

I took a roadtrip to the Oregon coast to give these filters a try. And here's some examples.

Here's a shot with no filters at all. The sky is obviously brighter than the ground, and so will need some work in post. But here's the same photo with the graduated ND filter. Notice how much more balanced the photo is. These are straight out of camera.

Here's another example. First, no filter. then, with the GND. Again you can see how much more balanced the exposure is. Then, I added one of the ND filters, allowing me to have a long exposure, blurring the water. These were shot very early in the morning, just as the sun was starting to lighten the sky. So it was still pretty dark out.

But now let's look at something shot in the brightest part of the day. Again original… GND… and ND on top. It's pretty cool to shoot an eight second exposure at 2:30 in the afternoon!

And finally, here's a few more pretty pictures, with various combinations of filters in play.

As you've seen here, one of the coolest, and most obvious uses of a really strong ND filter is to blur moving water, even in full daylight. But they can be used anywhere where you want a longer exposure than the existing lighting would normally allow. It's a great addition to any serious photographer's toolkit. A high quality magnetic set like these, especially with the graduated neutral density, which I re-desicovered to be a lot of fun to play with, is another great tool.

Thanks for watching, and thanks again to BWay China Optical for sponsoring this video.