Use neutral density filters to control DOF with 5DmkII

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Kris Koster

Best option I thought possible was to buy a matte box and a set of ND filters. It's a more future-proof option.

Yes, I completely agree. Besides, this is the way the film industry has done it for decades. The only drawback is the cost and its size.

Originally Posted by Tony Davies-Patrick

The big problem with a mattebox is that most vignette to some degree with lenses wider than 24mm.

I know about this problem too well -- it gave me quite a few sleepless nights in the shop. The way I got around it was simply to dremel hack a Century matte box so it now can handle lenses down to 16mm. Here's the mattbox I'm using: https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecom...=1390&IID=1770

And here's how it looks on a 70-200 lens:

My Camera -- manhandled by Jessica on Vimeo

-- peer

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Kris Koster

That's a nice piece of kit, but what if you have a set of prime lenses with a multitude of thread mounts?

Don't buy the Singh-Ray Variable ND filter at $400+ but instead buy the Fader ND from Light Craft Workshop at about $100 per filter. Then you can afford a filter for each lens (or at least four:-)