Place ND filter behind Sinar Shutter ?

[Ken Lee]

My Sinar shutter has allowed me to use vintage lenses in barrel, which often give lovely results when used wide open, or close to wide open. The Sinar shutter is also great for shooting botanicals under window light, since it provides accurate times up to 8 seconds.

In bright sunshine, however, at f/4.5, modern film stock demands a shutter speed higher than the Sinar will go. (Mine goes to 1/60). I'd like to be able to shoot in these conditions at wide apertures when desired, for portraits.

Is there such a thing as an ND gelatin filter that I could use behind the shutter ? I would like to get a piece that is large enough to accommodate all sizes of lens, just as the shutter itself does.

Back in the 70's all my filters were 5 or 6 inch Kodak gelatin, mounted in cardboard - and I owned only one filter for each color. I held them in front of the lens at shooting time.

Does anyone still make these ? Is there something better ?

[gary mulder]

You need sinar part nr 547.51 filter holder. Positions up to tree 4" filters between the film plane and the lens.

[MJSfoto1956]

filters behind the lens are great -- I had S.K. Grimes create slip-on, friction-fit, 67mm rear-facing, threaded mounts for all of my LF lenses. This way, I can put one filter on the back of the lens and another on the front if I need to.

[thedeep]

gary's right. The filter holder fits on the back of the sinar shutter (notice the mounting points above and below the shutter opening)---but I don't know what brand and type will fit in there besides sinar originals (which are somewhat hard to come by on that auction site).

[CG]

At one point, years ago, I added steel blocks to the back of my lensboards so I could affix gel filters behind the lens with magnets. Simple, but it worked.

C

[Helen Bach]

Wratten and the improved Wratten 2 (http://www.tiffen.com/kpa.html) ND filters are still available in up to 6x6 and above, and so are polyester filters from Lee (http://www.leefiltersusa.com/CameraPrice/CamPriceND.html) (up to 4x6), and Hitech/Optiflex (http://www.visualdepartures.com/product_pages/optiflex.html) (up to 4x4).

The thinner gelatin and polyester filters have the advantage of causing less focus shift, and hence less angular difference in focus shift, when used behind the lens. This may or may not matter to you.

One time-honoured method of attaching filters to the back of a lens is to use rolled-up 'snot tape' - Scotch ATG tape.

Best,
Helen

[gary mulder]

any rectangular 4 X 4 gelatine or polyester filter will fit the sinar holder. It is also possible to clip the filter directly to the back of the behind the lens shutter