Work out the shutter speed under an ND filter
ND1000 turns a 1/250 s exposure into 4 seconds. Compute the new shutter before you're standing in the field.
Tools used in this guide
The job
A neutral-density filter multiplies the shutter time by 2^stops. ND1000 ≈ 10 stops turns handheld daylight exposures into multi-second tripod shots — but the arithmetic (1/250 × 1024) is annoying in your head.
Base exposure plus stops
Meter the scene without the filter, enter that shutter speed, then pick the ND strength — stops directly, or an ND rating like ND8/ND64/ND1000. Read the new exposure time.
- Example: 1/250 s with ND1000 (10 stops) → about 4.1 s.
- Beyond ~1 s the camera's meter often can't confirm — shoot a test frame and check the histogram.
Watch the conventions
ND numbers follow the common density convention (ND1000 ≈ 10 stops); some makers label differently. When precision matters use explicit stops, and remember aperture and ISO stay untouched — only the shutter stretches.