For owners of Ricoh Pentax DSLR cameras, a new software graduated ND filter being offered by the company might be useful.
Ricoh recently released this as a “premium feature” option for select Pentax DSLR cameras from the company’s line of them. Ricoh is calling the release “Grad ND”
Once you buy it, the software ND filter can be activated on your camera through a code you obtain after purchase.
What Grad ND does is let you change the darkness level of certain parts of your images, much like a physical graduated ND filter, but more flexibly.
This flexibility element of Grad ND is a key aspect of its uniqueness since it lets you define the position and angle of your gradient and also the transition distance.
You can vary ND effects from -0.3EV to 5.0EV in 1/3EV increments across different parts of an image, and adjust these modifications as needed. This makes Grad ND a much more versatile ND filter tool than what’s possible with a physical filter.
Overall, Grad ND offers several different customization tools for your photos as you edit them in-camera and images taken while using this camera software can be saved as both RAW and JPEG files.
According to an Instagram post by former Pentax USA president Ned Bunnel, Grad ND does its work by taking two different shots of a scene at different exposures and then layers them together.
In his post, he adds, “A PSA to let Pentax DSLR users know that the GRAD ND premium effect is now available to US customers as an activation key at “us.ricoh-imaging.com”.
Ricoh’s website explains that Grad ND is available for the brand’s K-1 II, K-3 III, and K-3 III Monochrome Pentax DSLR cameras.
Users who obtain the software will also need to update their camera in general but also warns that it might take as long as a week for a buyer to obtain their activation code.
Pricewaise, Grad ND is on the expensive side for an in-camera software update. It costs $79.95 to buy and that price is per camera. If you own multiple compatible Pentax DSLRs, you’d need to buy the software again for each of them.
Ricoh has a page devoted to this NF filter update on its website and it contains a bunch of instructions and warnings for buying and using it.
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