ND filters range from useful in landscape photography to bordering on necessary for filmmakers to keep control of your aperture while under any lighting condition. Today more and more street photographers use this accessory for their images.

Sometimes it’s built into the camera, sometimes you need to pop a filter onto your lens, whether it be a straight up or a variable. But Panavision is taking neutral density to the next level with their new LCND filter. It’s a liquid crystal variable ND with 6 stops of range and it’s all controlled electronically.

Neutral density filters are used with video to help you get control of your exposure without adjusting your depth of field or introducing more noise into your image. In the past, this has meant carrying a variety of ND filters around, or perhaps a variable ND if you can find out that meets your standards – and for Panavision users, those standards are very high. This unit replaces all of those.

The LCND is an electronic ND that uses an electrical charge to adjust the density of the filter. Because of this, it does mean that it does require power so it has an internal battery. The internal battery is said to last for around 24 hours. The LCND also looked like it could be powered via the Lemo connector on the side.

There’s no word on what this costs, nor availability.