Advice Rq'd: FILTERS
Discussion
I want to buy some filters before Saturday. So far I only have a UV filter for lense protection.
Can someone please help with these questions:
1. Whats best for landscape, sunrise, sunset shots.
2. I only have one lense at the moment but will be buying more very shortly (each in the £300 budget). Will I require different sized filters for each lense?
3. What filters serve what purpose?
Thanks
Ad.
Can someone please help with these questions:
1. Whats best for landscape, sunrise, sunset shots.
2. I only have one lense at the moment but will be buying more very shortly (each in the £300 budget). Will I require different sized filters for each lense?
3. What filters serve what purpose?
Thanks
Ad.
(see previous thread).Polariser filters. Thats the one I have looked at in magazines.
Im assuming that you have to ensure the focusing ring of your lense isnt at the end otherwise the filter will turn when focusing.
The polarising filter example pics I saw had different effects depending on which way round they were fitted.
With all these beautiful early morning drives to work Im planning to get up at 5:30am on Sat to capture the sunrise over the mist in the meadows.
It all sounds good till I wake up in my cosy bed on Saturday!
Im assuming that you have to ensure the focusing ring of your lense isnt at the end otherwise the filter will turn when focusing.
The polarising filter example pics I saw had different effects depending on which way round they were fitted.
With all these beautiful early morning drives to work Im planning to get up at 5:30am on Sat to capture the sunrise over the mist in the meadows.
It all sounds good till I wake up in my cosy bed on Saturday!
If you're using it with an autofocus camera, or one that has TTL metering, then you'll need a circular polarizing filter. As I understand it, the linear ones interfere with the autofocus and metering.
I've not used Cokin filters before, but the one disadvantage of the screw on ones that I do use is that you need a different filter for each lens size you own, which can get expensive!
I've not used Cokin filters before, but the one disadvantage of the screw on ones that I do use is that you need a different filter for each lens size you own, which can get expensive!
ehasler said:
As for the sizes - they will be marked on the lens, or should be noted on any decent website that sells them (e.g., Warehouse Express).
With cokin filters its easy (as I found out at Jessops this lunch time). The filter holder requires a lense adaptor which costs about £3.
That means I can purchase one filter holder, one of each filter and lots of lense adaptors...the cheapest part to it!
I think I'll start with the Cokin starter kit which seems a bargin at £30 (its contents are worth more alone) and then get a circular polariser as you suggest.
>> Edited by DustyC on Wednesday 3rd March 14:41
DustyC said:
I think I'll start with the Cokin starter kit which seems a bargin at £30 (its contents are worth more alone) and then get a circular polariser as you suggest.
Sounds sensible to me. If you get lenses that don't focus internally ('IF') then the filter-thread will rotate as you focus - a problem if you're using graduated filters, though you can always focus first then twist the filter the way you want it.
As most people have said, a circular polariser is the main one you want. I have bought all of mine on eBay, normally for about half price. Probably cheaper now that the dollar is so weak. the second most useful is in my opinion as ND Grad (Neutral Density Gradient) filter, from Cokin. This allows you to properly expose the sky and landcape at the same time, or other occasions when one half of the picture is a lot brighter than the other. I would reccommend getting a 2-stop and a 3-stop ND filter, you can always stack them if you need more darkening. As far as other filters go, a lot of them are gimmicky, so don't bother. Coloured ones can be useful, but much more so if you are using film rather than digital.
ehasler said:
I've not used Cokin filters before, but the one disadvantage of the screw on ones that I do use is that you need a different filter for each lens size you own, which can get expensive!
That's not quite true. You can purchase a 'step-up ring' which is basically an adpter that allows you to put a larger Hoya style glass filter onto a smaller filter thread. So you buy the maximum size filter that you need for the lens with the largest thread diameter that you own and then a step-up ring for each smaller lens. This works quite well because it allows those who prefer to use glass filters to use these on multiple lenses. Only problem is that you can sometimes get vignetting on very wide wide angle lenses - the only system I know of that claims to get around this is the Lee Filters system which is more expensive than the likes of Cokin and Hoya.
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