Camera Coloured Lens - Help please - Xmas Present.

[russy01]

Hi,

My old man is into his photography (well getting into it more and more)

Hes got a Nikon D40X (i think).

He has asked for some coloured filters or something for Christmas, however i am a bit stuck.

I have found these online however shipping is from china.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

I have done a few web searches and looked on jessops but cant really find anything suitable. Can anyone help or recommend a product, Max budget £50-60.

Thanks in advance.

Also BTW, nice part of the forum, some great pictures in the threads.

Russ

Edited by russy01 on Monday 13th December 20:33

[chrisj_abz]

I have the Cokin P filter system, fairly cheap and plenty of different filters.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/27161...

[Nick M]

russy01 said:

He has asked for some coloured filters or something for Christmas, however i am a bit stuck.

Without wishing to sound condescending, but roughly how clued up about digital cameras would you say your father is ?

I only ask because coloured filters were a common accessory when shooting black and white film, but aren't really needed in this day and age where you can replicate the effect in photoshop (or whatever).

The two filters which are hard to replicate are:

- polariser - used to cut down glare from water, reflections from foliage, darken skies, etc.
- graduated neutral density - can be used to balance a bright sky with a darker foreground so both are more appropriately exposed

Just trying to help you get something genuinely useful for him as he develops his interest.

[RobDickinson]

Nick M said:

but aren't really needed in this day and age where you can replicate the effect in photoshop

A number of coloured filters can be very usefull in the digital age...

A (specific) Magenta one can compensate for green channel issues in bright daylight and even out exposure, reducing noise in the other channels ( used with a custom wb).

And a red filter is quite handy for sunsets/sunrises for a more even exposure.

Theres uses for others also, non of which can be replicated in photoshop later...

But I suspect the OP's relly wants some grads or something.

Edited by RobDickinson on Tuesday 14th December 00:01

[russy01]

Nick M said:

russy01 said:

He has asked for some coloured filters or something for Christmas, however i am a bit stuck.

Without wishing to sound condescending, but roughly how clued up about digital cameras would you say your father is ?

I only ask because coloured filters were a common accessory when shooting black and white film, but aren't really needed in this day and age where you can replicate the effect in photoshop (or whatever).

The two filters which are hard to replicate are:

- polariser - used to cut down glare from water, reflections from foliage, darken skies, etc.
- graduated neutral density - can be used to balance a bright sky with a darker foreground so both are more appropriately exposed

Just trying to help you get something genuinely useful for him as he develops his interest.

I see where you are coming from. But you are missing a vital point here. Not everyone wants to take a photo and then spend 2hours touching it up on the pc. My old man likes his photography but not on a professional level, so he'd much rather play around with different lenses in the field than sit on the pc back at home.

I appreciate your suggestion and understand its more limited this way, however this is what he has asked for and i know he would have considered this for a long time before asking for it.

I believe he already has a polarising lense.

Thanks.

[tinman0]

Go for Cokin P.

You can get the cheap chinese stuff (which is really cheap), or the original French stuff. I use the ND8 (I think). Does a brilliant job with bringing extra definition on clouds and reducing the exposure from the sky, thereby lifting the exposure of the main subject. Bringing the exposure up on the lower part of the frame also seems to bring colours up as well. Someone here will know why.

If they have a 10-20mm UWA lens then you want the more expensive Cokin P UWA attachment, otherwise you get the holder in the frame, but otherwise, the standard frame will do the job.

Only just got the polariser (used them in the past), but I kinda prefer the ND filters for some reason.

For the frame at least, I would go for the branded Cokin P system. The cheap chinese frames really are cheap and nasty.

[Simpo Two]

I suspect he's thinking of film cameras, ie yellow, orange and red for skies and a Wratten 80-something for correcting colour temperature. It will be interesting to see what a D40 makes of them!

Found a list here: www.redisonellis.com/wratten.html


Interesting that the main use of coloured filters these days seems to be for IR (infra-red) photography. However if he trying that I think he'd have been more specific.

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 14th December 13:07