Lense Filters

[oldno7]

Do most use these? Clear mostly for protecting the glass, others for effect?

[Win]

I try to keep a UV filter on all my lenses to protect them. For shooting landscape I use a circular polarizer, seems invaluable in this area.

Win

[RedMan]

UV, ND4, ND8, and Polarizing are all I carry.

All the gradients/colorizing I now do in post.

[oldno7]

Thanks alot guys, excellent help. :nod:

[RedMan]

Spend some time learning the circular polarizing filter.
if you forget to adjust it on each shot you will get some messed up sky shots.

I only use the ND8 in bright snow.
The ND4 helps me get some shadows better on a bright day.
Think of them as sunglasses for the camera. Reducing the light.
Since your modern camera is adjusting the the settings for light this simply shifts the light meter.

Again do some experiments with and without on the same shot and you will soon get a feel for how to use it.

I generally use them mid day when you tend to get those flat shots.

[oldno7]

any particular brand to use or stay away from?

[tmartenst]

B+W are pretty amazing filters but are expensive. I originally bought a Hoya UV but upgraded to the B+W. Hoya are pretty good though and they have a few different levels of quality.

I also use Singh Ray filters with a Cokin P holder system. I have a Graduated ND Galen Rowell 3 stop and also the Reverse Graduated ND Daryl Benson filters. I lost my holder and pretty much just hand hold them for shots now. They can do some pretty cool things but again, are an investment.

If you are new to all this, B & H photo has great reviews on their products. Typically it is worth it to spend a little more on these items because they directly affect your shot. No use having a good lens with a crappy filter.

T

[Win]

I just bought a couple of the B+W polarizers based on reviews. I ordered from
http://maxsaver.net/ , they're in Hong Kong but have a good rep and shipped very quickly. It was my second order.

I had a Hoya that I managed to screw up, no really noticeable difference. The B+W has a rep for being built better and having less distortion.

Win

[asdf]

If you have a kit lens and plan to upgrade i would hold off on buying filters for now, odds are they wont fit on your new glass.

[americanhero]

I use UV, circular polarizing filter and Hoya ND8 Filter.
one of my next filters will be a B+W. Before I bought my 105mm macro lens I also used a close-up filter.

[Seven]

I loooooooove my polarizer.

[gringorio]

I love my Moose Filter!

I took this photo in early July on the Green River in Utah:
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u317/WildMagnolia/Green%20River%20Solo%20July%202009/DSC_4448rock.jpg

Here's what I found online about the Moose Filter:

"The Moose Filter The importance of the 81a filter to my photography is such that, like I said, I use it all the time. The polarizer is also a very important tool to my photography to remove reflections (will explain in a moment). The problem was that when I used the combination of the two filters, 81a and polarizer, stacking them on my ultra wides, I would get vignetting (darkening of the corners). From this problem arose the solution, marry the two filters into one to eliminate the vignetting. With that was born the Moose Filter.

The polarizer is a filter designed to remove reflections. Its purpose in life is not to create blue skies, although this can be the effect at times when used correctly. The true purpose of this polarizer is to remove reflections such as those off a windowpane. The major reflection we have to deal with in wildlife/scenic photography comes from the blue sky. It bounces its blue tint on everything. Along the same idea as the 81a filter, we use the polarizer to remove this blue, remove the skies' reflection, so the film records the true color of the subject/scene.

In practice, its use can be tricky at first. To see when the reflection is gone is hard for some folks to see. The best way to describe this is to look at the ground and rotate the polarizer until the dirt becomes a rich chocolate mousse color (get it? chocolate mousse, moose filter, ha!). The moose skull is a good example. You can see the blue sky; it's bouncing its blue light all over the scene. By looking at the grasses in the foreground and rotating the Moose Filter until the grasses got that rich, healthy look to them, I effectively removed the blue reflection of the sky. In the process, the sky got a tad darker and the skull more impressive!

Is the Moose Filter used all of the time then? No, the Moose Filter or any polarizer is only used when you have reflections, like that from the blue sky that you want to remove. Do you use the Moose Filter with an 81a, stacking the two together? No, that would not only defeat the purpose of creating two filters in one, but would cause vignetting. (Tech Note: when shooting conventional film with a polarizer, I always dial in +1/3 comp so the image doesn't have that "polarized" look to it.) Do I still use the Moose filter when shooting with the D1? You bet because bad light is bad light no matter the format you're shooting with." Source: http://www.vividlight.com/articles/304.htm

[DWayne27]

I just bought my new camera and 2 lenses, and it is the first time I have ventured in to the dSLR world. I skipped the kits and got some nicer lenses. Is it stupid of me to not have at least some UV filters for protection on my lenses? I think I have a pretty good handle on the lenses and how to use my new stuff, but not quite sure about all the different kinds of filters, or specifically why some filters are $250 and some are $25. I think will end up buying the cheap canon UV filter for each lens just for the sake of protection

[tmartenst]

I am not as good as I need to be about leaving UV filters on the lenses. I will vouch for a filter saving your a$$ in a pinch. This filter saved me a $600 lens when my camera fell from full tripod extension onto rock right on to the filter. Unfortunately, it was a $170 B+W Kaeseman Circular Polarizer, not a cheaper UV Haze.

ps. It is still stuck to my B+W UV Haze!

38698

[p40whk]

Don't know if anyone has had any experience with this but I was told by the company that I rent my lenses from NOT to use a circular polarizing filter on the Ultra-Wide angle lenses because they can cause dark banding in areas of the sky. I normally shoot with an 11mm lens with only a ND filter.

[tmartenst]

Yes, vignetting can happen with wider lenses. It even happens with UV filters. I have a slim UV for my wide angle and they make slim Cir-Pol's too. The thing that sucks is you can't put a normal lens cap on them, it is a push on which is risky.

[ibenick]

Don't know if anyone has had any experience with this but I was told by the company that I rent my lenses from NOT to use a circular polarizing filter on the Ultra-Wide angle lenses because they can cause dark banding in areas of the sky. I normally shoot with an 11mm lens with only a ND filter.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about this. I've been playing around with a circular polarizer on my 10-22mm and it seems to be okay if I make sure it's oriented properly. But generally I don't use it for this reason. I don't have vignetting issues though, never stacked more than one filter on it.

[oldno7]

I don't use filters very much anymore, but I have used my Hoya CP on the 11-16 with good results. This is the slim version.
I wonder if the banding might be more of an iso issue. Some cameras produce more banding than others.
The 5d mk II is known for low iso banding in dark areas of a picture.