Need help with filters please!

[connor_roelke]

Being primarily a landscape photographer, I think I need to improve my filter collection. Currently I have a 77mm

circular polarizer as well as an infrared filter for digital work. I've been noticing my need for a graduated ND and a set

of ND filters. The problem I have is that the different options are confusing me. I want to make this as cheap as

possible with good results, the best bang for my buck system I can put together.

 

So, my questions.

 

Currently, I shoot with a Hasselblad 500c and 80/2.8 C. I plan on eventually getting a 150/4 and either 50/4 or 40/4.

Is the filter size on the 50/4 going to be larger than the equivilent of 77mm? Should I work around that? I know the

filters for the 40/4 are rediculous, so I'm not really worried about that.

 

Is there a particular brand I should be looking into for value? Are their any starter kits available?

 

Aside from a polarizer and grad ND/ND filters, should I look into any of the color filters for black and white

photography? A red filter? Maybe warming filters?

 

As most of my printing happends digitally (and always with color), I have photoshop available to me. Would this

eliminate the need for some filters? Which ones?

 

I appreciate any help that you can give. I realize this is a lot of questions, but I'm just trying to figure this out and

hopefully before my trip to Nova Scotia in a little more than a week (!!).

[ronald_moravec1]

Photoshop is better than any filter you can hang on the front of the lens except for a polarizer or a protection filter when you need

it. Even colored monochrome filters are in there along with grad ND that are much more useful than than what you can buy.

 

Spend the money or time learning to use photoshop.

 

If you plan on wet black and white darkroom work, then add a yellow, green, red, dark yellow. A colored filter lightens he color

of the filter, ie a blue will make a blue sky lighter, a red will darken an blue sky if it is truly blue which is not often, but it darkens

foliage which is a hindrance.

 

Shoot a color film that scans well like Fuji 160S or Kodak Portra 160 VC or NC. Convert to monochrome in photoshop or print

as color. Once you have a color file, the filters can be applied after fact and you choose what you want. Basically this is what

digicams do.

 

If you really want black and white film to digitize, then get a few of the above. I think it is a mistake at this stage of your

development to do so. Practice is required to visualize the effects. Don`t practice on a vacation.

 

If I had a Hassy, I would have the best filters, B+W or Heliopan, and a set for eack lens size so the shades work properly.

[ronald_moravec1]

Let me be very clear, you need scanned color film to apply monchrome filters in PS.

 

However if you have monochrome file, local controls in PS to simulate what a filter will do. For instance, if you want a

sky darker, Make a selection of the sky and manipulate it at will without touching the rest of the image. If you want

foliage lighter and did not use a green filter, then lighten just the grass.

 

The advantage of doing it in PS is the filter can be applied to only part of the image and you do not suffer the negative

effects where you do not want it,

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

You may want to consider a Lee filter system. You just need an adapter for each lens size.

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/3839/Lee_Hoods.html

[patrick j dempsey]

Check out camerafilters.com for the adapter rings. Buy your filter set in the largest filter size you expect to be using, and then get adapters to the different other sizes.

 

Colored filters for B&W are a ton of fun. Yellow and orange filters increase contrast, darkens the blue in skies and cuts through haze in mountain scenes. You are not going to get those effects in P.S. with B&W film in my opinion. I've seen plenty of shots of skies that the clouds and sky are hopelessly a dull gray mess that a simple filter would have sorted out into definite darker sky and lighter clouds.... same thing with landscapes with distant mountains... too much haze and the mountains won't even appear on the negative but with a filter they are there! If you never shoot B&W, then it doesn't matter... although warming filters can be handy.

[paul_gardener]

Lee filters and professional shades are your best option.

They make good quality grads as well.

 

I like to use German made filters like B+W and Heliopan.

B+W was the original supplier for Hasselblad branded filters.

 

I am sorry to say more and more filters sold by Hasselblad are no longer of German origin but

come from Asian countries.

 

Not comparable with German quality.

[a._sean_board1]

For graduated ND filters, I use Hitech, the 1 and 2-stop "hard edge" versions. For the Hitechs, the "hard edge" seems more like a soft edge. If you only want to purchase a single grad filter now, I would suggest that you choose the 2-stop grad.

[sfcole]

If I had to carry just one filter for B&W, I'd take an orange filter. It's great for making skies dramatic without overdoing it.

Without a filter, clouds usually do not stand out. This photo was taken with an orange filter and Kodak BW400CN film.<div></div>