What are some good filters?

[joshua_fritts]

<p>As the subject says: What are some good filters, the filter size for my lens is 72mm</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Are you shooting film, or using a digital body? <br /><br />Presuming you're talking digital, and thus don't need to use filters to white balance flim, you might think about these:<br /><br />1) A circular polarizing ("CP") filter. This can help you deal with strong reflections, and can intensify the sky while shooting landscapes, among other things.<br /><br />2) A neutral density ("ND") filter. This is like sunglasses for your camera. It allow you to open up that lens to a wider aperture even when in brighter light. Helpful when trying to get the sun under control while using flash outdoors, or for achieving long exposures (like to blur a waterfall) when you're not in low natural light. These come in diffferent strengths.<br /><br />3) A graduated neutral density ("GND") filter. Same as above, but only part of it is tinted, with a transition to clear. Helpful when you have a bright sky, but don't want to darken the foreground.<br /><br />4) A clear protection or UV filter. This is to help you protect the front element on your lens if you're out in sandy, gritty, dusty conditions. Don't do this unless you're prepared to spend enough for one that has good multi-coating - otherwise, you risk losing contrast to the glare on the extra glass you're shooting through.<br /><br />But mostly: don't buy a filter until you know you actually need one. Other things can be much more important.<br /><br /></p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>I always start by putting on a quality UV, just for protection of the front element. With some of my lens Canon recommends this to complete the weatherproofing. My prime motive is to keep my fingers off the lens.</p>

<p>If you want to go further I'd suggest a Circular Polarizer for a next choice: it reduces glare, makes colors deeper and more saturated, can make skies dark dramatic blue, and so on.</p>

<p>Another popular choice is Neutral Density, to reduce light and in turn require longer shutter speeds, for things like daytime time exposures: misty water falls, blurred (or disappeared) pedestrians, and so on.</p>

<p>Further along along are Graduated Neutral Density filters. Typically these are largish rectangular filters, and like the name sake, go from clear at the bottom to neutral grey at the top. Some have a relatively sharp transition, some more gradual. These are used to reduced the dynamic range (brightest to darkest range) of problematic scenes like landscapes with bright skys: allowing you to preserve sky detail without the landscape going black.</p>

<p>There's a fair bit of info regarding Circular Polarizer filters at The-Digital-Picture, and the Luminous Landscape has info regarding Graduated Neutral Density filters. Plus just google, to find lots more sources.</p>

<p>Personally I have UV's on all my lens, and one CP filter in my most common lens size. I've been thinking about getting a graduated neutral density filter next, but so far have been put off by the price, and also the need to get a holder and adapter to my specific lens type. I believe you can just freehand these filters in a pinch, for starters.</p>

[xxloverxx]

<p>I use a yellow and a polariser. But I'm a film shooter…you won't need a yellow for digital.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>Outside of random suggestions, its kind of hard to make appropriate suggestions unless you can say what effects you are trying o achieve, or alternativelywhat problems you have currently that you're trying to overcome. It would also help to know whether your term "good" refers to a type of filter (eg polarizer) or a brand of filter (eg Hoya).</p>

<p>I would suggest that if you really don't know yet why you might want filters, then it might be more useful to wait till you do.</p>

<p> </p>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>Spend the money on good filters - it makes no sense to put a poor filter on a good lens. I'm partial to B&W MRC filters, but there are other good choices, such as Heliopan. You may also want to consider using step up rings. That way you can fit your larger filters to lenses with smaller filter threads.</p>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Some that I find necessary for my bag: I don't use UV filters, I use Tiffen Haze-1 or B+W K1.5 which are a little stronger. The heaze has more of a yellow tint and is effective for general use and atmospheric blue haze, the K 1.5 is more amber warming and also cuts UV and haze to some degree but is great with skin tones and general contrast. As already mentioned, split-neutral-density. I have grey and colored ones, I mostly use the P-Cokin Series which I can rotate and adjust in a holder, some folks don't like uncoated resin filters like these, I have never had any problems, but I do manually shade the filter with a card if needed. Lastly, I have a good variety of soft effects filters an diffusers from extremely mild Tiffen FX-1 to stronger Hoya Soft A and B plus numerous Cokin and resin diffusers that fit in my compendium lens shades. Some will argue that you can create the soft looks in post, but I still like the real thing. The initial lighting hits those filters in certain ways to create different an often more dramatic effects. Filters are quite personal though to your individual style, you can never hav too many diffusers though ;))</p>

[matt_needham]

<p>I carried a lot of filters when I shot film, but since switching to digital I only use circ pols and NDs. The reason I never liked graduated NDs is because centering the horizon rarely suits the world I photograph. I haven't used a UV or other protective filter in over 15 years.</p>

[mark_drutz]

<p>Whatever filters you get, get good multicoated filters. I use Hoya HMC and S-HMC filters, but there are other good ones.</p>

[BrianS1664879711]

<p>... and whatever filters you get, use them with a good lens hood/shade.</p>

[dan_south]

<blockquote>

<p>What are some good filters</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That all depends on what you want to accomplish. Color correction? Only necessary if you're shooting film, but the 81 series balances the blue color of some daylight conditions and the 80 series removes some of the yellow cast of incandescent light bulbs indoors.</p>

<p>Polarizers remove some reflections and can increase color saturation in some conditions.</p>

<p>Graduated neutral density filters help manage situations where one side of the frame is much lighter or darker than the other such as a bright sky behind a shadowy foreground.</p>

<p>Non-graduated neutral density filters let you slow your shutter speed by several stops to create motion blur effects.</p>

<p>Special effects filters like sunset filters or star filters or colored grads can modify your images in dramatic ways, but sometimes their effect looks cheesy. The same with color-selective polarizers, which can turn your photo blue, gold, or red in some cases.</p>

<p>Check out the websites of the Lee Filter company and the Singh-Ray company for some examples of these filters in action.</p>

[danny_low]

<p>I only use two filters nowadays since I switched to digital. The first is a UV filter or an equivalent haze filter. The main reason is protection. I shot a lot at the beach and blowing sand and foam is always a problem. Blowing dust in the desert can also be troublesome. It is easier to clean and replace a filter than the lens and a whole lot cheaper.</p>

<p>The second filter is a circular polarizer for reflection reduction. It also is a decent Neutral Density filter substitute. This is one of the few filter effects which cannot be duplicated well in the computer.</p>

<p>All the other filter effects can be duplicated in photo editing programs nowadays. You can get plugins for Photoshop that duplicate the look of film down to artificially created grain as well as the effects of many filters systems such as the Cokin filters.</p>

<p>The key point when buying any filter is you get what you pay for. A friend who is photo mag editor has gotten free filters over the years from many companies. A while back he decided to test the various filters he got. The quality ranged from no better than window glass to really high quality photographic glass. The quality roughly corresponded with the prices of the filter. So do not go cheap when buying a filter.</p>

<p>Danny</p>

 

[philip_tam]

<p>Some other suggestions:<br>

<br />If you do not intend to use your filters with a lens hood, I think it's a good idea to buy screw on filters for the maximum size threading that you're going to have for your lens collection. It would be dreadfully expensive to buy a Hoya SHMC CP for every filter thread size you have. Rather, buy the largest, and use cheap step-up rings to adapt the filter to your smaller lenses. A little forthought can save you a lot of money. The caveat is important though: if you want to use your lens hood with the filter, just suck it up and buy the filter for the lens.</p>

<p>Also, Graduated ND filters are best used as slot-in filters, such as those made by Lee or Cokin. This way you can raise/lower the transition line in the frame. Screw on GND's are near worthless in my opinion.</p>