Which Filters for Newbie

130r

Hi all, can anyone give me a bit of advice as to which filters I should get for my canon 350d ? I do a bit of architectural visualisation so Ive been told a ND filter is necessary. I have noticed Ive had to under-expose to stop my skies blowing out...is an ND filter that the way to fix this and if so which one ?

I have a skylight (uv?) filter on there now to protect the glass as much as anything. Ive also been told a circular polariser is necessary for sunny days. Sorry for the total lack of knowledge

Xiney

A polarizing filter is very useful.

Other than that, I wouldn't bother with an ND filter - just take a couple of bracketed exposures and blend them as needed.

130r

So no to the ND filter: is it just hard to get good results with is it just that I could save money by bracketing instead ? I dont mind the cost at the moment.....

When would you use the polariser, is it just for very sunny days or does it bring out certain colours ?

eightcell

I have recently started with my first Digital SLR and have been recommended to get both a CPL (Circular Polarizing) filter and a UV filter. Working out well so far...

CabanSail

Do you shoot RAW or Jpeg?

I would shoot RAW as then you will have a lot more dynamic range to pull the skies back in. Bracketing will also allow you to blend but to do this you should have the camera on a tripod.

The Circular Polariser will reduce glare & can get rid of reflections. It can also make the sky a lot more livid & give clouds a punch. More information here

elven

Polarisers can remove reflections to a certain extent, if you're standing at the right angle to the surface. They also make blue skies bluer.

UV filters these days in normal conditions (as in, not up a mountain) don't do a whole lot more than protecting your lens. which is a very noble cause and i've heard too many stories about knocks and drops of cameras where the filter smashed and saved the front element of the lens, so it's probably a very very good idea to have one.

I'm not quite sold on the story that post processing is completely equal to an ND grad used in the right way. It also depends on you using a tripod to take two identical shots, maybe that's what you'd do anyway but it's not my bag. Not that I have an ND grad, so it's pure postulation on my part...

I can think of a use for a solid ND though - for getting long exposures during the day - somewhere busy in the city, this would reduce the amount of people in the image. Or maybe i'm misinterpreting what you want to shoot.

CabanSail

Using UV Grads is not that straight forward & can be a bit tedious to select the right filter as you probably should spot meter various parts of the image. You need a range of them & then set up the shot on the tripod & know how to position it etc etc This is all probably a bit beyond the average newbie.

130r

I generaly shoot from a tripod and use the autobracketing +- one full stop once i have a shot I know ill be using. I sometimes use photomatix to put together a HDR of the shot if the exposure balance is extreme. I was hoping a graduated ND filter would let me get perfect exposure of sky and foreground. If I was to go down that route, do I simply get a bunch of 1 stop filters and stack them up as the light requires ?

From Cabansail's link it looks like the poloriser will blue up my skies and give me an overall drop in exposure so thats a definite yes then. I guess a canon filter would be best?

Xiney

I've never seen a Canon filter at work - everyone I know uses a Kenko Polarizer. UV doesn't matter, I just have a cheapo.

CabanSail

I have Hoya UV & CPL filters.

If you shoot RAW you have about +/- 3 stops already, so bracketing only 1 stop is a bit mild.

If I bracket I will tend to do +3, 0, -3 or +4, +2, 0, -2, -4

130r

Thats interesting I do shoot raw so Ill give that higher bracketting a go over the weekend. Is that +3,-3 full stops or half stops ?

I was thinking my HDR's were a bit on the mild side alright :rolleyes: Anyone reccommend a good place to pick the filters up in dublin?

130r

Okay, Im just going to come out and ask it: is a UV the same thing as a skylight filter?

Xiney

Yup, UV = Skylight.

And Hoya make excellent filters too - I couldn't remember the name though. I had one of them before, but it was attached to a camera that got stolen and I replaced it with the cheaper Kenko.

CabanSail

That is 3 full stops.

A UV & Skylight are different. The UV Filter just takes out the top of the spectrum, but that is not required now on digital as the filter in front of the sensor does it anyway, so it's just there for lens protection.

The Skylights have a slight tint & they "warm" the image slightly. So it will slightly shift the Colour Temperature. If you have the WB on Auto it will change it back, so it will then do the same job of protecting the lens.

I would choose the UV but the Skylight will do.

Xiney

CabanSail wrote: »

A UV & Skylight are different.

learn something new every day

130r

many new things in my case :cool:

Howitzer

Hama are also a good name in filters and come in at a good budget price.
I read somewhere hoya and hama probably use the same glass supplier.

Last filter I bought was at:
Gunns of Wexford St, Dublin
and they did a good price.

Also bought in Camera Exchange before too. Not a bad price either.

The CP(circular polarizer) is well worth it for any medium range lens and does give a good result with minimal effort. Price goes up as the diameter goes up (more glass needed!)

happy filtering...

CabanSail

A mistake to avoid is to take off the UV/Skylight before putting on the CPL. They will stack up but you will probably get vignetting.

Xiney

I usually wear both filters - on non-full frame cameras it doesn't seem to be an issue since the "edges" of the lens aren't used anyway.

Anything more than two and I'd be in trouble, though. And it definitely depends on the lens you're using.

130r

Great, thanks everyone for your help. Ill give the exchange & gunns a bell see what is to be seen.

One last thing on the ND filter: dabs.ie have them with code names like ND4-L, ND8-L. I take it thats 4 stops, 8 stops etc ? Any suggestion as to a good amount of stops to go for? Pixmania Pro and Komplett dont seem to stock the ND's any suggestions for an online alternative?

Again many thanks guys

charybdis

There seems to be some confusion between Neutral Density and Graduated Neutral Density filters.

Neutral Density (or ND) filters are just grey-tinted filters that reduce the amount of light going into the camera. Graduated ND filters are filters that are partially grey to change the amount of light entering the camera for parts of the image.

Graduated ND filters are most often used to drop the portion of an image occupied by the sky by a couple of stops so that it doesn't overexpose while the area of the image occupied by the ground is not affected by the filter and is also correctly exposed. The effects of a Graduated ND filter can be replicated by shooting bracketed exposures to produce a composite image of greater dynamic range that can then be tone mapped to produce an even exposure.

ND filters are used to reduce the exposure of an image. It's best to think of them as a fourth handle on exposure after aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The advantages to being able to reduce exposure for a given shutter speed without adjusting aperture is that you can use a larger aperture to create a shallower depth-of-field without overexposing your image. It is also useful when taking long exposure shots in that you don't have to use very small apertures, which can induce diffraction, especially in wide-angle lenses, to increase shutter speed.

ND filter ratings are rated by attenuation factor, for example an ND4 filter would permit 1/4 of light to pass through which is equivalent to 2 stops, an ND8 would permit 1/8 of light to pass though which is equivalent to 3 stops.

130r

thanks charybdis, sorry Im being lazy with my language, it is the graduated type ive been talking about. The problem I have at the moment is that none of the main online stores I know of (dabs4work, komplett, pixmania pro, warehouse express) seem to have them listed. Either that or their being just as lazy as myself and just refering to them as ND filters ?

charybdis

130r wrote: »

thanks charybdis, sorry Im being lazy with my language, it is the graduated type ive been talking about. The problem I have at the moment is that none of the main online stores I know of (dabs4work, komplett, pixmania pro, warehouse express) seem to have them listed. Either that or their being just as lazy as myself and just refering to them as ND filters ?

There's a pretty big distinction between ND and ND Grad. filters as I've outlined above; if they're not specifically referred to as "graduated" I strongly suspect they're ordinary ND filters.

Calumet in Northern Ireland sell both and deliver to Ireland.

Although I suspect you'll probably get the results you want shooting bracketed exposures and compositing the images (unless you're using film).