Filters - advice needed

Hooblue

Hooblue

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James
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I've owned a DSLR for a few years but have only recently really got interested in doing it more seriously as a hobbie. I've got a Nikon D5000 witht the 18-55mm kit lens as well as the 55-200mm. I'm interested mainly in landscapes and also urban stuff, and I also fancy doing some long exposures in due course. I don't own any filters at the moment (apart from a UV filter for each lens) but want to start getting the best from my pictures and trying new techniques.

My question relates to which filters would be best for me at this stage, as I don't want to fork out loads of money on expensive filters at the moment.

A friend of mine has recommended I stick with the screw mount ones rather than go with a system like Corkin. He has also said that rather than get filters with the 52mm thread (which both my lenses have), I should maybe get, say, 67mm filters and get a step-up ring as this way I'll future proof myself should I get any new lenses and also help stop vignetting if I choose to stack filters. Is this sound advice or would I be better to stick to 52mm filters? :shrug:

As for which filters to get, I'm thinking of a CPL filter and also a few ND filters, say a ND4, ND8 and maybe a higher one too. Would this be sufficient? Because I don't want to spend loads, what sort of price bracket should I be looking at? I've seen on ebay for £6-£7 but would it be worth my while getting slightly better ones for say £20-£30 each, or at this stage would the cheaper ones be ok until I know what I'm doing?

Any advice would be welcome! :thumbs:
 
A lot of questions you are asking :D

A CPL is always useful and if your looking for a degree of future proofing would suggest that you look at a reasonable quality at 72mm or 77mm - 67mm is a bit of an oddball size.

For landscape ND grads would be more useful than just ND screw on filters which are more geared for slo-mo silky water scenes. Look at Hi-Tech filters which are better spec than Cokin - without the caste - and only a tad more expensive.
 
CPL is worth it and they are cheap in 52mm size. See ebay for Hoya Hmc or pro series. You can buy your big filter when you need one.

ND can be useful, but CPL also doubles like a basic ND, and you can always stop down a bit. 10 stop ND is a very nice thing, and expensive.

Grad filters are useful if you are doing landscapes. Square systems are the way to go. Lee is OK, something coated and glass is better.
 
The only two circular filters you really need for digital work are a CPL and an ND (or 2). Don't scrimp on the prices, decent ones of both (and it will make a difference) will be over £50 each. I'd personally take the UV filters off too as they aren't actually doing anything and if they were cheap they could seriously reduce the IQ of your lenses.

ND wise I would go for something like a B&W 10 stop screw in filter and a 4-6 stop one (B&W do a 6 stop one too).

If you have money to spend then have a look at a square slot in filter system, like Cokin or Lee for the grads, however you can do a better job in most situations in Post processing if you shoot RAW.
 
Thanks guys. I only really use the UV filters for protection as I don't have a lens hood for the 18-55mm. It isn't a cheapy one though (it's a Hoya UMC one) so hopefully there's no loss in IQ.

I'm certainly looking at getting a CPL and also a ND filter or two. Not sure I can stretch to a 10 stop one (they seem to be a bit expensive for the amount I'd use it) but I'm certainly looking at maybe a ND4 and an ND8.

I'm going on a landscape photography course at the end of October so I'll pick them up before I do, as well as a remote release! :thumbs:
 
Circular polariser

Welding glass (a search of the forum will explain)
 
CPL's are very useful, the ND will be handy in a few situations too.

As for size, if you don't know what you're upgrading to then bigger is better so looking at the filter size of the higher spec glass would be best (canon's mainly 77mm). Only thing to remember is that a bigger filter = bigger cost and how much would you be stacking them? my guess is not a lot.

Other thing to remember is that the filter's an extension on the lens so an optically poor filter can ruin what would otherwise be a great picture. Generally cheap is poor quality so don't scrimp too much as it may have the opposite effect to the one you want.
 
As others have said, A CPL is a very nice filter to have around for a number of different reasons. I would buy the largest that you can afford and use a step ring so that it will work on other lenses later on if you get one with a larger element. Buying a CPL to fit every lens would get very expensive very quickly.

As far as a UV filter goes, These are great at protecting the lens element from dust and scratch's and great for certain conditions (I use one as a lot of my landscapes etc are beach shoots and they stop the salt spray getting on the front element). I would not keep one on for all of my shots.

As or ND's and Coloured Filters I would look at some of the alternatives to cokin, they fit into the same system so interchanging will not be a problem. you might want to have a look at the kood range or even some of the filters that SRB do, these are cheaper than the cokin ones and I have found them just as good if not better than the cokin ones at times. The Hi-Tech as someone else has already said are really nice aswell.

I think a lot depends on how much you are willing to spend, The Welding glass options has had some VERY good results on here and is something that Im looking at trying soon.
 
As others have said, a CPL is a good call. It looks like the front element of your 18-55 (the bit you screw the filters onto) rotates during focusing. This can make the CPL a bit tricky to use as the effect it gives can be varied by rotating the filter. It's doable, but takes a bit of practice.

For landscapes, and ND grad will be just as usefull as a full ND filter. The 18-55 has a small front element, so the good news is that if you buy a slot in grad system the shaded part of the filters will also completely cover the front of the lens meaning they can be used as a straight ND as well :thumbs:
Make sure you one of the slot in system like Cokin (cheap), HiTech (medium) or Lee (expensive) as they provide the most flexibility. If you buy a screw in grad, you can only move the grad line by recomposing your shot :(
I'd also go for the hard line grads. The soft ones have to gradual a transition when I use them with my 18-55.
 
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