Filters, can someone give me a brief newbie guide to them, what does what etc ?

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Subaru_WRC

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I`m thinking about putting some filters on my lenses but for a newbie its a minefield with so many options around, all i understand is that Hoya and Kenko seem to be popular.

You seem to get all sorts of filters like UV filters and polarizing ones just to name 2 from the many that are out there, i have 67mm and 58mm lenses at the min and if its a worthwhile exercise to put filters on them both then i will, its just ive heard some people say they are not worth it because lenses were not designed to go through another barrier of glass and some people seem to swear by them.

If i were to put filters on then everyday filters would be the ones i would use so if you could recommend some of those then that would be great.
 
UV - for protection
Polariser - reduce reflection if you don't own wide of ultra wide lenses, the green hoya ones will do.


i use hoya pro1d circlular polarisers and don't bother with UV ones as i put a hood on and it protects the lens anyway. since you got 2 sizes lens, it might be cheaper to get it for the larger one and then buy step down ring.
 
Thanks Ricky

Some input on whether its a good idea to use them would be good as you hear people are divided on whether filkters are a good thing or not.
 
if you just want to protect a lens, then a skylight filter is the answer, if you want to cut out UV rays as well then a UV filter is what you should be looking for.

Realspeed
 
I'm genuinely for someone writing a guide on filters to be stickied, such is the frequency with which these questions come up. And that's not me having a dig - I asked very much the same questions only a few weeks ago.

The consensus is that anything put over the front of your lens will degrade the image quality and that is a view I adhere to. However, the more you spend, the less degradation you get also appears to be a widely-held view. Therefore opting for LEE filters, SinghRay filters and, lesser-so but still true, Kenko (rebranded LEE, I believe) and Hoya filters are better, if money is no object, than going for Hitech, Cokin or any other brand.

I am about to opt for Hitech filters for ND grad - what these do is have a darker filter over half of the filter so you place that over the part of the image you suspect will be overexposed (usually the sky) and thus retain the colour of the foreground and the sky. They are £30 for a three-set which is what most people will say is what you require.

I have a UV filter over one of my lenses simply to protect it in the case of it being dropped.

I want a circular polarizer as my next purchase as they give you much deeper colours in sky and sea and negate reflections on shiny surfaces (metals, water etc.).

Hope to have helped!
 
If you just want to protect your lens - use a lens hood! Filters will probably degrade the image - unless you spend a fortune on one - and even then - in some light conditions will still degrade the image. In a fall the filter is likely to smash and cover the lens with glass debris! Look after your gear and forget about filters - unless you want a specific effect for a specific shot.
 
Astraeus said:
The consensus is that anything put over the front of your lens will degrade the image quality and that is a view I adhere to. However, the more you spend, the less degradation you get also appears to be a widely-held view. Therefore opting for LEE filters, SinghRay filters and, lesser-so but still true, Kenko (rebranded LEE, I believe) and Hoya filters are better, if money is no object, than going for Hitech, Cokin or any other brand.
[snip]
I want a circular polarizer as my next purchase as they give you much deeper colours in sky and sea and negate reflections on shiny surfaces (metals, water etc.).
Click to expand...


Kenko are rebranded Hoya and only a fraction of the price.

A CPL will not fully negate reflections unfortunately, but it does help a heck of a lot (don't want you to be dissapointed when you do get one)
 
Subaru_WRC said:
Thanks for the quality replies, what i think i will do is buy a couple of kenko UV lenses seeing as they are so cheap and compare a few shots both with the filter and without it to see if i can spot any obvious differenes.

Has anyone uses any of these ebay sellers, do they seem ok ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.....l1313&satitle=+200325390346&category0=&fvi=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....1313&satitle=330289132492%09&category0=&fvi=1
Click to expand...

Used Surrey Photographic before purchased Kenko square resin 85 mm grads from them no problems
 
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