Newbie Wondering About Lens Filters

P20

P20

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I've just started into the world of D-SLRs, hence new to this place. I've been advised to get a UV filter just as a protection against scratching the actual lens.
I've been poking about here without posting and i'm really taken with the prolonged exposure stuff. After playing with the camera today, it's clear i need a filter as they came out over exposed despite the settings. Any recommendations?

Its a Nikon D80 with the stock 18-135mm lens.
Thanks in advance(y)
 
UV filters are designed for firstly to reduce glare and secondly protect the lens (i'm sure most people will rather replace a £30 filter instead of a hundred or thousand £ lens).

I use Hoya Pro filters. Very good multi-coated filters. B+W also make excellent quality filters.

DON'T cheap out on filters or they will degrade the quality of your photos. Cheap eBay £5 filters are not a good idea.

Oh and make sure you get the right thread size for your lens :)
 
For the long exsposure photos you need a ND (Neutral Density) filter. They come in different strengths and are measured in the amount of stops reduction they give. You can get them from 1 stop right up to 10 stop (might be able to get higher but never seen them, and 10 stops is pretty extreme). I have just ordered a B+W 6 stop one so will let you know what I think when I get it.

As 8utters said, don't buy cheap filters.
 
You shouldnt have to buy a filter to correct the exposure on a new camera. My D80 had no problems with exposure, but there are settings within the camera that you can change to compensate if yours does.
As 8utters says, dont cheap out on a filter. Nikon had an article on their website about the effect of cheap filters and poor resolution. If you buy a lens with super multi coatings, the last thing you want on the front of it is a crappy bit of glass, it would be like taking pictures through a window all the time.
I use Hoya Pro 1 UV filters or nothing.

Allan
 
P20 said:
After playing with the camera today, it's clear i need a filter as they came out over exposed despite the settings. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Try different settings - including metering modes.

Filters - UV / Skylight often cheap protective methods, but I tend not to use them and I'll just be careful. CPL good one to have as well as a selection of ND and ND grads.
 
Some of the D80's have issues with Overexposure.. it's a little camera quirk ;)

On mine I dial in -0.7 on the exposure compensation, most of the time when I'm outside, then correct as needed :)

d40-top.jpg


Thats not the right camera, but the button you want is the square one with + and - in the square box :).

As for filters, I don't have any apart from cokin ND filters for slow shutter stuff :)
 
I'm confused about the exposure advice. Surely on a bright day even at the highest f stop (smallest aperture) it might be difficult to get more than 1-2s exposure without over-exposing?
 
Cheers guys(y)
I've had a play with a polarising filter on a mates Canon, which i was quite impressed with. I'll have a look at the grad filters as i do fancy playing with the prolonged exposures.
Matty i did adjust that button, but it only marginally improved things, but cheers for the suggestion. I'm very much learning with the camera so i am likely to miss these options:D
 
Basically speaking, most of the time you'll be able to do long exposures with no filter - say, 30 seconds in average indoor lighting, down to perhaps 2 seconds in moderate sunlight - without overexposure, because you can dial down the sensitivity to ISO 100 and tighten the aperture to f/22 as you need.

Filters only help if you want to take it further than that - say, for an 8 second exposure in bright sunlight where one second is the very longest you can keep it correctly exposed, you can use a three-stop ND filter to reduce the amount of light to one eighth of the original amount.

So if you're squeezing all the time you can out of it - say, trying to get more than a second in bright sunlight - then you can expect overexposure even at your minimum aperture, probably f/22, and the numbers in the viewfinder will flash. Obviously, setting exposure compensation, ultimately a software thing, won't help because the camera can't do anything.

But if you're not pushing it, there should be no overexposure.

If you are trying to push it, think about a polarising filter - they attenuate light like ND filters, so you can use one as a 2-stop (roughly) ND filter.

And buy a UV filter anyway, for reasons above. It will have basically no optical effect.
 
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