start me off with filters

garymicheal

garymicheal

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gary
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can someone help point me in the right direction with filters is there a good starter kit :shrug: or where do i start which ones not wanting to go over board but gotta start somewhere :help:
 
If you're not looking to break the bank then Hoya (also rebranded as Kenko) are a good place to start (the Hoya Pro1) filters will cost you a bit more.

Also, plenty of people on here use Marumi filters. These are available on eBay from Asia and are apparently very good value for money. You may also want to consider Cokin filters too.

I hope this helps

Dave
 
garymicheal said:
can someone help point me in the right direction with filters is there a good starter kit :shrug: or where do i start which ones not wanting to go over board but gotta start somewhere :help:
Click to expand...

First rule is: don't buy poor quality ones!! Hoya/Kenko Pro series filters are usually the way to go. Avoid the green label Hoya filters like an STD, and the purple label Hoyas too for that matter! Poor quality filters can do more harm than good!

Most people use a CPL (Circular Polarizer) for outdoor stuff, I've got 2, and Neutral Density Filters are becoming more popular, especially for waterfall shots like the one you posted earlier!

This website will explain things better than I can: http://www.camerafilters.com/
 
What sort of effects are you looking to get from them?
Slowing the shutter to get silky looking water?
Removing blown out skies from landscapes?
Funky colour effects on portraits?
Or something else?
What you want to do with them will determine what sort of setup you need. Also, a budget may be helpful as they can range from a few £ each, to £100s.
 
Most probably some ND grads - used to darken the sky (with a neutral tone) so you can expose for the foreground without blowing the sky.

If you don't know what you want can I suggest reading a guide to filters, maybe Lee Frost's "A photographer's guide to filters". It's quite interesting - you'll see loads of different types of filters and when and where they are most useful
 
Don't know if everyone here would agree with this suggestion :shrug:, as there may be some negative side to it that I haven't yet discovered but ...

It may be a good idea to buy all of your circular filters to fit the largest diameter lens which you currently have, or are likely to be buying. For instance, I started with only 67mm filter size lenses and later added a couple of 77mms. The filters that I bought when I started are now no good for my 77mm lenses, whereas I can still use all of my 77mm filters on the 67mm lenses, with the aid of (very cheap to buy ;)), step down rings.

Just a thought :|, before you rush out and spend 300 notes on a few B+Ws ;).
 
I highly recommend these.

http://www.teamworkphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10288

Coupled with this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genuine-Cokin...14&_trkparms=72:1690|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

and an adapter ring like this... But for the size of the lens that you're using.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Genuine-C...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

that's the gear that i have, and i get results like this.. After a bit of PP work though..

3354825844_2f566a6249.jpg
 
Ant said:
I highly recommend these.

http://www.teamworkphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10288

Coupled with this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genuine-Cokin...14&_trkparms=72:1690|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

and an adapter ring like this... But for the size of the lens that you're using.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Genuine-C...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

that's the gear that i have, and i get results like this.. After a bit of PP work though..

3354825844_2f566a6249.jpg
Click to expand...


hey! im looking at getting verious filters for landscape work... these look great price wise, how would you say the quality is?
thanks
nathan
 
fallen_mathi said:
hey! im looking at getting verious filters for landscape work... these look great price wise, how would you say the quality is?
thanks
nathan
Click to expand...

Hitech filters are generally thought of quite well (there are a few people who have issues) and at only a fraction of the cost of some other filters (Lee, SinghRay)

Personally I find 85mm width a little too narrow, one of my lenses has an 82mm diameter, so I go for the larger 100mm width - unfortunately depite only being a fraction wider they are significantly more expensive.
 
:Dwell thanks, youve made my day, i spent ages looking for a decent set of (not to expensive) filters, and i think these might be perfect... so for a 77mm filter sise, the 85s should be ok?
 
:phey, sorry to keep hijacking this thread, but saves making a new one, undeducated_rick, can you fit more than one hitech filter in the cokin system? thanks
 
If you get the normal holder, not the Wide angle version, you can fit 2 filters in. I also have a lens with an 82mm thread, and i've never had any problems with the 85mm filter sets.

Oh, and the hitech filters are great IMO. only issue i have is that they're slightly larger than the cokin ones, so they're pretty tight in teh holder, but they do fit.
 
Filters are useful for solving problems, at the expense of image quality.

What problem do you have?
 
i think ive got an eye for a shot but iam not getting the best out of it. here are two examples they just look like snaps i feel somethings missing nothing been done to them
IMG_2872.jpg
IMG_2980.jpg
can you tell me where iam going wrong please:thinking:
 
The first shot is overexposed, the sky and majority of the water is plain white (at least it looks it on my screen, it might not be totally blown), what metering mode do you use? I think you could do with decreasing the exposure as you wouldn't blow your highlights and you don't have many lowlights to crush.

The second shot has a fairly bland sky, I suspect this is more the time of day that the shot was taken rather than you've done anything bad. Landscapes are nearly always best shot during the golden hour; the hour after sunrise or before sunset. You get much nicer colours and more interesting shadows.
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
The first shot is overexposed, the sky and majority of the water is plain white (at least it looks it on my screen, it might not be totally blown), what metering mode do you use? I think you could do with decreasing the exposure as you wouldn't blow your highlights and you don't have many lowlights to crush.
Click to expand...
 
thanks for the speedy reply but wouldn't a filter help with the sky and water :shrug: or should i have used a smaller aperture (less light) for the first shot also i was thinking a filter for the second shot to help with the rubbish looking sky:thinking: but Ive been wrong before
 
THe first one won't be helped by a filter as it's an exposure issue. Rather than having a good dynamic range AND some highlights blown you have very little dark pixels so I would just lower the exposure - either lower ISO, lower aperture (higher f-stop) or shorter shutter speed.

As for the second shot - no filter I know of could make that interesting. Filters can only enhance something that is there but that is mainly bland (no offence) with very few details to try to improve
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
THe first one won't be helped by a filter as it's an exposure issue. Rather than having a good dynamic range AND some highlights blown you have very little dark pixels so I would just lower the exposure - either lower ISO, lower aperture (higher f-stop) or shorter shutter speed.

As for the second shot - no filter I know of could make that interesting. Filters can only enhance something that is there but that is mainly bland (no offence) with very few details to try to improve
Click to expand...

thats just it i know its bland but i feel theres a picture there but iam not fetching it out the shot is there but the effect isnt. (like you said its just bland )so if i shot at a different time it maybe better ?
 
A different time would definitely help, you would get a better crontrast between the sky and the clouds.
Your profile has a little tick against edit, so I had a very quick go at it (so quick I missed the bit between the tree). This was an auto-level against the whole photo, then, with the sky, I dropped the brightness and increased the contrast.


I am certainly not a proffesional, but I use a linear polarizer filter to help boost the contrast of skys usualy. It probably wouldn't have done a lot for the whispy cloud you have near the horizon here, but might have given a crisper edge to the cloud at the top right. However, a polarizer (any type) will effect the whole of the image, so it would have also effected the rocks and vegetation.
To have gotten a little of the effect which I have done on the comuter, in your camera, you could have used a gradient ND filter. This would have reduced the amount of light at the top (or wherever you set it), and allowed a little more light (or the same) in at the bottom.
Unfortunately, as per a previous post, the white whispy cloud does make the sky a tad bland, there is not a lot which could be done for it. It probably looked a lot better to the eye, but that is because we have adapted to change our iris(aperture) very quickly and can pull out decent contrast. The first shot could definitely do with being a tad darker, what mode did you have the camera on (manual, AV, TV?). I have been finding recently (if you can convince the wife to stay), that an auto-exposure bracket on this type of shot increases the chance of a good one. I think cameras have difficulty where there is white water. Snow is also notoriously difficult to meter.
 
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