We had a community request by @minibtweet on how best to use lens filters and if anyone out there had a list of essential filters for every photography kit.
Like most people I use a UV filter on all my lenses more as a way of protecting the class than any real creative reason.
So Do you use filters, if so which do you use and why!
It would be great if you could retweet this to other photographers so we gain as wide an insight on lens filter usage as possible ?
Always a UV for dust and scratch protection, a circular polariser for nice blue skies and a graduated ND for reduce sky highlights in landscape shots.
I stopped using filters almost completely as I found ways to get similar effects in Photoshop, but recently I am thinking of dropping the 3 exposure HDR thing for a while and go after a purer type of photography.
If I had to choose 1 filter I think it would be a ND grad to help balance a bright sky with the rest of the image. 2nd would be a polariser for the obvious saturation/contrast/glare reasons.
One of the new 10 stop ND filters is on my wish list. There are great creative opportunities with this with very long exposures possible in daylight where people and traffic would dissapear from the scene due to the long exposure, and cloud movement would become blurred.
On my lenses with lens hoods, I don’t use any protective filter, I do this to cut the risk of glare or ghosting. Lenses without hoods should always have a UV on the front.
Polarisers are vital bits of kit however, and are fantastic at making blue skies with fluffy white clouds “pop”, amongst many other things. ND filters and Grad ND filters are also vital bits of kit. Variable “twisty” ND filters coming into the market, these kill a bit of image quality, but for video stuff they’re fantastic.
In my experience, for ultra-wide angles (around 15-24mm) on a full frame, no polariser cuts it except for a Hoya Pro-1D. They’re super thin, and vignette very little – thicker polarisers send the corners to darkness.
Avoid cheap filters, the number of times I see a good lens with a Jessops or Hama filter on is terrible, I’ve seen people have lines in their bokeh, extreme flare and horrible reflections all thanks to cheap filters. Also try to avoid stacking filters if possible, it just adds more glass into the equation that the lens wasn’t designed for.
If I had to choose just one it would be a polarizer. It’s ability to reduce glare and reflections is incredibly hard to accomplish digitally.
I use neutral clear (NC) filters on all my lenses for protectin. I do not want any “adjustment” to the light entering my lens.
I don’t have any yet, learning about them before I invest in some of them.
95% the time I use no filters at all.
When I have need, there’s ND, grad-ND, a variety of shades for b&w film work, and I’d love to have a polariser (the last one got left beside a loch – damn!).
I also have a Baader solar filter – sheet of the stuff mounted over a cokin P yellow. Good for sunspots and eclipses.
Having only one filter in my collection, polariser is it for me. It’s changed my whole outlook!
I have a Sky-1A on almost all of my lenses, but that is more to protect the lenses than anything else. A polarizer is very useful when the light is glaring. I also use yellow filters for black and white fairly often to bump up the contrast on days when the light is soft.
UV Filter on all of my lenses, although I need to test my 17-40 as I do get some vignetting on my 5D (Full Frame). This is only for protecting the glass from scratches. One UV filter already saved my lens as I dropped my camera. UV filter broken, lens in good shape.
A Circular Polarizer, and a 3stop ND filter complete my selection. A 6 or 10 stop ND filter is on my wish list as is a graduated ND filter.
All other filter work is done in Photoshop.
I used to use UV filters, but I rarely do now because I want the best quality possible. If i’m shooting something like dirtbiking up close and there’s a chance I could get roosted, i’ll throw one on.
I’m with Tim. I don’t use screw on filters besides a UV (protective) filter but when I’m shooting in mid-day for a wedding I use a series of ND filters (from LEE) which allow my to use off camera lights and get a more dramatic sky. Those filters have many more uses but for me and portraiture work in tight spots they are my most important tool.
Circular polariser. Essential for dull skies and get some great effects on reflections!