Camera Gear

[TheAngryDrunkenRussian]

Alright a Camera Thread. Personally when I picked up my Fathers camera, a Canon AE1 or something, I fell in love. Thats why I picked up a Canon for myself granted its more modern then his, Canon Rebel Ti. But My question to you is What do UV filters do? What correct % should I get for just Amatuer Shooting? I love taking photos of friends at parties, outdoors of wildlife, and also sporting events.

Camera's are a investment for a lifetime and a hobby that I won't mind getting into.

[Hexis]

UV filters block Ultraviolet light. They look clear in the human visable spectrum. They cut down on haze a bit. They are also used pretty much universally as a cheap way to protect the front element of a lens. All Photogs I know get a lens, get a UV for it, and put the UV on it and leave it there. They only really get removed from wide lenses when another filter is needed and stacking them would cause vignetting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignetting) (dark corners). It's alot easier to clean/replace a UV filter and not front element of the lens.

[Muzikman]

Yep yep...

For the price of a decent UV, it's stupid not to use them.

The one filter though that I think everyone should own is a polarizing. In simple terms it helps make skies bluer and cuts out reflection from non metallic surfaces (water, glass, etc..). It's the one effect that you can not correctly do in Photoshop.

The first camera I owned was an AE 1-Program. Nice camera for it's time. I have since moved into the Digital SLR world.

[Dharma punk]

I have a UV filter on both of my lenses. As was stated earlier, I'd rather replace a $10 filter than a $300 lens. Polarizing filters are very nice. I recommend you get a circular polarizer. They are a bit more than the standards, but you don't have to turn them after finding your shot and focusing to get a nice flik. Lenspens are a valuable tool as well. Much better than just wiping the lens/filter with tissue paper and lens cleaner.

[Vex]

I think that after dropping crazy $$ on my wife's new gear (Rebel XT, Sigma EX 10 -20 wide angle lens, Canon flash) I should be able to convince her to get a couple of filters for her lenses (all 4 of 'em...)

[TheAngryDrunkenRussian]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/102-8179857-6559308?%5Fencoding=UTF8&rh=n%3A502394%2Cn%3A172435%2Cn%3A698232%2Cn%3A4992 62%2Cp%5F4%3AQuantaray&page=2

Alright I know I got to get 55mm filters but whats the difference with the color filters do they turn you pictures to a orange/red/olive ish colors?

[Muzikman]

I have a UV filter on both of my lenses. As was stated earlier, I'd rather replace a $10 filter than a $300 lens. Polarizing filters are very nice. I recommend you get a circular polarizer. They are a bit more than the standards, but you don't have to turn them after finding your shot and focusing to get a nice flik. Lenspens are a valuable tool as well. Much better than just wiping the lens/filter with tissue paper and lens cleaner.

You NEED a circular Pol, a linear one will not work.

[Hexis]

Polarizing filters are very nice. I recommend you get a circular polarizer. They are a bit more than the standards, but you don't have to turn them after finding your shot and focusing to get a nice flik.

A little more detail on Muzikman's post. A Linear Polarizer will not work correctly on most (maybe all) modern gear. It will throw off the metering. A Cicular Polarizer has an additional element after the Polarization filter to basically un-polarize the light so the beam splitters that direct some of the picture to metering and AF will get the light they need.

A Cicular polarizer works in function exactly as a linear one. They both need to be rotated to acchieve the look you are going for.

And yes, if you get one filter (other than a protective UV) get a Cir Pol.


Lenspens are a valuable tool as well. Much better than just wiping the lens/filter with tissue paper and lens cleaner.

A LensPen is a gret tool, until you get a bit of sand on it, and it leaves a nice scratch on your lens/UV filter. Risk is too high for me on that one. Traditional cleaning methods are much safer.

I also use ND filters a bit. They darken the image, without adding a color hue. This can be helpful when you are trying to limit DoF (need large aperture in bright light) or are trying to get a long exposure in bright light.

[Dharma punk]

Color filters are primarily for shooting black and white. Red, yellow and orange as well as blue and green will give you different levels of contrast and will accentuate certain colors. There are color fade filters for shooting color to help bring out sunsets on landscapes, but I don't really care for them. I have yet to use a Neutral Density filter, but I might pick one up to try it out.

Thanks for the clarification on the polarizers.

[Muzikman]

You more than likely will want more than one ND filter. I have a set of three. I also have a step down ring I use for my ND filter so I can use them on my smaller lenses.

[Hexis]

Yeah, with a 1, 2 and 4 stop ND you can go anywhere from 1 to 7 stops. Add a 8 stop and anywhere from 1 to 15 stops with only 4 filters. Plus you learn to count in binary.

Remember there are 10 kinds of poeple in the world: those that understand binary, and those that don't.