Must-Have Filters

[xfkirsten]

Okay, the work gods have finally smiled upon me, and amidst the 50-60 hour work weeks, I finally have the money for a brand new digital camera! After looking around, I got on B&H and ordered a new Canon Digital Rebel 350D, with the 18-55mm kit lens, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens (at $70, how could I not?), and the Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens. :)

So I've got a question for those who use SLR cameras in Disneyland - what filters do you find are really useful in the parks?

[Disneyland_Wolf]

Sorry, i don't use SLR cameras. I only use a digtal camera. I am using right now in Disneyland is Sony Cybershot with Sony lens/optical 2x and f=6.3-12.6mm 1:3.8.

[RU42]

I have a UV filter on every camera. One is the color correction and the other is simply protection. I would rather damage my $50 filter and not my $300 lens.

I haven't yet, but plan to, buy a polarization filter for shooting off reflective surfaces, lets say the Main Street windows.

The nice thing about dSLR is that you can play with the white balance automatically and warm/cool pictures without the use of a filter. This means less switchout (which is good in my book.) Bracketing is great once you get used to it. I can bracket warmer, cooler, both, and exposure (less, more, and both.)

I would also suggest a remote trigger for long exposures on a tripod. And a really nice flash is very handy. I have the SB800 which is one of the best; at least all the photographers and mags rated it #1. I would assume there is a Canon equiv just ask someone at B&H.

Congrats on the camera! The 1.7 lens sounds great. You should be able to get some impressive firework/Fantasmic shots with that.

RU

[DaddyB]

Moose Polarizing/warming filter by Hoya. Do a search on ebay. It's a circular polarizing filter and an 81b warming filter combined.


Polarizing filters are for much more than shooting through glass. At the correct angle, they give the sky brilliant blue and clouds a whiter white (Just like good polarized sunglasses do!)

I'm also buying some diffusion filters in the near future. Possibly another cross filter, too.

UV filters, obviously.

[RU42]

Good tip and thanks. I am heading over to Samy's today and I might poke around for that and other filters.

RU

[xfkirsten]

Oooh, thanks for the tip on that polarizing/warming filter, I'll have to look for that one! :)

[bassett1976]

Luckily I did a search and found this posting already.

I just got 3 filters from Ritz (They have a buy 2 get one free sale). I got a UV Haze (recommended by Ritz), Circular Polarizer and Neutral Density (recommended by a book).

Can you give some guidelines to when to use them? I am just getting into photography and don't really have the "experience" that most of you have. I need some guidance. I'm looking at use in the parks as well as our national parks trip next weekend.

Thanks!

[RU42]

The UV is the basic filter. I keep this one on all my lenses. It helps to cut out atmospheric haze. As I mention above, it also helps protect my expensive lenses.

PL/CLR is a polarizing lens. It is used for a shot that would have glare, haze, or reflections. Examples would be water, windows, or atmosphere. As daddyb mentions, skies are bluer and clouds whiter.

Neutral Density filters out light. In theory, lets say you want to shoot a waterfall on a very bright day. If you open the shutter (slower) so you can get the blur of the water, the resulting excess light might wash out the photograph. You can crank up the fstop to counter this but you have 2 problems:

1 - You also increased the depth of the field; which again depending on the effect you want might not be a good thing.

2 - If it is really bright then you might be able to crank up the fstop enough to prevent wash out.

Truthfully, with a dSLR I have never encountered this problem so I do not carry a Neutral Density.

I suggest:

1. A warming filter. Hoya makes a filter called WARM or you can go with an 81b which does pretty much the same thing.

2. FL-W is handy if shooting indoors with flourescent lighting. It removes the greenish tint that flourescent lighting causes.

And if you want to get into specialized shooting:
1. Softon which creates a very soft image, almost like a frosted image
2. ENHANCER Red, Greem, or Blue - each magnifies that color spectrum. Shooting a tree with red leaves use the red enhancer. A blue enhancer is great with sea and sky. Green for trees, fields etc.

Then there are a ton of special effect filters out there.

In case you are wondering, I carry UV, PL/CLR, and warming filters.

My best suggestion, get the camera on a tripod and shoot the same shot - once with no filter, then the UV filter, then the....I think you get the idea. Shoot trees, a sky scene, indoor, etc.

Have fun and if you have other questions, ask away.

If you are really new to photography then I receommend the National Geographic Guide to Photography. Get the generic 'Photography' one not the digital photography (there is about 10 different books by Natl Geographic. It is a great book.

RU

[bassett1976]

Thanks Ru42, that was really helpful. Some of the stuff that you said totally went over my head but thats okay. The recommendation of the book is great!

[RU42]

Sorry about that. It is hard to determine how detailed I need to get. What parts were unclear and I can expound on them some.

RU

[bassett1976]

The increasing the depth of field is something I'm not sure how to do. I think I get good shots but not sure if the depths are good. I'm also more of a visual person so talking about it is harder to understand for me. If I see it, I will understand better.

Also, is the name of the filter PL/CLR or is that short for something?

[RU42]

Opps sorry for the confusion, the PL-CLR is the Polarizing Circular filter that you have.

Depth of Field:

What is Depth of Field? Simply put, it is the area of the photograph that is in focus. When you focus your camera on a subject there is only 1 point in exact focus.

Depending on how you set the fstop will determine how much in front of that point and beyond that point, will be in focus.

An fstop of 1.4 will create a very narrow depth of field. If I was shooting a rose bush the rose bud would be in focus but the ground behind it would be out of focus. Or if a person was standing in front of the Partners Statue; they would be in focus but Sleeping Beauty's Castle would be out of focus.

If I jump up the fstop to a higher number, then more and more of the surrounding detail will come in focus.

I wanted to find some picture (since you are visual) to help and Wikipedia helps some - but don't read the whole article. Way too much mathmatics and it confusing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field

Read the very first paragraph, it does a pretty good job describing Depth of Field. Then scroll down the page and look for the images on the right side of the screen (about 2/3rd down the page, past all the mathmatical formulas.) Look at the pictures of the plant.

Large depth of field, f32, plant and surrounding in foucs
Small depth of field, f5, only the plant bloom is in focus

Many digital camera's have 2 fun 'mode' settings. One they call Portrait and the other Landscape modes. Literally, this is just depth of field setting. If you want the plant and the field in focus - choose Landscape mode because the mode is a large depth of field priority (the camera computer will choose the highest fstop possible). If you only want the bloom in focus, choose Portrait because that is a narrow depth of field priority (the camera computer will choose the smallest fstop possible).


Again, I am going to recommend the book, it does a great job discussing all the settings of a camera; shutter speeds, fstops, depth of field, lenses, light, flashes, composition. A friend who is a professional photographer told me that was the one 'must have' book and biy was he right. I keep it in my night stand and thumb through it every 6 months or so. I always catch something new to try.

Either I helped or I really muddied the water. I hope it is the former.

RU

[Fantasmic!kid]

What sizes would you need for a TRV22?

[bigben78]

If you are really new to photography then I receommend the National Geographic Guide to Photography. Get the generic 'Photography' one not the digital photography (there is about 10 different books by Natl Geographic. It is a great book.

RU - Is this the book you are talking about?

http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Ultimate-Field-Photography/dp/0792262093/sr=1-7/qid=1164516106/ref=sr_1_7/102-0289922-8792956?ie=UTF8&s=books

Thanks.
Ben