What filters and why?

[dullbird]

hello i'm interested to know what filters people have in there kit, and what ones they favour and why.....

would also be helpful to some to know why you choose to use those filters and in what circumstances..

personally i only have ND filters which if anything i use to protect the lens and circular polarizing filters

i'am however thinking about a graduation filter but unsure whether to get grey or not or whether there is any particular brand i should get!
the graduation was recommended to me by more than one person be interesting to see how many have one

all the filters i have at present are pro digital hoya's

dullbird

[loanrangie]

I usually only have / use 2 , a skylight 1A or UV to keep on the lens at all times for protection and a circular polarizer to help with colour saturation
. I used to have a full kit of cokin filters but some little ****er stole all my gear while i was working in Adelaide but funnily enough left my Mamiya C330 and lenses behind.

[Siska]

I only have UV filters. Basically just to protect the lens from scratches. Would rather replace a $20 dollar filter than a lens. I may look at getting a polarizing filter for summer when I take more beach shots.

[dmdigital]

I too am a believer in protective/UV filters so I have one on each lense that can take a filter.
As to the others: I carry a B+W Kaessman CPL, 6 stop ND and 10 stop ND.

The 10 stop is great as it knocks a 1/30" shot down to a 30" shot and where I normally shoot thats a big plus for water falls and ocean shots where you want that blurring of the water.

e.g. This was taken around midday.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/11/172.jpg

My next purchase will be a set of drop in grad ND's. I'll only go the greys only to begin with.

[slug_burner]

UV or skylight on lenses 99.99% of the time. Polarizer (B+W Kaessman CPL), graduated ND. Have got a few Cokin filters for effects but use them about 00.01% of the time. B+W mostly although I do have a few Jap filters.

[AJSLRD]

Only ever use Hoya UV and circular polarizing filters. I try to get the light right 'natural' rather than mess around with filters that make dramatic changes.
I use polarizing filters just to reduce glare in water shots. I find it better to keep things as simple as posible and shoot the best of what I see.

Allen

[Phoenix]

Another vote for polarising fileters. I did have a circular polarising fileter on one lens, and a UV one to protect the other. However the UV one did it's job and was broken when an ambo knocked the camera off a bus seat (doing his job, I was helping with the 1st aid). And now that I jumped up to a L lens for most of my use I need to get a larger 77mm polarising filter. I won't need a circular one though as the front element doesn't rotate. I might get one anyway.

I also want to get a warming filter into my bag as well, but other things are demanding the $$ in my budget at the moment.

[dullbird]

i did recently come across a polarizer that was a warming one, has anyone ever used one of these personally i thought it would be just as easy to warm up the settings with in the camera using the kalvin scale

[victa125]

Whith the introduction of affordable digital bodied cameras to the masses any thing 6meg+ with good white balance dont seem to need all our old filters. Kodachrome, Ectachrome, Fuji, Ilford, etc.

[Slunnie]

I agree. With post processing a lot of the filter applications are now redundant - though not all. I think the coloured filters would still be interesting if converting to B&W, not that I've done that.

I love the polarising filter, especially near water and also to bring the sky out.

I've got a star one... well, to make bright things radiate like a star. :D

I also have a set of macro filters which will allow me to get right down close, but as usual with a huge DOF loss. This pic was down on a Native violet.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/07/749.jpg

[abaddonxi]

Pola's, colour correction (not much use these days), NDs, close-ups to kill depth of field.

Simon

[phasmoides]

I too rarely use anything except UV for protection and occasionally a CircPol. Mostly I do the playing on the PC afterwards.
I do more macro work these days so filters don't get much use for these shots.

[CowsGoMoo]

I've got B&W circular polarizers. I went the slimline ones so they will work with my wide lens. The threads are brass so there is less chance of them binding onto the lens thread.

People laughed when I went nuts with my ND grads. Did plenty of research before buying and went the large Lee holder to take the large 4x6 inch grads/rev grads. Funny how they complain the smaller one vignette on the wider lenses. I went the Sing-Ray ND grads. Very good quality and are really neutral but you want to be sitting down when you look at the price.

Singh-Ray Filters: Galen Rowell Graduated Neutral Density Filters (http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html)


i did recently come across a polarizer that was a warming one, has anyone ever used one of these personally i thought it would be just as easy to warm up the settings with in the camera using the kalvin scale

Sing-Ray have a warming polarizer. Haven't tried it though-

Singh-Ray Filters: LB Warming Polarizers (http://www.singh-ray.com/polarizers.html)