Must have filters? Anyone have recommendations?

chickadee

chickadee

chickadee

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I have a nice new 800D on the way and was thinking of grabbing a few filters if they would help me along. I have had my 1000D for 10 years and have a normal UV filter for traveling with but i remove that when out and about, thats really just like a protector. I then have a Hoya Circular Polarizing filter which to be perfectly honest i have used a lot BUT im not sure if its a help most of the time. I then have some cheap ND filters for long exposure shots of water for that lovely blur effect.

Am i missing some nice ones? I take mostly close up photos of animals/insects but then also a lot of landscapes in bright sunny weather.
 
For landscapes I'd look at either a standard ND grad or a tinted one if there's a specific colour cast you'd want to capture in the sky. Not used one myself but it's on my shopping list.
 
Steeps said:
For landscapes I'd look at either a standard ND grad or a tinted one if there's a specific colour cast you'd want to capture in the sky. Not used one myself but it's on my shopping list.
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I have seen a filter before that is half blue and half clear, is that the tinted grad filter? Do you know if they actually work? I guess the idea is you put the blue up top where the sky will be to get a much more natural blue?
 
Circular Polarizer is a must have for landscapes and some indoor work, aslo for cars and buildings with glass etc.

CPL is about the only effect that you cannot replicate in software (apart form very long exposure with a 10stop ND);. I used to use ND grads but with the D800 there is so much latiude you can often get away without doign anything, and if the DR is high then bracketing multiple exposures and blending/HDR will give a better effect. The problem wiht graduated filters is you have a rigid fade line, which is fine for a sky-water transition etc, but for rugged mountains or something occupying the top like a tree/building/boat then the darkening is applied to to the object which you liekly don't want. Colored filers are mostly useless with digital cameras, you can do that in software.
 
D.P. said:
Circular Polarizer is a must have for landscapes and some indoor work, aslo for cars and buildings with glass etc.

CPL is about the only effect that you cannot replicate in software (apart form very long exposure with a 10stop ND);. I used to use ND grads but with the D800 there is so much latiude you can often get away without doign anything, and if the DR is high then bracketing multiple exposures and blending/HDR will give a better effect. The problem wiht graduated filters is you have a rigid fade line, which is fine for a sky-water transition etc, but for rugged mountains or something occupying the top like a tree/building/boat then the darkening is applied to to the object which you liekly don't want. Colored filers are mostly useless with digital cameras, you can do that in software.
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the thing with my CPL is i dont really know when to have it on vs off, i know there are a hundred tutorials but when im out and about i can never figure out if its a good time or not, if its not then it can darken the photo and ruin it, what way around do i put it too! there are so many problems with it, i cant find a nice simple non professional tutorial.
 
I don't use a CPL at all, mostly use a Lee 0.9 hard grad and a 6 stopper, there have been a few occasions where I wish I could have removed reflections from the surface of water with a CPL, but I get on fine without one 99% of the time,

As for use, a classic way to use a CPL is to darken a blue sky to add more contrast - this effect is normally most prominent when the light is shining at a 90 degree angle to the lens, rather than head on or behind, they can also be good to add contrast in hazy scenes. It's a case of simply experimentation really,
 
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