What 'essential' filters to get?

[sjt269]

So, the exams have been over for a few weeks now, and I've been saying for ages that I'd buy myself an IR filter in celebration. Now, I've currently got no money, need to spend £50 on guitar gear, need another £200 or so for a guitar project in the summer, and I need to save for a new PC, so I'm not looking to treat myself too extravagantly here. I also don't have a job, but I'm looking for one, so I'm going to be optimistic and hope I'll find a way to make ends meet.




Anyway, filters...I've been after an IR filter for ages, though whether it'll work well with my camera is something I'm not too clear on. With only 15s of exposure time on hand (Fuji S5600), I might be a little limited. But that's my problem, and I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. What else should I look out for?


Here's a list of ones that have either caught my eye, or that I don't know what they are. I'd appreciate it if someone could give me some advice on these:


Skylight filter - what is it?
UV filter - worth having as a lens protector, or a waste of money?
ND filter - looks interesting, but worth it for me?
Close-up filter - think I'd probably use one of these, 'less there's a reason not to get one?
CPL - looks like one of these is a definite must.


Anything else I should be looking to add? A certain high street store has 10% off most filters at the moment, but I dunno if I'll be buying right now, or in a few weeks, it all depends on how I arrange my finances.


Thanks
tTz

 

[Greg]

i use UV filters to protect my lenses, this may be a worthwhile investment if you plan to keep your 5600 for any amount of time, and especially as you can't change the lens on it! If you scratch it, your stuffed!

I'd recomment three filters, the above one as well as a Polarising filter, it takes all that nasty glare off water, metal or anything that has a shine on it becuase of sunlight. It also makes blue skys really awsome and deep blue if used correctly.

Another filter (not one that I have, but I plan to get in the near future) is an ND filter. These have various different 'strengths' if you will, they limit the amount of light coming onto the sensor, perfect for longer exposures in the day time.

hope this helps.

Greg

 

[Nicos Rex]

UV filters do exactly what it says on the tin, they reduce the amount of UV light entering the camera. UV has a tendency to add a very slight blue cast to an image (this applies both to film and to digital sensors) and also tends to reduce sharpness.

This is clearly an issue if you take photographs on a sunny day outside.

Skylight filters take this correction a bit further. They add a barely perceptible pink colour to the UV protection to further correct for the excessive blue caused by UV light on a bright day outdorrs. This produces a more pleasing effect both for blue skies and fleshtones.

There are also so-called haze filters. These also filter out some of the unwanted UV, but with the addition of a yellow tint. This counters the fact that dust particles in the air scatter shorter wavelengths more that long ones and improves the apparent sharpness of outdoor photographs.

For the film photographer, the ND filter is a useful tool, it allows you to lenghten exposure which you may well wish to do if you want to accentuate movement and keep depth of field down and you have picked too fast a film for the conditions. Digital photographers may find it less useful as you can simply change the effective film speed for each shot as required.

A polarising filter of some sort should be in every serious photographers bag. It is 3 filters in one. You can just use it as an ND filter. You can use it to increase contrast in the sky, and you can use it to eliminate reflections.

Most of my own photography is with film in black and white. I carry a set of coloured "contrast" filters which are as follows:

Yellow: Darkens "washed out" skies slightly.

Orange: Flattering for portraiture as it eliminates a lot of skin blemishes. Also makes brick buildings look more dramatic.

Red: For dark dramatic contrasty skies in landscape photography.

Green: Although it lightens the sky (bad), it can make up for this by bringing out contrast in foliage (good).

Blue: My filter set includes one, I have not used it in 30 years and am hard pressed to think of a situation that I would want to unless I really felt the need to reduce contrast which is easy to do in the darkroom anyway.

 

[sjt269]

Definitely going to pick up a CPL then, and an IR filter, and maybe a skylight filter, since it sounds a little more useful than a UV, and is a similar price.


Any more comments from anyone?

 

[Scam]

CPL without a doubt

. I view IRs as a bit 'gimmicky' but if you think you'd use it then go nuts. You can get some great results. Grads would be my next filter but you need a whole mount jobby to get that right.

 

[sjt269]

I think I would definitely use an IR filter quite often, if my camera gives good results with its limited exposure times, and if I can figure out how to properly take pictures with one.