Filter advice
 

Hi all, I am new to the forum, and have recently got off the ground so to speak with a Nikon D3100 twin lens kit [18-55 and 55-200].

I'm after some advice about filters - I've bought a Hama 52mm polarising filter, and a Polaroid Optics 0.9 ND filter to get me going.

These are obviously cheap and cheerful, but longer term are there any makes/models that you would recommend I invest in?

Thanks

I would recommend the square filter system. This way you can buy one set of filters, one holder and a number of adaptors to fit the holder and your various lenses. Depending what your budget is you can start at the lower end by buying Kood or Hoya, moving then to say HiTech from Formatt and at the upper end B&W and Lee among others.

Apart from B&W I have all of the above makes and have been happy with every signle one of them.

I agree with Steve. Its worthwhile investing in something like the Cokin P square filter system. You buy the filter holder and then just adapters to fit the end of your lens. Then have a look at the Kood P filters to fit it. They should work absolutely fine for the vast majority of lenses. The only time you'll probably suffer with vignetting is if you have a super wide angle like Tokina 11-16mm or Sigma 10-20mm. Ebay is the cheapest place for the above. Filter hodler is about £5. Adapters a couple of quid each. Filters are about £8 a pop.

I'd also only worth bother with ND, ND Grads and a CPL filters too. These are the only filter effects that cannot be recreated in post production. I also have a couple of different star filters, to create effects with strong light sources and to have a bit of fun with.

I agree with Steve. If you want to be creative, square filters are the only way to go, although any of the circular (Polar, Star etc.) filters designed for use in the square filter holders can be a bit of a nuisance and the only way to get proper control is the do your rotations on them before adding your other filters.
Back to the original question, one of the problems with digital over film is the dynamic range of the sensor. When shooting landscapes, for instance, it's all too easy to blow out the highlights, or lose the shadows. HDR is a solution, but requires a lot of forethought and post-production. The simple solution is the graduated filter which really only works in the square format giving you loads of control.
Filters can rescue a picture, filters can make a picture, but just as easily they can ruin a picture - Go carefully.
I had a copy of the book "The Digital Photographer's Guide to Filters" which is very good (If the person I loaned it to is reading this. - Can I have it back?). It's available from Amazon at a knock-down price at the moment. Grab a bargain.
Good luck,
Chris

Thanks all, for your advice. I have picked up a Cokin ND grad kit [p-series] today during a visit to warehouseexpress in Naaaarwich.

I shall consider investing in said book on amazon too.

You can see my initial results on my blog, address below, following my subsequent visit to Southwold harbour.

I'm in the process of moving away from Cokin P series due to the light leakage problems with dark filters, and the severe vignetting on anything wide angle (I'd say <28mm), especially if using with another filter such as a circular polariser. I'm moving onto Lee system for grad and ND, although still working with screw in filters too for polariser and IR. Cokin has served its purpose though, just a shame about the limitations

Hi James,
Have you got the wide angle P holder? I find it doesn't vignette at anything over 11mm The shortcoming I find is the grad filters are too short and if you've got a lot of sky to damp down, you run out of filter before you hit the horizon which is a pain. Guess I'll have to try HDR.

Hi Jet, I've not tried the wide angle holder - does that just remove one of the outer slots??

I was having wider issues with the Cokin holder anyway due to light leakage on long exposures (even using the "extreme inner" slot that doesn't really exist!) and the holder itself had cracked, and my most used adapter had bent. I'd been looking at a more sustainable and higher quality solution anyway as I wanted an extreme ND, so moved to the Lee holder. Some of the Cokin P filters even fit!! I'm trying to avoid HDR as much as possible - I like it, I'd just like to get as much as I can out of the camera!

If you start off with the Cokin X-pro series you can move up to Lee when you can afford it & still use your Cokin filters.

They are more expensive than the Cokin P but you don't end up with two sets

X-pro's are 130mm wide, I thought Lee were 100mm? Z-Pro are 100mm.