Filter's and square filter kits

[H4V0C]

Hi guys,me again,i feel i may be posting in the wrong thread,if so,someone point me in the right diro for next time.

Any way,if you's can gather,im looking at getting a few filters,but im not to sure on what to get.im taking pictures of everything.so i dont need anything special,but i do want basic filters,

so if anyone can give me some directions,i'd be greatly apreciative

John

[donoreo]

What type of filters? What do you mean by "basic"? Many people use UV filters on the end of every lens as a protection device. Filters are cheaper than lenses and if you scratch the filter, you are not going to cry You DO wanted coated, single coat will do, multicoated are more costly and "better" (subject I think).

From there, depends on what you want. Circular polaraisers are great for lots of applications. Then there are neutral gradient filters (usually square - the rest mentioned are round), etc.

Depends on what you goal is.

[chris-p]

Hi John

For me, a basic filter kit consists of a circular polariser and, for landscapes, a set of ND grads. Pretty much everything else can be replicated in Photoshop.

I got cheap ND grads from Kood, along with the filter holder etc and they're pretty good. Hitech/Formatt make very good entry level ND Grads as well.

My circular polarisers are both from 7 Day Shop just because they're so bloomin' cheap!

[H4V0C]

Thanks for both your inputs.

I have a few questions for you chris,regarding the circular poloriser,its incredably cheap,i just want to know are they anygood?

and to respond by what i mean being basic,is just your basic Nd grads to make my landscapes a little bit better,
i have the 50mm f1.8 by canon comming soon for christmas,and ive got the basic 18-55mm lens which came with the camera.What lens holder would i need?like sizes or anything,its so confusing,lol

Cheers for all your help guys,

John

[chris-p]

The cheap circular polarisers work fine for me. The more expensive ones might have a greater effect but I've never had a problem with the cheapies. And if you don't like them you've not lost out too much.

As for the fitting of filters you need to know what the thread size is on the front of the lens. For the 18-55 I think its 58mm (on the front of the lens there is a Ø and the thread size in mm). I don't know what the thread is on the 50mm.

To attach sqaure filters you need an adaptor ring that fits the thread on the front of your lens (like this) and then a filter holder which attaches to the adaptor ring (like this). Then you can slot the square filters into the filter holder.

For screw in circular filters they just need to be the same thread size as the lens you want to attach them to.

[H4V0C]

Hey Chris,

thanks for your advise,paydays thursday,so im gunna order a couple of bits,deffinently a circular poloriser.and they do really good priced Sd cards,so im gunna order a 16gb

your right the standard 18-55mm lens is a 58mm radius.and the 50mm is a 52mm,so i may order them all at the same time.

is there any specific filters i should use?cause the grad levels are abit confusing.

John

[chris-p]

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about attaching NDs to the 50mm unless you're likely to be using it for landscapes (and it's not a common landscape lens!).

As for the grads themselves, they come in 2 main types, hard and soft edged. This relates to how quickly the ND portion fades. Hard edge filters fade quickly while soft edge filters fade slowly.
Soft


Hard


(Thanks Wikipedia! )

They also come in different levels of tint (often called 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 or ND2 ND4 and ND8). They refer to the amount of light blocked by the filter so it's easiest to think of them as 1, 2 or 3 stops of light.

The last thing is size which you often see as A, P or Z. P is a decent size for your camera (it's what I use). The only problem you may come across is that if you buy a very wide angle lens the P size won't be wide enough and you'll be able to see the filter holder in the shot. I get this with my Sigma 10-20 at below about 15-16mm.

Does that make sense?

[H4V0C]

Awesome info!i'll keep it in mind when buying bigger lenses.i saw a review that the 50mm lens was a good lens for all round photography.is the nd grads you stated,are thoose the ones you use?are are they different ones?i ask out of curiosity.

John

[chris-p]

I use the graduated grey grads (don't think they are technically ND) from Kood which I bought through 7 Day Shop and I use the adaptors and holders that I linked to above.