Filters

[tymrs60]

I am fairly new to digital photography. Recently switched from a 40 year old Pentax SLR to a D3100 Nikon. I have been doing some reading on the benefits of using polarizing and Nuetral Density filters. What would be a good starter set of filters for a beginner? My lenses are an 18-55mm and 50-200mm nikkor.

[donoreo]

A polarizer would be a good start. Not only can it reduce glare and enhance colours, it reduces light entering the camera by about two stops. That way it can also be considered a ND filter as well Do not go too cheap, get a decent brand.

From there...it depends. ND filters come in two main types: screw in and square. The screw in is as it sounds, on the end like any other filter. The square ones need a holder. You can look at Cokin, Kood or Formatt/Hi-Tech for fairly inexpensive kits of filters and holders.

[tymrs60]

From what I have looked at for polarizing and ND filters there seems to be different types within each one. By types I am not referring to round or square. For example ND filters appear to be available in a #2,#4, and #8. Are you recommending only one of each for starters and if so which grade/darkness/coloration/? within each type of filter. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for your reply to my first question

[donoreo]

Deciding on how many stops of light was the next step. That really depends on what you want you want to do. I have a 10 stop that is great as I can take long exposures on a sunny day at noon. You can get kits of ND filters of different densities.