Ray Heath
(K=4559) - Comment Date 12/19/2004
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g'day Kareem, too broad a question
what do you want to achieve?
colour or B&W?
slide or neg?
subject?
buying two filters won't magically help your image making
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Kevin H
(K=22502) - Comment Date 12/19/2004
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Don't forget, it's not your equipment that makes your shot, it the photographer. Filters will only help, like a polarize filter will make the sky darker.
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Richard Dakin
(K=12915) - Comment Date 12/19/2004
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Hey guys, cut Kareem some slack. He didn't say he expected a magical transformation, he just asked for advice so he can learn. Kareem, since you are a beginner I suppose you don't really know what type of photography you want to do yet. You'll probably want to try both colour and B+W until you get a feel for things. Since you already have a skylight, I would suggest a circular polarizer for shooting colour film. You won't use it much, but it can come in very handy. For B+W I would suggest buying a yellow filter to start. This will boost contrast slightly which is especially important if you are going to use C-41 (colour process) film. After you have been shooting a while you may choose to add to your filter collection. There are lots of filters to choose from, but they will not automatically make you a better photographer.
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Kareem Hamdan
(K=3180) - Comment Date 12/19/2004
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Hi Ray, I like using color film and thank you.
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Kareem Hamdan
(K=3180) - Comment Date 12/19/2004
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Thanks very Richard for your advice.
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Hermen Pen
(K=9168) - Comment Date 12/19/2004
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I agree with Richard, a polarizer would be the first filter to buy, it can enhance the quality of your images in many situations, especially in bright sunlight - and I believe you have plenty of that in your country :-)
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Scott McFadden
(K=5663) - Comment Date 12/20/2004
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A polariser and A Grey graduate filter
The grey grad can be used with both B+W and color and is what I regard as an essential filter for balancing the light.
If the camera is a manual get a linear poleriser.
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D
(K=655) - Comment Date 12/25/2004
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For colour film you may buy circular polarizer and half nd to control big contrasts between sky and rest. UV seems to be good just to protect Your lens. Buy only multi coated filters, do not save money on filters, poor filter can destroy effect of best lens ever done.
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Tiger Lily
(K=10966) - Comment Date 1/26/2005
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I am a beginner too. For my old camera I had bought skylight filter (to protect the lens), then bought a circular polarizer which helps with bright skies. I think it also allows you to shoot through glass though I've never tried that. I also like the star filter that draws the glitter effect on night lights or images that shine such as jewelry. I think I also hear people talk about sepia filter a lot. I believe the brand name I bought is called Tiffen.
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James Silcock
(K=12501) - Comment Date 1/29/2005
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I would have to agree with the people here, I own quite alot of filters but the ones I use almost 90% of the time are grey grad and polarizer. Have fun.
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Daniel Guerin
(K=7961) - Comment Date 1/29/2005
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When I first started, I was convinced I needed a whole collection of filters after reading through a Hoya catalogue. My local camera shop had heard of very few of them and at the time, I thought this was a little strange and unprofesional of them. Since learning photography though, I've also learnt that you really need very few. It depends on what your general subject is, mine is predominantly landscape. For this, I would suggest investing in a Cokin 'P' system or similar. They do a great kit available in the UK from a company called Speedgraphic containing the holder and three neutral density grads - invalueble for exposing dark foregrounds against, say, a sunset sky. Add to this a circular polarizer; Cokin seem good to me but also the very cheap 'Kood' filters. I've not tried expensive ones from 'Lee' and the like, but these cheaper ones appear to be perfectly good to me. I also have an 81C warmup filter (good for weak sunsets or 'cold' blueish scenes) and a blue 'cooling' filter which I only ever employ to vagueally correct indoor tungsten lit shots.
What do I use most? Well, unfortunately the Cokin holder introduces vignetting on my ultra-wide Tokina 19-35 lens (which I use most) so if I'm to use a filter, it's only a single one which gets 'bluetacked' to the front of the lens. That would normally be the 0.9 or 0.6 neutral density grad or perhaps the warmup (which I can do in Photoshop later anyway). I'd love to use the polariser more but it's a hassle on that particular lens at shortest focal length.
I hope that helps you in your decision. It's the last thing I wanted to hear when I started (not too long ago) but the best advice I can honestly give is go without until you notice a situation where you could really benefit from one, and then find out which filter might help.
Good luck.
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Michael Kanemoto
(K=22115) - Comment Date 1/31/2005
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Kareem:
Based on your portfolio, I would say you only need two lenses for now, and you already have one of them:
1. Sky light OR UV filter. Mostly clear, protect the lens. UV will cut on haze a little, and the Sky light will warm the overall scene. I prefer the UV. Minor differences really.
2. Polarizer. Good for cutting glare, and I only recommend it because you can't fake it in software (yet). You can use Photoshop ($$$) or Picasa 2 (free from google) to correct a digital image with a gradient look, but you absolutely cannot fake a polarizer. Moderately expensive filter.
-------------------------------
Later on, investigate the gradient filters, and also see if you want to get into IR photography. But get good at controlling your compositions, and getting a good intuitive grasp on F-Stop and shutter speed for different situations.
Peek through my portfolio - I only own a skylight and a polarizer. I DO a lot of PS work to bring in gradients after the fact.
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Kareem Hamdan
(K=3180) - Comment Date 4/21/2005
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I have photo shop CS, I have also the 55mm plugin, in it there are a wide collection of filters, but the original glass ones still 10 times better, especially in polarizers.
Regards
Kareem
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Richard Dakin
(K=12915) - Comment Date 4/21/2005
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Whatever you do, when you buy a polarizer get the best you can afford. I bought a moderately expensive Tamron for my 18-70DX Nikon, basically because there was one in the store. I have NOT been happy with the results. It does not seem to work near as well, as the Hoya I have for a different lens.
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Alex Boiko
(K=38) - Comment Date 5/3/2005
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When I first started, I only had a UV filter to protect the lens. I also soon got a polariser to make the skies more interesting and bring the colours out from glary foliage and concrete.
However the biggest improvement came when I got rid of the basic filters and bought the SMC Hoya ones - the colour and sharpness improvements were incredible - the cheap filters were washing out all my photos.
My two cents is to buy the best quality multicoated filters you can afford. I only have the skylight/UV filters for colour and the Yellow-Green for BW in my collection. The only other one I could imagine using would be an ND filter.
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Sony Kusumo
(K=7190) - Comment Date 5/9/2005
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Hi Kareem, I think you will need the Circular Polarizer (it's kinda basic filter though) and then you should invest in the Cokin filter system (either A or P, but P is better since it can accept bigger lens thread), since I saw that you also use the Canon Powershot S1. The Cokin has special adapter that can be fitted into the tripod thread to hold the filters.
Why Cokin filter (whoops, I'm not trying to advertise this product, lol)? 'cos you can use one filter for many kind of lenses (just bought the adapters) and since the filters is a slip-on ones, it should be cheaper than threaded ones (one that screwed to the front lens).
And after that you can buy many kind of filters, such as the soft/diffuser if you like to take portraits, green or yellow or red for enhancing BW pictures, star for special effects, many kind of ND filters to enhance the contrast, etc.
One remarks on buying CPL. If you're using wide angle lens, try to find the thinnest CPL available, since thick CPL might cause vignetting...
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William Herbert
(K=25) - Comment Date 5/10/2005
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A polarizer, red, yellow and green filters for black and white. Neutral density could come in handy especially in bright sunlight situations. UV filter.
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Randy Libner
(K=4084) - Comment Date 5/19/2005
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See which polarizer you need by checking with the SLR manufacturer. I have a Canon AE-1 and an F-1N
One uses a circular, the other a linear. The light meter will not work properly with the wrong one.
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Andre Reinders
(K=35) - Comment Date 5/20/2005
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I have been shooting SLR for about 2 years - still a beginner, here is my collection in the order I got them:
UV (lens protection - no colour cast)
Polarizer (gift - I asked for)
Soft Filter (gift I didn't ask for)
80B (to correct for tungsten light on daylight film - to take photos indoors with no flash)
1A Skylight (lens protection - slight warming)
RED (dramatic skys on black and white film)
Yellow (more of an all around black and white filter)
I use the soft filter and the 80B the least, although they are nice to have.
I use the polarizer, UV and 1A the most.
I plan to buy a Flourescent correcting filter and a ND filter.
Hope this helps - from one beginner to another!
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Mark Beltran
(K=32612) - Comment Date 5/22/2005
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For color work, get a Moose filter, which is two filters in one.
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Mark Beltran
(K=32612) - Comment Date 5/22/2005
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For color work, get a Moose filter.
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