Are filters a necessity for landscapes? What kind for £100?

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Guy's i'm just starting an Environment module at college and this consists of Urban, Rural, Natural History and Landscape categories and i was just wondering if i should invest in a good/decent ND filter for the landscapes. I have never used filters before but hear of them often and i was just thinking will i require one for landscapes or could i get by without them?

I was thinking of the glassy water effects at a local loch so i assume i would for this. What kind would you recommend as a middle of the road up to £100 ish filter and what should i buy as in 3 stop, 6 stop, 10 stop etc?
 
If you don't use filters you will have to bracket shots and blend in photoshop! Glassy water is done with a polariser .... the CPL filter is the only effect you can't replicate with post processing
 
You'll need a set of ND for long exposures in daylight. Maybe a GND for taming bright skies and dark ground. Polarizer is also great for landscapes. I use a Cokin system for all of the above. Certainly within your budget. These are resin filters which is dismissed by some photographers but they're OK for my (low) usage.
 
The only filter I've used in recent years is an ND to reduce the shutter speed to allow wide aperture shooting in good light but even that isn't required now as my cameras all go to 1/8000. Other than that I don't bother these days.

Anyway, if filters are a must a filter holder and slot in filter system is a good option but screw on ones can take up less space in your bag as no holder is required but whatever you go for I'd advise the obvious step of buying a filter/holder to fit your largest diameter lens, cheap step up rings can then be used with any smaller diameter lenses.

Some people claim poor quality and colour casts with Cokin filters but I have to say that despite buying mine over a period of time and therefore presumably from different production batches I've yet to come across any significant issues.
 
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I've just started my journey in to the world of filters, and picked up a set of Cokin filters from the classifieds here. Cost me £35 quid, and came with a holder and adaptor rings (don't forget to budget for these too), so if I don't get on with them I haven't sunk a heap of cash in to them.

There is another set of Cokin filters for sale on the classifieds - comes with some GND filters and a 10-stop filter (good for long exposures), along with the holders. Would be a good place to start and less than your budget too.

To answer your first question, you could get by without them, but there are some effects (such as a polariser) which you can't reproduce in PP.
 
But a screw on filter then Nd filters are adjustable now
 
Polariser: indispensible!

ND grads: I use them but it's probably possible to do without now by blending in your software. You DON'T need to buy a set, or a holder! Start off with a 2 stop hard and hold it against the rim of your lens. This is easy enough to do if you're using a tripod.

ND = "big stopper" : I would suggest a screw-in one to fit your widest lens. (probably 77 mm)

Bear in mind that using a "big stopper" to get long exposure shots is pretty advanced; you'll need to learn the basics first, and have a good tripod etc.
 
Thanks guys.I have a good tripod and will more than likely be using the older canon 24-70L as my landscape lens as i don't really want to invest heavily in it just yet. I will have a look online and watch some tutorials but you've certainly given me food for thought.
 
ND doesn't equal big stopper, a big stopper is a Lee Filters 10 stop ND filter ... ND = Neutral Density and is used to increase exposure time basically and they come in a variety of strengths (stops) - I've seen them from 1 stop through to 16 stops.

The short answer is that filters are not a necessity, but some things cannot be achieved without using them (specifically polarising filters). fwiw I use filters, I like using filters and I find them useful, as I've stated before if I could only have one, it would be the CPL (circular polariser).
 
'Good' filters are appalling VFM IMO - and every time somebody tells me a ND filter has no cast I'm dubious. The reality is that if these things were that good in the first place after all these years we wouldn't even be wondering about a cast - it would be a given that the filters just worked.

So if going for ND and ND grads then try a cheap set and if you have the means compare the results with bracketing and merging/blending before committing larger sums.

As an example you may find that a dense ND works for what you want but that you prefer bracketing and blending instead of using ND grads. So that would point where your investment should be focused.

Also bear in mind that £100 gets you an Adobe CC subscription for a year.
 
Dryce said:
'Good' filters are appalling VFM IMO - and every time somebody tells me a ND filter has no cast I'm dubious. The reality is that if these things were that good in the first place after all these years we wouldn't even be wondering about a cast - it would be a given that the filters just worked.
Click to expand...

Be dubious if you want but I believe the evidence of my own eyes and I've got thousands of pictures taken with cheap ND's.
 
I have the subscription to photoshop and I'm currently trying to learn bits of that too. Cheer guys.
 
Surely the colour casts which are present only become a problem if you are shooting Film ? With digital, shoot a grey card with your filter on and in LR or PS correct the cast then use that setting to apply to your image.No?
Must be a workaround for Grads, LR has the Grad tool for instance.
 
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