What first filter ?

Borats Baby

Borats Baby

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Rikki
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So, I've been advised not to bother with a UV filter.

Whats the first filter I should be buying, as someone with nothing other than a camera and tripod.

I've heard circular polarisers mentioned a lot, should this be my first purchase and what should I be looking out for in terms of quality ??
 
I can just echo Dave, it really depends what your planning on doing, I have a really good Hoya UV filter on my 70-200 f/2.8L that not only protects but does a good job in the bright sunshine.
All the best.
 
who advised you that???.i have uv's on all my lenses.skylights are useful too.they will protect your lenses if nothing else and to be honest thats all i use them for.so always put uv/skylight on your lenses,better to scratch a uv filter than £1000 lens..

hope that clears it up..

you could use cp's as the same but it would be very expensive..sorry to echo the above but we posted the same time lol..
 
diamonddog said:
who advised you that???.i have uv's on all my lenses..
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This lot !!

The camera is a Panny DMC-FZ50, its not an slr but has a 55mm thread for using filters and such like.

I mainly need something to stop the sky overexposing when taking shots of stuff . . . .well, outside.

I'd like to get nice shots of trees, churches and such like with lovely blue skys behind, instead I keep getting a mass of blown out white. Although I do drop lucky sometimes.....
 
From a past experience i'm glad i had a screw fit Hoya UV filter on otherwise it would have meant damage to my lens front element.

You wont see any image degradation as long as you buy a decent one
 
UV's are pretty essential to keep crud off the front elemnt. A first 'proper' filter would be a polariser in my book, followed by a neutral density (ND).
 
Here are some examples of what I mean about the skies ..

P1020103.jpg


P1020094.jpg
 
With that sky i'd just frame to leave it out all together


Oh right blue sky thought it was grey ...lol
 
dcash29 said:
With that sky i'd just frame to leave it out all together
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but it was beautiful blue sky, I'd like to be able to get the contrast/brightness of the rocks as they are, with a nice blue sky in the b/g .
 
What you shouldl do is get the polarizer and then invest in some cheaper Cokin 'P'-style filters that fit in a holder on the front of the lens. This means you can have a ND over the sky to darken it down while allowing the foreground (which in that shot is obviouly a bit in the shade) to remain evenly exposed.

A holder, adaptor ring to fit your lens plus a couple of filters will set you back £25-£30.

Check this: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/PHOTO-BITZ-LTD

It's good quality stuff for the money and a good start if you're unsure about filter use.
 
DiddyDave said:
Polarisers are crap on very wide lenses
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Just to qualify the above coment- what Dave probably means is that the natural polaristion of blue sky light is not uniform. The polarisation or darkening effect is strongest at 90 degrees to the sun and tails off in either direction. Thus below a certain focal length (say 12mm for the sake of argument) the lens encompasses so much sky that using a polariser wil cause uneven, odd looking effects.

To illustrate the point the photo below taken at the 10mm end of 10-20mm zoom + polariser you can see the sky is not uniformly darkened.
Dscf5433.jpg


So to say that a polariser is 'crap on very wide lenses' is not strictly true. It's the only filter I use on this wide angle lens- you just need to be carefull about how and when you use it.
 
Laserjock, just out of curiosity, wher was that shot taken? It looks awfully like the canal outside Rugby as you look towards Braunston from the Prison but I've never seen a windmill, hence my confusion.
Sorry to hi-jack thread :)
 
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