Some advice about these filters Please

[Nikkie]

Hi Ive been looking around on the net for filters I found these on ebay I would like your advice on these you don't have to know about all of them if you only know about one or another that is fine all the information I can get will be of some help better then not getting any advice I will also be doing some research but I trust you guys here to help guide me this is a kit lot of 30 piece filters I am trying to build up my kit I may or may not need these now while learning but for me buying now rather then later down the track while I have the money I may not have later when I know more. All the help and advice you can give me would be appreciated. My Camera is nikon D3100 this is through a registered business the price is $99



ODS 30 Piece Hi-Def Filter Kit for Nikon D3100 D7000

Enlarge


ODS 30 Piece Hi-Def Filter Kit for Nikon D3100 D7000

$99.00

inluding SEPIA FILTER

FLUORESCENT FILTER

RED FILTER

GREEN FILTER

YELLOW FILTER

ORANGE FILTER

BLUE FILTER

DIFFUSER FILTER

DUTO DIFFUSER FILTER

SOFTEN DIFFUSER FILTER

SPECIAL SOFTEN DIFFUSER FILTER 3

NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER

LINEAR POLARIZER FILTER

RAINBOW FILTER

VERI CROSS FILTER

CLOSE UP +1 ,2,4

CLOSE UP Macro +10

CENTER IMAGE SAND FILTER

CENTER IMAGE SOFT FILTER

TWO FIELD

5 IMAGE FILTER

3 IMAGE FILTER

DOUBLE EXPOSER FILTER

DOUBLE EXPOSER FILTER

SAFETY FILTER

UV FILTER

SKYLIGHT FILTER

[Dylan & Marianne]

nikkie, I would probably avoid most of these except for

Neutral density filter : which could lengthen your exposures for a given scene if you're planning on doing that for landscapes or shooting video with wide open apertures and slow shutter speeds
UV filter if you want something at the front of your camera to protect that actual lens - not essential either
Close up filters I guess you could consider if doing macro work?? not sure on this as I don't shoot macro much (if at all!)

the rest of your listed ones could probably be done in post processing and at least gives you the option of having an unfiltered image to start with
i guess you probably need to have a plan of what exactly it is you want to shoot and use these exact filters for?

[ameerat42]

Although a CIRCULAR Polariser (not listed above) wouldn't go astray.

[Scotty72]

The only screw-on filter I would go with is a Circular Polariser.

Other than that, a filter box with ND grads and a ND solid.

[kiwi]

while learning id avoid every single filter....if you don't know whether its you, your camera, your lens or the filter thats not optimizing your images i think its going to make things extra hard

i haven't used one single filter apart from occassionally a cpl in 5 years and have taken close to a million photos

[Scotty72]

while learning id avoid every single filter....if you don't know whether its you, your camera, your lens or the filter thats not optimizing your images i think its going to make things extra hard

i haven't used one single filter apart from occassionally a cpl in 5 years and have taken close to a million photos

I would generally agree but for landscaping (ND grads - they are very simple to use / understand)... otherwise you'll get frustrated quickly and give up.

[Rattus79]

Totally agree with the above.
CPL, GND, and solid ND are all you should need/want.

and don't skimp on them when you do go to get them. We spend big $$ for our lenses to put a $50 piece of glass in front?? bah!

[davidd]

If you think about it, $99 for 30 filters is about $3 per filter. Do you really want to put something costing $3 in front of your lens?

Also, the camera won't focus with a linear polarizer, you need a circular polarizer.

Buy just the ones you need (when you realize you need them) and don't buy the cheapest you can find!

Until then, don't waste your money on rubbish.

[Nikkie]

The only screw-on filter I would go with is a Circular Polariser.

Other than that, a filter box with ND grads and a ND solid.

Scotty could you please give me more information on these what they do and how you would use them ive seen people suggest these before but I don't know what I am looking at or for.

Totally agree with the above.
CPL, GND, and solid ND are all you should need/want.

and don't skimp on them when you do go to get them. We spend big $$ for our lenses to put a $50 piece of glass in front?? bah!

If you think about it, $99 for 30 filters is about $3 per filter. Do you really want to put something costing $3 in front of your lens?

Also, the camera won't focus with a linear polarizer, you need a circular polarizer.

Buy just the ones you need (when you realize you need them) and don't buy the cheapest you can find!

Until then, don't waste your money on rubbish.

thanks for this what I mostly want to do is try and get things now while I have the money but not knowing what these are worth I did not know if they were considered to be cheap or not skimping is not one thing I want to be doing but saving where I can for other things as well. Its just people keep saying get filters get this one that blah long lost so that is why I thought maybe get a big bundle would solve my troubles and having them on hand but I now know this is not the case. I want to do mostly landscapes and abandonment old buildings cars so on thanks to all that replied I wont be wasting my money now and that is why I asked you guys

[davidd]

Hi Nikkie

I don't know if this filter info is available elsewhere on this site, but here is a brief summary.

For Landscapes etc, you only need 3 types of filters.

1. Circular Polariser (CPL). This is a round filter that screws on to the front of your lens. It's purpose is to cut down on reflected glare from water and foliage, and can also make sky look darker blue.
They are most effective if the sun is at right angles when you are photographing, i.e not much effect shooting into the sun or directly away from the sun. You can rotate the filter to get a greater or lesser effect.

2. Neutral Density (ND) filter. These can be circular screw-on, or square like the next filter, the GND. You get them in various 'Stop' values i.e 2 stop, 3 stop etc, up to 10 stop which is almost completely black. They are a neutral grey colour, so as not to add a tint to your photos. Their purpose is to cut the light entering the camera, to enable much slower shutter speeds (for 'milky' looking waterfalls etc).

3. Graduated Neutral Density (GND). These should be bought in the square format, with a special holder which screws on to your lens. You can get circular ones, but they are of limited use as the transition is always in the centre of your photo, whereas you might want it to be only 1/3 down etc. GND filters are like ND filters, tinted grey, but only half-way down, fading to clear at the one edge. They are used to darken just part of the sky, e.g for sunset or sunrise photos when the sky is much brighter than the sea or land below.

All of these filters come in different sizes to suit different lens diameters Typical sizes are for instance 57mm, 62mm 67mm or 77mm. The filter size is sometimes printed on front of your lens, or the specs for the lens will give it to you.
You can buy different sizes for all your different lenses (expensive), or a better way is to get a set of filters that fit your largest lens diameter, and buy 'Step-up rings' which adapt larger filters to fit smaller lenses. Don't do it the other way round, a small filter on a large lens will vignette (dark corners). You should decide what is the largest diameter lens you are likely to get in the next few years, and buy filters to fit that, with step-up rings for your other lenses, otherwise you will buy a new better lens and find your filters are then too small, and have to buy them all over again.

I am not going to recommend brands, but make sure you get a good recognised brand (eg Tiffen, Hoya etc) and get Multi Coated versions if possible. You will pay over $150 for a good CPL.

I recommend you get just one type at a time, and learn what it does before moving on to the next type.

Good luck

[Scotty72]

The post above pretty well sums it up.

CPLs are best when it is really glarey lighting. EG midday on a cloudless day. If you get one of these, you can see the affect by looking through the viewfinder and spinning it. If you are pointing at a mountain top, you'll notice the sky and grass darken / lighten as you spin. They will also have an ND effect as well as they tend to reduce the amount of light getting through.

The square filters (ND and ND-grads) simply act as sunglasses for your camera.

Do you understand what we mean by stops of light?

[Nikkie]

Hi Nikkie

I don't know if this filter info is available elsewhere on this site, but here is a brief summary.

For Landscapes etc, you only need 3 types of filters.

1. Circular Polariser (CPL). This is a round filter that screws on to the front of your lens. It's purpose is to cut down on reflected glare from water and foliage, and can also make sky look darker blue.
They are most effective if the sun is at right angles when you are photographing, i.e not much effect shooting into the sun or directly away from the sun. You can rotate the filter to get a greater or lesser effect.

2. Neutral Density (ND) filter. These can be circular screw-on, or square like the next filter, the GND. You get them in various 'Stop' values i.e 2 stop, 3 stop etc, up to 10 stop which is almost completely black. They are a neutral grey colour, so as not to add a tint to your photos. Their purpose is to cut the light entering the camera, to enable much slower shutter speeds (for 'milky' looking waterfalls etc).

3. Graduated Neutral Density (GND). These should be bought in the square format, with a special holder which screws on to your lens. You can get circular ones, but they are of limited use as the transition is always in the centre of your photo, whereas you might want it to be only 1/3 down etc. GND filters are like ND filters, tinted grey, but only half-way down, fading to clear at the one edge. They are used to darken just part of the sky, e.g for sunset or sunrise photos when the sky is much brighter than the sea or land below.

All of these filters come in different sizes to suit different lens diameters Typical sizes are for instance 57mm, 62mm 67mm or 77mm. The filter size is sometimes printed on front of your lens, or the specs for the lens will give it to you.
You can buy different sizes for all your different lenses (expensive), or a better way is to get a set of filters that fit your largest lens diameter, and buy 'Step-up rings' which adapt larger filters to fit smaller lenses. Don't do it the other way round, a small filter on a large lens will vignette (dark corners). You should decide what is the largest diameter lens you are likely to get in the next few years, and buy filters to fit that, with step-up rings for your other lenses, otherwise you will buy a new better lens and find your filters are then too small, and have to buy them all over again.

I am not going to recommend brands, but make sure you get a good recognised brand (eg Tiffen, Hoya etc) and get Multi Coated versions if possible. You will pay over $150 for a good CPL.

I recommend you get just one type at a time, and learn what it does before moving on to the next type.

Good luck

Gee thank you David after posting my post in my first reply I did a google search as well I have found a Hoya 62mm Pro 1D Digital Circular Polariser Filter CPL for my nikkor 70 -300 for $96.75 does that sound like the right price one would expect to pay ? your information is great and very clearly put I would like you permission to print this out if I may only for my own personal use so I can read it and read it I learn that way by reading things over and over but over time LoL thanks again for your clear information and to my understanding.

The post above pretty well sums it up.

CPLs are best when it is really glarey lighting. EG midday on a cloudless day. If you get one of these, you can see the affect by looking through the viewfinder and spinning it. If you are pointing at a mountain top, you'll notice the sky and grass darken / lighten as you spin. They will also have an ND effect as well as they tend to reduce the amount of light getting through.

The square filters (ND and ND-grads) simply act as sunglasses for your camera.

Do you understand what we mean by stops of light?

No Scotty I do not understand what that means at all I know I'm silly but stops of light is a new one on me thanks for coming back and helping me as well oh and I have not brought yet just cheeking these things out right now

[Scotty72]

Stops are simply the amount of light entering the camera.

If you add a stop, you are doubling the light.

Take a stop, your halving the light.

So, if you put a 3 stop ND filter in front of the lens, you reduce the light by 8 times. (light - halved, then halved again the, halved a 3rd time) - therefore, in theory, you can open the shutter up 3x longer.

Scotty

[Scotty72]

Or, if you put your camera in M.

Set the aperture and shutter speed so the light needle is at 0.

Then, double the shutter speed (that will exactly halve the light the gets in) and you'll see that needle go down to -1 stop.

[Nikkie]

Ah thanks Scotty I thought it might have been something like that but not sure your a whizz for information ta

[Scotty72]

your a whizz for information ta

OMG! You do have SO much to learn

[Nikkie]

yes I new what fstops were but I did not know what stops by light meant put that tongue back inside your mouth you cheeky bugger

[Scotty72]

yes I new what fstops were but I did not know what stops by light meant put that tongue back inside your mouth you cheeky bugger

I mean that if you think I am a whiz for info... you need help

[Nikkie]

I mean that if you think I am a whiz for info... you need help

I need help in all areas Scotty not just photography but hey you offer me your information that you know and help one day I will be where you are at now and try to do the same for others learning and sharing information about what one knows about keeps the world turning you know