Korean Job Discussion Forums

[djvink]

I am new to the DSLR's and have the UV filters that were on my lenses when I bought them. I want to buy some additional ones for creative purposes and have some general questions:

1) How important is the brand? What are the top brands?

2) Looking to take some shots while on my vacation through SE Asia...definitely going to be some waterfalls, sunsets, night scene's I want to capture. What filters would you suggest for these shots?

[swigs]

UV filters are meant as just general protection to the lens.

The difference between a cheap UV filter and an expensive one is the coating. Expensive filters have coatings that prevent ghosting. Ghosting happens when there is a very high contrast from dark to light, so it happens alot during the night time. You will see halo type refection in your pictures from street lamps, etc, with a cheaper filter.

You can usually tell the quality of a filter buy it's price. I usually buy some where in the middle range. Korea has different quality brands of filters than the West.

Hoya is my favorite brand that I'm familiar with, and I would recommend it, although they might be expensive here.

Other types of general filters:
Neutral Density: helps you shoot at either a wider aperture or a slower shutter speed. They come in different levels. (You could use a ND filter to help you shoot a waterfall at a slow shutter speed to allow the look of movement in the water, but you would need a stabilizer, ie tripod, for a shutter speed under about 1/40)

Polarizer- This is good for cutting through reflections or smog. Has a few other good uses, like making the sky a darker blue.

[doc_ido]

I use Hoya filters here, but then I'm not a professional (or even a good amateur) so didn't pay out for the truly excellent ones. I think that the ones B+W makes are well regarded.

I agree with what swigs said. You'll need a ND filter and tripod if you want to take pictures of running water that are soft and cloudy, but not if you want to freeze drops. You might not need one for a waterfall as the water is moving pretty fast already, but a tripod/monopod would help to get the exposure time up.

If you want to take daytime landscape shots, a graduated ND filter might be a good idea. It reduces the light a lot at one end and not at all at the other, which allows you to expose for both the land (dark) and the sky (bright).

I often use a circular polarising filter on bright days, but you should read up on these as they can be tricky to use and some people don't like the effect.

You shouldn't need anything for night shots - in fact, you'll probably be struggling for light so the less in front of your lens the better! A tripod would be a better investment so you can take longer exposures.

If you're taking several lenses, it may be an idea to get a filter mount, square filters and step-up rings rather than several filters for each lens. You should, however, use a UV or other clear filter on every lens just for protection.

[swigs]

Good tips above.

You might not want to be burdened with a tripod though. You can be creative and look towards your environment for stabiliazation, and there are mini tripods, like the gorillapod, that help with this.

You can find some good general reviews of products and get their general price range by checking: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ and danawa.com

As you probably already know, always know the price of an item before you go looking for it.

[djvink]

Thanks for the input.

I do have a tripod to stabilize but seeing as though I'll be trekking around for 9+ weeks its not something I want to lug around. I might take a look at some mini-tripods...know anything that can support a d80? Would be worried of it falling over.

Thanks again for the advice...going to look at a mount as I have two lenses and it would be nice to have filters accessible for each one.

Also think I will buy a remote, is it possible to change shutter speed via the remote??

[doc_ido]

If you're going to square filters, keep in mind that you probably won't be able to use a lens hood at the same time (if you like to use lens hoods).

The weight of a D80 won't be your biggest issue, the weight of your lenses will. You'll have to compare the weight of your camera/lens with the rating of the tripod you're looking at and perhaps get a lens tripod mount.

I don't have a Nikon, but as far as I'm aware the remote is just a shutter release - you'll have to change all your settings on the camera itself.