Camera Filter Question

[James Wilson]

I have a UV Protector, 812 Warming and a Circular Polarizer that just arrived. I've always just used the UV but I can see how the warming would make storm features really look better.

My question is do any of you combine the filters on your camera? I thought the polarizer and Warmer together may make for a great shot. Is that the case? Thanks

Camera - Nikon D40
Lens - Tamron 18-270mm
Filters - Tiffen

 

[Greg Campbell]

A pol is great, but to tell the truth I've not used any colored filters in a long while. Whether I'm shooting digital or scanned film, it's easier to make some minor color tweaks on the computer when cleaning up the image. If you're shooting RAW, you can make crude warm/cool adjustments by varying the white balance a few hundred degrees.

 

[Joe Dorn]

I have a UV Protector, 812 Warming and a Circular Polarizer that just arrived. I've always just used the UV but I can see how the warming would make storm features really look better.

My question is do any of you combine the filters on your camera? I thought the polarizer and Warmer together may make for a great shot. Is that the case? Thanks

I have combined filters on my FILM cameras but beware each filter decreases light transmission significantly which can be a problem in storm photography. also stacked filters can cause vignetting in wide angle shots.

Since most digital shots pass through a computer as they head to the big file in the sky, you can add the 'warming' effect with almost any post processing program. I have a circular polarizing filter without color effects for my cameras, film and digital, primarily for glare reduction;the sky effects can be a bit much quite often.

That being said....

I recently purchased a spotting scope for my birding activities and added the 'Moose' Circular polarizing filter to it. It combines the two filters you mentioned into one piece of glass.

From the B&H description:

This unique filter is the result of a collaboration between Hoya and respected wildlife photographer, B. Moose Peterson. It combines the advantages of a polarizer with the warming effect of an 81A filter.

Vist the B&H site for details...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...CIRPLW_46mm_Moose_Warm_Circular.html#features

BTW, in the process of looking for the description, I discovered a photo group that looks very interesting, similar in concept to 'StormTrack' but for photographers...

http://photo.net/

 

[James Wilson]

Thanks for the replys ... I think for most of my outdoor shots the pol will be a must. Now under a supercell i may just stay with the UV as it will be quite a bit darker out most likely.

I'm going to look deeper into the photo site ... thanks for the link.

 

[Brandon Brown]

I'm a big fan of using filters. I use a Singh Ray 77mm thin mount (to eliminate vignetting) LB Warming Polarizer on 95% of my photos. I also use Singh Ray 4x6 split grads to balance exposure in other photo situations as well. I'm thinking of buying a screw mount solid ND filter to slow my shutter speeds down for trying daytime lighting shots and purchasing a 3 stop reverse grad to try to balance harsh backlighting behind a storm. Obviously when using filters, it blocks various stops of light hitting your sensor, so using a tripod is a must. When I stack filters, my shutter speed is always very slow, and I close the aperture to get good DOF and sharpness in the photo. I guess you can bump up your ISO if handholding, but I'm not a fan of noise! I do realize that setting up a tripod, dialing in your camera/focus and using filters with a few second exposure is very time consuming and probably wont work in most storm situations! It could work with a slow moving storm, depending on the lighting, but I'm sure I'll be shooting storms this spring in the USA and this summer up here in Canada filterless, handholding the camera and just using a lens hood, haha!

 

[Brandon Goforth]

I don't see the point of using a warming filter, especially if you shoot RAW. UV filters are really only good for protecting your lens, but if you have a lens that is worth protecting, then you should also use a very high quality UV, because putting a cheap filter in front of a good lens also makes no sense.

 

[Dean Baron]

I have a UV and polarized filter that I use on the same lens. Not sure how much the UV helps, but I think polarized helps out at least a little. Both are cheap filters, I'm sure more expensive filters will make a bigger difference.

 

[Darren Addy]

The use of filters on DSLRs is somewhat of a "religious" matter.
For example, see: http://www.phototakers.com/forum/ftopic26912.html

I'll agree with others here on the inadvisability of the warm-up filter. Learn to use your camera's white balance settings (or alternatively, your post-processing tool's white balance/color balance settings).

Polarizers can be very useful: http://www.dslrtips.com/workshops/How_to_use_polarizing_filters/reduce_haze_deep_blue_sky.shtml

Personally, I like filters on lenses that are going into my camera bag for protection. Snap on lens caps like to pop off, and I don't want the front lens element making contact with anything in my bag. I generally don't like to shoot through filters for reasons posted in the first link, unless there is a reason for it (like polarizer or IR or ND filters).

Keep in mind that stacking filters can lead to vignetting in the corners. (Think of the effect of shooting through a toilet paper tube). So if you need to stack filters, you may want to get a size or two larger than your lens and use a step-up filter (to avoid that vignetting problem). An even more cost-effective (in the long run) tip when buying costlier filters (like a polarizer) is to buy a filter that fits your largest diameter lens and then get inexpensive step up filters to use that filter on your smaller diameter lenses. That way you only have to buy one.

 

[Greg Campbell]

...I'm thinking of buying a screw mount solid ND filter to slow my shutter speeds down for trying daytime lighting shots

This works, but since you're shooting up near f64 (or some equally crazy-high number) the recorded lightning will look rather wimpy. Use as little ND as possible - just enough to allow the shutter speed and FPS to roughly match. Even then, don't expect any 'wow' shots. Most of the branching leaders will likely be too faint to show up, and you'll be left with rather anemic 'pencil' lightning.

 

[James Wilson]

Thanks for the links Darren, very interesting reading.