Filters question {Fujifilm s5500}

[Big Stu]

So, my mother-in-law, on the advice of a friend, purchased a 28 piece filter set from ebay for my s5500, only costing me £65 so for starters, by no way am i accepting any outstanding quality, just "adequate" as a friend put it to me.

Problem being, i know nothing about filters and what they can achieve, sine i'm very new to doing "proper" digital photography. The filters included are...

5 image filter
3 image filter
8 flair star filter
4 flair star filter
Soft filter
Sand filter
+1 close up
+2 close up
+4 close up
+10 close up
Diffuse filter
Duto diffuser filter
Soften diffuser filter
Special soften diffuser
Red filter
Orange filter
Yellow filter
Green filter
Sky blue filter
Rainbow filter
Sepia filter
Linear polarize filter
Florescent filter
Safety filter
Two field filter
ND filter
Double exposer filter
Veri cross filter

What i was hoping...is whether someone could possibly take the time to list the different functions/possibilities each lense will allow me?

Apologies to those who've let off the biggest groans imagineable when they saw my question!

 

[cosmonaut]

I don't know the conversion to US dollars but it sounds like a bargian. You can google each one and find out what they do. But I bet in the long run you will only use a few.........

 

[Big Stu]

Yeah i think you're right, i can't imagine finding a use for each and every one, but hopefully for an utter beginner like me, they'll do the job just for now!

And it works out at $120

 

[cosmonaut]

One really good filter can cost close to that alone. Depending one the quality. Try this guys web site. He is an amazing photographer and explains what filters he uses and why. The main to get are polorizers, I almost never take mine off. Even with night shots....
http://www.garryblack.com/filters.htm

 

[Big Stu]

Excellent stuff, just the sort of thing i've been looking for!

Thank you!

 

[W.Smith]

[...] polorizers, I almost never take mine off. Even with night shots....

What are you polarizing at night, cosmo?

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Nobody uses that many filters. You need one good circular polarizer and that's it.

 

[cosmonaut]

Night lighting creats all kinds of unwanted glare, HID lighting produces some of the same unwanted UV rays as the sun. I used a polorizer on this one to kill some of this glare off of the lightpoles at the bottom of this clock. I shot this picture twice once with and once without and the polorized was the best....
Good point to Doc. A polarizer will pretty much covers it for most....
Cosmo

 

[ladyphotog]

Those are some great filters but you will only use a few as the others have said. You do need to add a circular polarizer to your collection. I use that 99% of the time. The red, orange, yellow and green are usually used with B&W and they deepen or darken the sky like a polarizer does in color. The star filter, only use the 4 not the 8 is good for anything that has reflections on it or with candles, it can also be used for portraits when you want just a little softness to the face. The diffusers are just that, they will diffuse whatever you are shooting, really good for portraits of women and weddings. The close up are self explainatory. You should shoot the same thing with each of the diffuser filters and it will show you what it will do. Hope that helps.

 

[fightheheathens]

Nobody uses that many filters. You need one good circular polarizer and that's it.

-well if your shooting digital...and even then...

The colored filters are used for black and white photography. Red enhances contrast and darkens a blue sky...or any blue color.
all the color filtere effects for Black and white photography can be duplicated in photoshop. ND filters cut out light so they can be useful if you wana get a longer shutter speed. Linier polarizer is only used on a manualfocus lens.


the other stuff im not familiar with

 

[Big Stu]

Thanks for the help everyone, it really is appreciated!

Before the purchase was made, we did a check on the sellers feedback, and this item has been sold several times, and each has had a glowing review

 

[j_mcquillen]

You need one good circular polarizer and that's it.

Need?

Well I need some plain ND filters, ND grads (hard and soft transition in 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9), warm ups (81b and 81c), cool downs, red filter for b+w, IR filter AND one good circular polarizer... but then I am a film dinosaur

 

[Torus34]

The +1, +2, +4 and +10 are not filters, per se. Rather, they are lenses with the strength expressed in diopters. They are used to permit photographs of small objects close to the lens. They can be stacked and the resulting diopter is additive. [+10 and +2 = +12, not +20.]

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Need?

Well I need some plain ND filters, ND grads (hard and soft transition in 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9), warm ups (81b and 81c), cool downs, red filter for b+w, IR filter AND one good circular polarizer... but then I am a film dinosaur

Those are some cool landscapes. I stand corrected.

From digital POW, most of the filters can be simulated in photoshop, including the ND.

the IR stuff stands on it's own of course.

 

[W.Smith]

Night lighting creats all kinds of unwanted glare, HID lighting produces some of the same unwanted UV rays as the sun. I used a polorizer on this one to kill some of this glare off of the lightpoles at the bottom of this clock. I shot this picture twice once with and once without and the polorized was the best....

That makes sense, cosmo.
But a polArizer also quadruples the required shutter speed, which – when exceeding 1 second – may increasingly result in 'reciprocity failure' (color shift).