'Old' Filters - New Camera?

[FemFugler]

Can you use filters from film cameras for DSLR's? Or old camera's on new camera's? Or i suppose the more important question im meaning to ask is, will it harm my camera? The reason why i ask is because I was going through my parents old photography stuff as they said i could sell it and use the money to put towards a lens or other camera accessory, anyway, i came across a bunch of filters that it looked like my dad had bought i guess on sale but otherwise like new. I was going through them to see what type they were so i could make a list of all the stuff and see what they would go for(if anything that is), it didn't even cross my mind that they may fit my current camera until my dad suggested that i tried them on just for the heck of it. At first i was totally opposed to it because my camera is a DSLR, and the filters are meant for a film camera, and also i doubted that they would fit,and obviously i didn't want him to wreck my new camera but then my dad started putting it on and showed me and i was some what amazed. After thinking about it somemore i sort of doubt that it would harm my camera but at the same time, you could probably do all the stuff with the filters on photoshop but the fact that they have it already done and just some of the different ones are kind of cool. I don't know how practical(for example, when would you use a tinted green filter? or a tinted yellow and purple filter aside from the fact that it looks sort of cool, like why would you need to add that to your picture?) they would be as they're meant for B&W film photography but they're kind of cool to play around none the less.

Sorry this was probably a compeltely newbie question, but hell, that's what i am. i am just getting into the DSLR world and just wanted make sure! There's about 7 filters out of about 15 that actually fit my camera and they were made for Nikon, just not for a DSLR Nikon or even a film camera that was made in the last 10 years!

Thank you for being patient and answering my many 'newbish' questions.

 

[Josh66]

In the future, use paragraphs...makes it much easier to read.


It's perfectly safe. Many filters for film can easily be replicated in PP though - so you may not need those colored ones. For B&W film, they are useful - but in the digital world you can do the same thing in any number of photo processing applications.

Filters that you can not replicate digitally are:
Polarizer
ND
IR

...and maybe some special effect filters, like star filters and things like that.
You could still do it digitally, but slapping a filter on would still be easier.

 

[FemFugler]

In the future, use paragraphs...makes it much easier to read.


It's perfectly safe. Many filters for film can easily be replicated in PP though - so you may not need those colored ones. For B&W film, they are useful - but in the digital world you can do the same thing in any number of photo processing applications.

Filters that you can not replicate digitally are:
Polarizer
ND
IR

...and maybe some special effect filters, like star filters and things like that.
You could still do it digitally, but slapping a filter on would still be easier.

Haha sorry about the paragraphs thing. I usually do but i guess i was being lazy.

I was thinking the same thing about being able to do the coloured effects and stuff on photoshop, they're still sort of fun to play around with though.

I have a diffuser(thinks that's what its called) one and it makes the light go all cool too. It's meant for outdoors in like the sun but it's the middle of winter where i live and cloudy so i decided to test it out by taking a picture of the track lighting in my house head on, i may not have gotten the same effect as i would have outside but the picture turned out sort of cool specially after i turned it B&W.... not really worth posting though.

At first i wasn't going to get any filter but after these ones im kind of starting to like them... may look into getting some more like the ones you mentioned.

Thanks for your help!

 

[PatrickHMS]

The filters that you don't want, chances are that nobody else will want them either...

CPL, ND, and IR, you'll be fine. Anything else you can do with PP.

 

[FemFugler]

Just found 2 filters stuck together and one was a polarizer and the other was a colormix R-G.... or do they belong together?

 

[djacobox372]

Heck you can even use the lens that came with the first nikon SLR in 1959 on your nikon dslr if you chose to--you may lose some features depending on which DSLR you have.

Threaded filters will fit any lens provided they're the same diameter, they are not brand specific.

 

[FemFugler]

Heck you can even use the lens that came with the first nikon SLR in 1959 on your nikon dslr if you chose to--you may lose some features depending on which DSLR you have.

Threaded filters will fit any lens provided they're the same diameter, they are not brand specific.

THANKS!!! haha, i geuss i'm just paranoid that i dont want to ruin the camera but i geuss i should chill out a bit.

Thanks again everyone.