Filter recommendations for Mountain/Snow shooting

[bschmidt25]

Hi All-

I'm looking for recommendations on filters to use for a trip I'm taking to Colorado in a few weeks. I'll be at a few ski resorts and planning on taking some pictures of our group and some panoramic shots at the top. The weather is always a crap shoot, but I'm sure there will be a few sunny and bright days. I'm confused on what filter I should look at using in these bright and high altitude conditions - circular polarizer, haze 1 or 2, or a 0.3 ND? Most of my shots are going to be stills, but I may try an action shot or two. I'm new to the SLR world and just picked up a D5100. I'll be using the 18-55 kit lens. This will be my first real test and want to get some good results. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[joshua_]

New guy here, so take it fwiw.

If I could only have one of those I'd get the polarizer.

I have already found use for a ND and a graduated ND though.

If you are going to try to show the motion you may want the ND.

 

[fokker]

For action shots you won't need a filter, just try and keep you shutter above 1/500s as a minimum. If it's a nice bluebird day and there's plenty of light a polarizer will help keep the sky looking nice and blue but remember it will take 1-2 stops of light so you may have to bump up the ISO to compensate in order to keep your shutter speed high.
A UV filter serves only as lens protection, it will do neither any harm or good for your photos (unless you buy a bad quality filter, then it can harm your shots). Some higher end lenses are weatherproof but only with a filter on. You kit lens will not be weatherproof regardless so try and keep it fairly dry.
I can't see many uses for a ND filter in this situation.

 

[amolitor]

+1 or +2 exposure compensation if there's a lot of snow in the frame.

 

[bschmidt25]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll post a few pictures when I get back.

 

[Patriot]

I cant wait to see pictures.