Filters? Any info and Examples?

[fotogenik]

I bought and used a UV filter for a few weeks after I got my D50 and found that my filter was causing me to lose some sharpness.

I took it off and have had no trouble since. Also a friend of mine received a UV filter in his kit when he purchased his D70s and we both went out shooting the city skline one night. His images came out with reflections and mine did not. Only difference was the UV filers, I didn't have mine on and he did.

 

[Je-C]

I like Cokin, but it's a bit annoying to have to rotate the setup since I zoom in and out a lot. Still like it though! Anyway, a lot of the filters on the links will show photo examples. Hope it helps a bit.

http://go.to/Cokinfilters

 

[SteveEllis]

Wow! Thats a lot of filters! I think I may have to invest in a set of Cokins filters

Thats for this guys, I've learned a lot from it

 

[xfloggingkylex]

So is there any downside to using an ND filter? I am very interested in using them for car photography... you know the ones where the car is moving and the background is nice a blurred, along with the spinning wheel. In order to get the wheel spinning nicely you need a slower shutter speed (1/25th or so) and in daylight, unless you use a small aperture that doesn't happen. Also just to get long exposures in the day (passing cars, running water) I want one. So are there any disadvantages such as image quality? Also, I noticed there are a few types of ND filters ranging from light to darker, how dark are these? Any recommendation on brands? Thanks for the help, this site pwns.

 

[Unimaxium]

As long as you get a good-quality ND filter, there shouldn't be any noticeable degradation of image quality. They come in various densities, so you can buy different filters depending on how much light you want to block out. A 2-stop ND filter will block 2 stops of light, letting you use an aperture 2 stops wider or a shutter speed 2 stops slower (or an ISO of 2 stops higher, but why would you want that?). It's all pretty straightforward. Buy the right filter density for however much of a difference you want. One thing though: if you put a filter that's too dense in front of your lens, it might make focusing pretty difficult, and if the light coming through is too dark then your AF might not work. But that all depends on the camera and the lens you're using it on.

 

[Soocom1]

Let me hit a few points on IR.
Infrared is actually well above the 900nm wavelength. What you are actually shooting is near-infrared. This is closer to around 750-850nm in wavelength. It is important to understand this because IR filters come in different wavelengths as well.
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot simply take pictures of things with the camera and get heat signatures. In reality, that requires a whole different system to work with that cost several thousand dollars. I would also STRONGLY advise anyone reading this post to NOT purchase any of the older Russian/Soviet era IR equipment. It may be cheap, but there have been problems with the systems.
When you take a photo using an IR filter, certain things are happening. Most importantly, is that you are now seeing the near IR light show up in the photos, and does some amazing things especially to flora.
The Chlorophyll in flora and fauna radiates out near IR wavelengths, and comes up white in most healthy plants. (This is how they can find out about unhealthy forests.) This gives off a wonderful glow to plants, and creates a mystical scene. It by the way also hides most blemishes on human skin, and gives it a healthy glow. (Hint, hint to all you B&W portrait photo-bugs taking pictures of women. It flatters them!)
When you screw on or fit in place an IR filter, automatically you will see the image almost become black. If you hold the camera up to a bright light and look at everything through the eyepiece, you will see an extremely dark purplish color. This is fine for film, but a problem arose some time back w/ digital sensors. There was a form of (and someone correct me on this) I believe chromatic aberration showing up on the images. A coating was applied to the front glass element on most newer sensors that blocked the IR wavelengths above 850 nm. This effectively stopped anyone from shooting IR successfully with the newer digitals into the IR range.
A whole series of books have been written on the subject and a search on google will bring up the best ones.

 

[Unimaxium]

A coating was applied to the front glass element on most newer sensors that blocked the IR wavelengths above 850 nm. This effectively stopped anyone from shooting IR successfully with the newer digitals into the IR range.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe most manufacturers these days put a filter right in front of the sensor that blocks some IR light. However, this can be removed to allow for better IR shooting with digitals. This site offers conversions for digital cameras, and according to the FAQ, after the conversion the cameras are sensitive to 720nm to 1200nm. But even without removing the filter, near-ir shooting is possible to varying degrees on most cameras to create that cool glowing foliage effect and such.

 

[fotogenik]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe most manufacturers these days put a filter right in front of the sensor that blocks some IR light. However, this can be removed to allow for better IR shooting with digitals. This site offers conversions for digital cameras, and according to the FAQ, after the conversion the cameras are sensitive to 720nm to 1200nm. But even without removing the filter, near-ir shooting is possible to varying degrees on most cameras to create that cool glowing foliage effect and such.

My D50 is VERY new and takes wonderful IR photo's. You can see three I have taken so far at http://www.purebeautyfoto.com in my infrared gallery. I was gonna go shoot some more today but the skies are very overcast and that makes for bad IR shots due to very long exposure times.

I also have the shots on my Google web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/snmphoto/Infrared

Cheers,