Filters in general... ?'s

[CRman]

I know a little of the basics. Are there any good links explaining the types, whens and wheres to use and so forth. Like ND filters. I have seen .02 .04. 06 and so forth. Yellow for B&W in different shades.

I have discovered I love landscape. I may do a little portrait work for fun since I am now the "guy with the camera" and everyone wants family or personal shots.

Any suggestions where to begain since this is such a broad subject?

Oh... one last thing. Multi coated or regular. Multi is $$$ but I supose better? And difference in how you would clean them? Thanks a bunch guys!

Marc

 

[JerryPH]

Thast a very general question that you can answer yourself by just looking around here and reading.

A search will help you get specific info on your ND filter question... and as for the rest... get ready to spend a LOT of time with it and a very good percentage of your "disposable income". This hobby once taken a little seriously involves some expensive purchases.

 

[Socrates]

I know a little of the basics. Are there any good links explaining the types, whens and wheres to use and so forth. Like ND filters. I have seen .02 .04. 06 and so forth. Yellow for B&W in different shades.

I have discovered I love landscape. I may do a little portrait work for fun since I am now the "guy with the camera" and everyone wants family or personal shots.

Any suggestions where to begain since this is such a broad subject?

Oh... one last thing. Multi coated or regular. Multi is $$$ but I supose better? And difference in how you would clean them? Thanks a bunch guys!

Marc

Poke around here:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/index.html

Yes, multicoated is important. Bear in mind that a filter always reduces whatever quality your lens can produce. A cheap filter can turn an excellent lens into one that's merely good. It can turn a good lens into a marginal lens, etc., etc.

Use lens cleaning fluid and tissues to clean filters.

 

[Mav]

This might be helpful: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filters.htm

Also, a good filter shouldn't have any noticeable effect on picture quality. The only difference I've seen with my lenses, even cheap ones (filters & lenses) is that I tend to get some ghosting and other artifacts when the light starts to fade.

 

[ann]

are you using film or digital?

 

[Antithesis]

The numbers on the ND filters are 'stops', so a .6 ND filter will reduce incoming light by .6 of a stop.

Multi-coated filters are designed to reduce flare versus non-coated which can catch light and cause flare.

 

[Mav]

The numbers on the ND filters are 'stops', so a .6 ND filter will reduce incoming light by .6 of a stop.

Actually an 0.3 is a 1-stop, 0.6 is 2-stops, and 0.9 is 3-stops. I forget how they came up with that, but it's pretty confusing.

 

[Steph]

The numbers on the ND filters are 'stops', so a .6 ND filter will reduce incoming light by .6 of a stop.

That is wrong. Manufacturers name their ND filters in different ways. For example, Cokin uses ND2, ND4, ND8 (1, 2, 3 stops respectively) whereas Lee uses 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 (1, 2, 3 stops respectively). So a 0.6 ND filter is likely to be 2 stops.

 

[phoenix_rising]

This seems useful...

http://www.photocritic.org/2007/polarizing-filter/

http://www.camerafilters.com/

 

[Helen B]

This seems useful...

http://www.photocritic.org/2007/polarizing-filter/

Sorry to say, but that page is full of nonsense.

Best,
Helen