Newbie's questions on filters and wide angle equipment

Fraser78 · May 3, 2012

Greetings everyone! I am delighted to have found this forum.

I'm a complete rookie in the photography world. A little while back I purchased a Nikon D60 kit with (I think) a nikkor 17-55 mm lens. Most of the time I just leave it on the auto setting and hope for the best when I snap shots, but I really want to get more into photography, especially outdoor nature shots and landsacpes.

In thumbing through some books, I've become very enthralled with two things: wide angle shots and filters. This leads me to a couple questions:

WIDE ANGLES - Do I have to buy a wide angle lens to explore this or can I get a wide angle attachment that will screw on to my existing lens? And can anyone recommend a budget priced option for this that will work with the lens I have?
FILTERS - If I want to start experimenting with these, what should I start with? A circular polarizer? And can anyone recommend an inexpensive one that gets at least a passing grade? I really just like to monkey around with photography--I don't need professional results and couldn't see myself shelling out tons of money for this hobby right now? But if there were acceptable options for say 40 or so, I'd look in to that.

Thanks so much for any thoughts or suggestions.

Derrel · May 3, 2012

17mm on APS-C is a moderate wide-angle. The inexpensive fisheye lens thread-in attachments are actually kind of fun to play with, although the image quality is not super-high. As far as filters, YES, a circular polarizer from Hoya would be a good, reasonably-priced item to start with. Used filters are often quite a bargain' it might take a bit of looking to find used filters. Filters are very ofrten bought, used a few times, stored, then sold off, so there are LOADS of used filters floating around.

Cheap, Wal-Mart-quality $13.99 polarizers are not worth buying many times.

PapaMatt · May 3, 2012

1. Do you want a wide angle zoom or prime? + How wide is wide, 10mm -11mm

2. A CP is fine price depends on size etc, Tiffen are good, google them and find out what you like

WesternGuy · May 3, 2012

WIDE ANGLE: It would appear that you have a wide angle lens at the 17mm end of your current lens, unless you are going for super-wide, as the 17mm will give you a field of view equivalent to that of a 25mm on a full frame. If you are going for a wider angle, then maybe the 10-24 shown here, along with a few others, would be what you are looking for - Best Nikon wide angle lens for Landscape and Architectural photography | Cameralabs . There are "screw-on" attachments, but I have never used them and so I cannot give you any opinion on them - Google "wide angle screw-on" and you will get some idea of what is available, whether or not it will give you any decent quality images is another question.

FILTERS: A circular polarizer is usually the first filter that a new photographer should buy. They are not that expensive, unless you get into the higher-end, coated, slimline versions. A simple 77mm filter that will probably be okay to start with on your 17-55mm lens, is something like this one -Hoya 77mm Circular Polarizer Glass Filter B77CRPL B&H Photo. Alternatively, for a few more $$, you can get this one - Hoya 77mm Circular Polarizing HD (High Density) XHD77CRPL B&H or this one - Hoya 77mm Circular Polarizing Pro 1 Digital XD77CRPL B&H Photo . Filters are a lot like lenses in that you get what you pay for and cheaper filters may affect the quality of your images - the choice is really up to you - if you buy a cheaper model now, chances are that in six months or less you will not be happy with it and will want to upgrade to a better quality model. It is really pay now or pay later - me, I would rather pay now and have something or decent quality that will last for a few years, than get a cheaper one now and end up putting out more money in six months or a year to get one of better quality.

OTHER FILTERS: There are all kinds of other filters - neutral density filters, graduated neutral density filters, coloured filters and special effects filters. I would suggest that you use Google to do some research into these different kinds of filters, because, books have been written on their use and I couldn't really even begin to go into all the combinations etc. of filters that you can use to "play around" with. Undoubtedly, you will get others opinions on filters, types to have, etc. You can start here - Choosing a Camera Lens Filter and here - Photographic filter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .
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WesternGuy

Fraser78 · May 3, 2012

Thanks for all the great info.

Okay, regarding the wide angle stuff, this is effect I'd like to be able to produce:

http://images.powerreviews.com/images_customers/07/79/613484_17483_raw.jpg

Where you kind of see that wraparound effect at the edges of the panorama. I thought that was achieved via a wide angle lens/filter? Am I wrong?

Also, I think that this effect is really neat. Is this what you would achieve with a "fish eye" lens or filter?