I was talking shop with the neighbor and he said he always has a filter on his lens, whether it be a clear one to keep dust out or a polarizer. Since I have neither, I'm wondering if I should. Is anyone else never caught without a filter on your lens(es)?

You should always have a UV filter on every lens you have. They are not very expensive between $10-20 depending on quality and diameter.

Cokin, Hoya, Tiffen, and B+W are some of the good ones.

Polarizer filters are nice but are generally expensive. A polarizer will reduce atmopheric haze, increase colour saturation and cut reflections from water and glass. The downside is that you will need a higher shutter speed smaller aperture because they block some of the light getting to the sensor.

Remember that high quality matters more with a digital camera than with film as every flaw will be multiplied by the higher resolution of digital cameras.

Polarizers run anywhere from $20-$150 again depending on size (diameter) and quality.

:)

One more time...



Who'oo...



Ooops... had to cut that short... the boss just walking by. ;)

hmm I don't think I have UV Filters for my two lenses.

Are there any lenses with some kind of UV filter/Glas already in them?..

I have one 18-55mm and one 55-200mm Lens. How big should the UV filters be? 55mm is the number i've seen, does that work on both of them?.

All lenses usually have a UV coating of some kind though usually not as good as a quality filter. What you really want a UV filter for is to protect the lens and stop the coating from being scratched. If you ding or scratch a UV filter that cost $30 then you are in better shape than scratching a $500 lens.

Be wary of filters that have words other than UV in the name. Some combine a warm filter with a UV filter and you don't really want this (at leat not all the time). A warm filter is good to have though.

Different lens have different filter sizes. Usually around a 50mm focal length has the smallest lens diameter, about 49mm for a 35mm SLR or DSLR. Wide angle lenses can go up to 77-87mm and large telephotos even bigger. Standard telephotos are usually in the 55-67mm range though. Sometime you can be lucky and get two lenses with the same size thread. If they are close you can get adaptor rings that would let you use a 54mm filter on a 52mm threaded lens.

It should be marked on the lens somewhere near the front as to what size the filter thread is. IF you can't find it check a manufacturers website or go to a camera store and have them figure it out.

:)

I always have a UV on there, mostly to prevent scratches on my lense. Great $20 investment.
I also have a red color filter, to add greater contrast to my black and white scene shots. It's best feature though is the definition of clouds and skies that would normally appear plain.

My word of advise: Don't go out and buy a filter for something that can be done buy adjusting your apeture or shutter speeds.

thanks you guys, that helped out very much :)

Will go and buy a few filters tomorrow maybe. need two UV and maybe get one Red and Blue color filter. Read about what they could do so :).