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Filters
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I keep a UV lens on the end of my lenses pretty much all the time, purely for protection. A UV filter should be made up of good quality, colourless glass so it shouldn’t actually effect your images, which is why they are popular for protection purposes. They also have the added bonus of filtering out UV light (hence the name) can help to clean up an image if the conditions are hazy (think seaside, mountains etc), but to be honest I think the difference is pretty negligible. They do seal up the front of the lens though if they are the screw on type, so help keep dust or moisture off the actual lens glass. Some people are of the thinking that you shouldnt stick a £40 piece of glass in front of a lens that you’ve spent £100’s or £1000’s on, but since I’ve been using my B+W MRC UV filter I haven’t noticed any difference in image quality. Purely there for some re-assurance and I’m sure anyone who has dropped a lens and had the glass saved by a filter might tend to agree ;)
Polarising filters are very popular, because as far as I know you can’t replicate their effects in Photoshop, which can’t be said for many filters these days. Basically they reduce reflections in surfaces such as glass, water etc. and also tend to boost the blues in skies giving a more saturated look. They are usually adjustable, so you can rotate the filter when attached to the lens allowing you to increase/decrease the extent of the effect. A word of warning though – I purchased a cheap Hoya polarising filter thinking it would do the job, but its pretty useless to be honest. Think polarisers are something thats worth spending some money on, many people buy a good quality polariser in a large size (say 77mm) and then use adaptor rings to attach them to lenses with a smaller diameter thread, meaning you just need one polariser for all your lenses. Bit more reading here.
Just another piece of info on polarisers. There are different types of polarising filters. A circular polariser is used in digital and a linear is best for film. I’m not 100% sure why this is, but I believe it has something to do with the metering. Maybe someone with more experience can give more info.
UV filters, my experience is this; image quality, I don’t see it. But my camera’s brain went a bit mad on auto focus in low light. My result I don’t bother ever. I’d rather replace a front lens maybe sometime than miss a shot. Comments above are also valid.
Polarrollerizorismos are a tool, get one, play with it; sunny days, ponds, car windows. I can’t tell you coz i think you need to experience it. Buy one with no fear. Also learn up on what polarizationismus is. It’s about filtering angles of light, read up on it and experiment.
Get a pair of polaroid glasses and rotate them over a pond, car etc, to see the effect.
miki g wrote:
…A circular polariser is used in digital and a linear is best for film. I’m not 100% sure why this is, but I believe it has something to do with the metering. Maybe someone with more experience can give more info.
Nothing to do with film versus digital. Linear polarisers won’t work with auto-focus & modern exposure systems so you need to use a circular polariser on such cameras (most modern cameras).
Thanks for that David. That makes a lot more sense to me. I couldn’t understand how film & digital could be seeing polarised light differently. Guess my source of information got it wrong. Cheers.
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