Lens filters

[bigone]

What are the advantages of using UV filters and polarized filters on a DSLR?

[Canuck935]

UV filters mostly protect the front glass of your lens. A polarizer will darken skies, reduce reflections, but will cut out some light and increase exposure times. A polarizer is one filter that can't easily be emulated in PP. I never leave home without one.

[bigone]

I bought the ones at walmart today and will play with them a bit. I did notice that you are right about the exposure times. I tried my hand at some perspective shots of a railroad today and wasn't very impressed with the results. I need to get a book on using a DSLR sometime. Could you recommend one?

[Canuck935]

I always recommend Gary Friedman's books. Most of his books are camera specific, but he has a few general photography books as well.

Here's the link: http://friedmanarchives.com/ebooks/index.htm

[Frog]

Welcome to these forums, Bigone.
As Canuck said a uv filter on a digital camera is basically a lens protector but many won't use them at all unless they are in really bad dusty or sandy conditions as anything in front of your lens may degrade your image. You have lens caps and lens hoods for protection.
The polarizer, usually a circular polarizer, is for decreasing glare off clouds or water or other surfaces.. Put on some polarized sunglasses and you'll see the effect.
I see you have a digital slr which says to me you are at least half serious about photography.
Take those things you bought at Walmart back. Why put a piece of plastic in front of a good lens? Look for B+W, or Hoya pro 1. Make sure what ever you get is multicoated.
These will cost 75 to over a hundred dollars depending on size but the good news is you can buy just one...the one that will fit what you imagine to be the biggest filter you'll need on future lenses...say 74mm. Then buy filter adaptors, they're cheap thank goodness and you can use that one filter on all your lenses.
Another filter you might want is a graduated ND,(neutral density) filter. These are used mostly to make bright skys darker so they aren't washed out in your photo.

[bigone]

How can one decide which filter to use in a certain situation?

[Frog]

How can one decide which filter to use in a certain situation?

You'll learn to recognize those situations with experience.
Basically a circular polarizer(cp) is used mostly to cut glare off clouds when you have partially cloudy days with the sun comign through.
A neutral density filter is used when you have a lot of contrast in different areas of your pic.
I use them when we have bright cloudy skys....not broken clouds but solid bright gray but my foreground is much darker. The ND filter is graduated with the top being darker than bottom so by using it I will be more likely to get an exposure that will show detail in the foreground without having a washed out sky.
You don't need a uv filter.

Google using circular polarizer and neutral density filters and ignore the commercial sights. You'll get lots of explanations.

[bigone]

Thanks guys. I went to Booksamillion and bought a book on my camera. It explains the camera pretty well for a novice like me. I understand ISO, aperture, and shutter speeds much better now. The more I learn about this camera, the more I like it. I just wish I had bought the D90...:cryin:

[bigone]

Take those things you bought at Walmart back. Why put a piece of plastic in front of a good lens?

I was looking at these and noticed that they are made from glass and are multi coated. I'm not sure about the quality of glass as opposed to the higher priced ones though.

[byjamesderuvoDHQ]

I agree that every camera should have a 1A skylight filter to protect the lens. Outside of that, I think that the days of filters are about over since effects in software like Photoshop and Lightroom can pretty much duplicate anything a filter can do, but with great control and the ability to hit that old "undo" button.

[Frog]

I agree that every camera should have a 1A skylight filter to protect the lens. Outside of that, I think that the days of filters are about over since effects in software like Photoshop and Lightroom can pretty much duplicate anything a filter can do, but with great control and the ability to hit that old "undo" button.

Except that there is nothing in photoshop that can do what a polarizer does ot so I'm told.

[Singletracklovr]

I don't think PS can reproduce a graduated ND filter.
If you blowout the bright part of a photo there's nothing you can do to get the detail back. Same problem if you under expose the dark area. Try to brighten it up and all you see is noise.
For outdoor shooting I always carry a multicoated CPL, graduated ND filter and for that dreamy water look with a tripod high f stop with slow SS I like to add a ND4 filter as well. PP can't fix what these filters can do.