filters

[Jay Slean]

I’m going to buy some filters for my camera, 40D, with a 72mm 28-135 zoom. What brands should I look at and what should I stay away from? I know I want a polarizing filter, I shoot a lot outside, but I shoot in almost all conditions too; so what else should I look at? I do sports, landscape, animals, people, both inside and out, astronomy, cars, art and anything creative. Also, what brand of close-up lens is good (the kind you screw on and stack), as well as what is a good size lens to get for close-up work? 10-20mm-ish?
Thanks,
Jaybird

[SmartWombat]

Stay away from cheap filters !
The best are multi-coated to minimise reflections between the lens and the filter.

I don't think any kind of screw on closeup lens is as good as extension tubes.

I don't use any other filters, though for astronomy you may want Sodium line filters if you're close enough to town to get an orange sky glow interfering with your images.

[MB1]

By far the filters I use the most are my graduated neutral density filters.

If you want quality close-ups get a macro lens, not an adapter.