When you first get your new, expensive and sophisticated DSLR camera, you can be forgiven for thinking that you really need to take good photos ... and for a while you should learn the content of the many features and settings that decorate the outer body of the camera, as well as hidden among the many pages of your camera, the bottomless pits of menus and submenus
It was my original thinking when I decided to “get into the photo” as a hobby. However, soon after buying the camera and practically using it almost daily, I found that I wanted more of it.
One of the reasons for buying the camera was that I had distorted my vision for several years, having spent too much time working in front of the computer and not doing anything else, because I was trying to build an online business. I chose photography as a way, literally, to focus and remake my visual system to start looking further, and not just a few short legs in front of me (the approximate distance from my chair to the bright light of my computer and # 39; s monitor) to try to “exercise” my vision back to a better state of health. For this reason, I was concerned with trying and improving my photos by shooting in the recommended “RAW” format, and then I spent time in front of the computer to edit the photos. Because of this, I recorded all my photos in JPEG format (allowing the camera to compress images into photos that can be shared or printed immediately), and decided to investigate the use of filters as a way to improve image quality.
Select filters for your DSLR
Before acquiring any filter for your DSLR, you first need to know the diameter of your lens, as the filter or filter adapter usually needs to be screwed onto the lens. The fastest way to find the diameter for the lenses of your camera is to remove the lens cap and look at the back of it — this is usually when the size in millimeters (mm) is printed or engraved. For example, for the camera with which I initially bought my filters, there was a Panasonic FZ1000; it has a lens diameter of 62 mm, and therefore I found 62 mm engraved in plastic on the back of the lens cap. With this information, I was able to find all kinds of filters on Amazon, just by typing their name (for example, Circular Polarizer) and adding 62 mm to the search bar.
These are the four filters that I accrued over time that may interest you:
1. Circular polarization filter ... Polarizing filter helps cut through the haze and glare from the sun's rays; They are a very useful filter for landscape photography. You can even use a polarizer to see through the surface of the water, often finding that it is a hidden blow. You can also use these filters to remove glare from reflections of the sun in water and shiny surfaces, such as leaves. Polarizers are supplied in a square or circular format, but the latter is a circular polarizer, which is most often recommended by DSLR photography experts. So, this is what I chose, and the brand I acquired was Marumi Exus Circular Polarizer — I had no experience with filters, so I relied on a luminous review on Amazon, and I am very pleased with the results. To use a circular polarizer, once you have screwed on the lens of your camera, you can rotate the filter in any direction (just be careful not to unscrew the filter in the process!). Circular polarizers are said to be effective when you are about 90 degrees to the sun's rays (so if you look ahead, if the sun is either to the left or to your right when you are viewing the electronic viewfinder or on the DSLR LCD screen, you probably , you can see how the filter works when you rotate it on the lens). When it comes to landscape photography, the colors in your image may appear more saturated and vibrant when using a polarizing filter.
2. Filter kit for neutral density ... When you look at scenes of contrasting light and shadow (for example, in nature), your own visual system is so sophisticated that at a glance you can see details both in the sky and in the darker parts on earth. However, nowadays even the most complex digital image sensor in modern DSLR makes it difficult to record details in the sky and details on the ground or in less illuminated areas of your scene at the same time. You may have noticed this by pointing the camera lens to the sky and using the autofocus system — with the right camera settings, the sky will be nice to see (ready to take a picture for you), but the elements of the earth will tend to be dark (and perhaps too dark for you, to see the details in the received photos). Conversely, if you focus on the elements of the earth, the details in the sky will be blurred and lost to brightness - you can get some fine detail, but this is nothing compared to how much detail you could get when focusing the camera directly on the sky, although at the expense of the details of the land. The solution for this is the use of a so-called graded neutral density filter, with the preferred option being square ND Grad filters. With the ND Grad filter pack, such as the Cokin P Series (H250A), which I purchased for my Panasonic FZ1000, you will need a Ring Adapter that attaches directly to the lens (usually a separate purchase from the rest of the ND Grad filter kit). In addition to this, you fold the filter holder into which you insert up to three different Perspex rectangular shapes, which are filters. At one end, the filter is transparent; on the other hand, it is somewhat darkened; and between them they disappear from darker to lighter or vice versa (depending on how you look at them). If you place a dark gradient over the top of the lens, this will help the sensor more evenly disassemble the earth and sky.
3. 10-Stop Neutral Density Filter ... The goal of the ND filter with 10 stops is to provide an additional light reduction so that you can keep the shutter open longer by opening the camera sensor within constant movement of moving objects such as water and clouds, which results in aesthetically pleasing motion blur. The water may seem silky, and the clouds may look like they see the sky in your image. For my camera, I bought the Hoya Pro ND 1000. It does its job as intended; I have no complaints.
4. FLW Magenta Color Filter ... This is a fun filter made by Hoey (search for “Hoya FLW” on Amazon or Google Shopping), and they are very popular, so it took me 2 months to get my delivery from the point of purchase on Amazon. However, it was worth the wait; These purple color change filters help improve the color of the sky, especially when photographing sunsets. The results can be dramatic and everything is achieved "in the camera" (so there is no need for Photoshop).
How to avoid costly repeat purchases when buying a new DSLR lens
A year or so later, after buying and using my Panasonic FZ1000, I upgraded from this “Bridge Camera” to the “correct” DSLR. I purchased the Panasonic GH4, and for the first time I had to struggle with the selection and purchase of separate lens systems. Only after these purchases, I suddenly realized that the diameter of the new lenses was NOT a 62 mm lens on the FZ1000. Not only that, but one lens was 37 mm, the remaining 58 mm, so I was faced with the choice of using only filters on the FZ1000 or “sip”, potentially paying up to two additional sets of each filter, so I could use them on any of the two new lenses. Now the four filters mentioned earlier in this article, which I am talking about now, cost me about £ 200 ($ 280, approximately), so I looked at a pretty dent in my finances, spending almost £ 2000 on the Panasonic GH4 and two new lenses.
So it was an unprecedented relief when I discovered that some clever man had invented “Walking Rings.” These are basically individual metal rings that twist together, allowing you to screw one ring onto your lens, the other onto a filter filter, and yet many of the intermediate size rings are needed to help you “lift” or “leave” resigned from the lens to the filter.
It should be noted that it is preferable if your lens is smaller than the filter (and not vice versa), because if you are trying Step down from a larger lens, to a smaller filter, you will encounter “vignetting”, that is, when you see black edges around all your images - these edges will in this case be steps that prevent your DSLR sensor.
Stepping Rings are usually delivered as a set of several parts (I have a branded K & F - find a set of balls for metal adapters on Amazon) - and you will not see the number of rings in the set, you will not use all these adapters, just one ring for lens, one for the filter, and, as already mentioned, however, many other rings are required to join the two target units together.
Thus, the money was saved - all my filters can be used for ANY size lens that I now have or can buy in the future. THE GAME HAS BEGUN!
