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Lens Filters Explained

Photography Basics> Lens Filters Explained

Lens filters can add many enhancing qualities to your photographs. When purchasing afilter, remember that you usually get hat you pay for. !oya and "iffen are alays goodfilter choices, but are a little pricey. #ometimes, loer quality filters ill or$ fine, but othertimes, you may ha%e problems such as lo performance, lo image quality, ha&e or blur,etc. With a !oya or "iffen you are pretty much guaranteed to ha%e no problems. 'll filtersare measured in millimeters, and the si&e of filter hich you need ill depend on the threadsi&e of your lens. For example, the $it lens hich comes ith the (anon )ebel *" is+mm. -ou can use larger filters on a smaller lens, or %ise %ersa, ith the use of stepupand stepdon rings. Belo, e ill outline the different types of filters, and hat they do.

UV Filters 'bsorb ultra%iolet rays and cuts through faroff atmospheric ha&e. /0 filters also ser%eas protection for your lens, so it is recommended that you $eep them on at all times. /0 filters ha%eno drastic image enhancing effect, other than cutting through ha&e.

Sky Filters )educe blushiness in outdoor shots, especially in shade under a clear s$y. 'notherfunction of s$y filters is that they $eep s$in tones free of reflections from near ob1ects 2such as trees3.

Polarizers Polari&ers come in to %arieties, (ircular Polari&ers 2(PL3 or Linear Polari&ers 2PL3.4enerally, linear polari&ers are best for manual focus cameras, and circular polari&ers are best forautofocus. "he reason for this is that ith a linear polari&er, many autofocus and metering systemsha%e problems focusing or metering light. When light rays reflect off of a surface, they becomepolari&ed. Polari&ing filters allo you to basically select hich of these light rays you ant to allo topass through. Polari&ing filters allo you to remo%e reflections from any nonmetallic surface, suchas glass, ater, granite countertops, etc. "hey also increase clarity and %ibrance of colors, anddrastically impro%e the appearance of a blue s$y. By increasing the contrast beteen the s$y and

clouds, and dar$ening the blue of the s$y, they ma$e for some %ery %i%id s$y shots.

5ifferences in s$y tones and contrast hen using a polari&ing filter. Left is ithout a filter, right is itha polari&er.

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)eflection reducing effect that a polari&er has on ater. Left side is minimal effect 2selected byrotating the polari&er3, and the right side is maximum effect.

Neutral Density Filters 6eutral 5ensity 2653 filters are commonly ignored by photographers, butactually ha%e se%eral uses and can help you achie%e otherise unobtainable effects. 65 filters or$by creating a reduction in light that is neutral amd equal for the sensor area. #ome of the uses for65 filters are to decrease depth of field, effecti%ely alloing larger apertures to be used, alloingbetter seperation of sub1ect and bac$ground. "hey also allo sloer shutter speeds 2hich ould

normally cause o%erexposure3 to be used to record mo%ement in sub1ects such as mo%ing cars,aterfalls, etc. 4raduated 6eutral 5ensity 24653 filters are neutran density filters hich %ary theeffect ith a gradient, hich can be helpful hen the differences beteen the highlights andshados in a scene are too great to be able to properly expose both. 657 filters ill absorb 8 fstopof light, 659 ill absorb 7 fstops, and 65 ill absorb : fstops.

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(omparison shoing the effects of both 659 and 65 filters on higher exposure and largeraperture.

Star Filters #tar filters, also $non as cross screen filters, create a star pattern ith lines thatradiate from %ery bright ob1ects, such as lights or reflections of the sun. "he number of stars hich afilter produces as ell as the number of points each star has, %aries depending on the filter. ;oststar filters ill be mar$ed as

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IR Filters nfrared filters allo only infrared light to pass through, bloc$ing all %isible light.

Intensifying Filters Filters hich intensify one particular color. ;ay be used to ma$e the s$y orgrass more %ibrant, etc.

Diffusion Filters 5iffusion filters gi%e a %ery