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Three Essential Filters For Digital Cameras
Filters for lenses on digital cameras have many benefits. I have found that using filters can save hours of computer time because the right filter can help capture an image correctly in the camera at the moment of exposure. Filters protect the delicate coatings on the front lens element. Filters can selectively control light by taming overly bright portions of a scene.
Why specifically Digital Filters, won't other filters work? The answer is "Yes, but..." Digital cameras have extremely shiny image sensors. Light that enters the lens hits this shiny sensor and then reflects back up through the lens. Lenses made for digital cameras have coatings on the backsides of their elements that prevent the light from once again reflecting back down to the sensor. Filters that are made for digital cameras also have this same backside coating. However regular filters lack this coating and if they are mounted on the camera some of the reflected light bounces back down the lens causing a faint out of focus ghost image.
Will regular filters work on lenses for digital cameras? Yes, but not anywhere near as effectively. And a further note, as with any autofocus camera, Circular Polarizing filters must be used to prevent conflict with the focusing sensors.
There are several advantages to using Digital Filters but the anti-reflective coating is chief among them. None of Porter's Digital Filters can be termed "window glass filters" - a disparaging term used for inexpensively produced filter - all are professional filters made to the highest standards. Even so, there are two quality levels available in Porter's Digital Filters - 'Digital' and on select UV and Polarizing Filters 'Digital HGX'. The premium HGX filters have all of the Digital Filter benefits plus add:
- Additional coatings that allow 99.3% of the scene's light into the camera - outperforming other filters by 1/3 stop.
- Special black edges on the filter glass to further reduce internal flare.
- Repellamax coatings that won't let dirt, dust or even fingerprints stick.
- Thin profile metal filter frames that won't interfere with wide angle lenses.
- Hardened glass that resists scratches and even breakage.
The Three Essential Filters for Digital Cameras
Selected from all of the filters Porter's offers, These are the three Essential filters for a photographer's kit. The UV Filter for lens protection. The Circular Polarizing Filter to reduce glare and intensify sky colors. The Neutral Density Filter to control scene brightness and to allow slower shutter speeds or wider apertures.
The Digital UV Filter is the most basic filter used in photography. A UV filter has a slight effect on imaging by reducing haze from UV light that cameras are sensitive to, but UV haze is most noticeable at high elevations. A UV filter's real job is protection and as such each lens should have its own UV filter.
One of the most common mishaps for DSLR's is that while being worn around the neck they swing forward and hit a counter, table or other object usually lens first. Without a UV filter mounted the front lens element is in danger of getting scratched. Scratch or crack the front lens element and there is no repair - scratch or crack a filter, toss it and get a new one.
Next we have the Circular Polarizing Filter. Polarizing filters have a few neat tricks up their sleeve. Since their task is to filter out scattered light, under the right circumstances they will darken blue skies and make white clouds look like cotton. See the image below, on the left is the sky as photographed without filter, on the right using a Polarizing Filter. (This trick alone would take quite an effort and investment of time in Photoshop to replicate) In addition a Polarizing filter will remove the glare off of glass making it possible to see inside windows on a sunny day. A good kit will have one Polarizing Filter for each size lens diameter used. Lenses with the same diameter will share one Polarizing Filter.
Finally, the Neutral Density Filter which in a way is like sunglasses for a camera. Neutral Density (or ND) filters uniformly reduce the brightness of a scene. ND filters come in different strengths often denoted with an "X" factor. A filter marked ND4x is the same strength as one marked simply ND4. Each X factor step is one stop stronger allowing less light into the camera. An ND2 filter reduces the light by one stop or by 1/2. An ND4 filter is stronger and reduces the light two stops or to 1/4. A filter marked ND8 reduces the light three stops or to 1/8 it's strength unfiltered. We suggest starting with an ND4 Digital Filter and add an ND8 later if your shooting style requires it.
So why is it important to reduce the light? Digital cameras have the ability to change their ISO (film speed) for every picture if needed and each camera has its range of available ISO settings. We always hear the manufactures brag about how high their ISO ratings are but we seldom stop to find out how low the ISO settings are that are available. For most cameras ISO 100 is as low as they go, in fact many Nikon and Sony cameras only go as low as 200 ISO. That's not low enough if the photographer wants use a slow shutter speed in order to create a picture where a waterfall looks like cotton candy as with the image below. To make this picture an ND4 filter was required because the camera went as low as ISO 100, on a camera with 200 ISO as its lowest an ND8 would have been required.
And it's not just about slow shutter speeds. ND filters allow the photographer to capture good images in bright settings such as on snow fields, at the beach or anywhere else that the light is very bright and a digital camera would have the tendency to "clip" the highlights.
As with a Polarizing Filter have one Digital ND Filter for each size lens diameter in the lens kit is sufficient. Lenses with the same diameter will be able to share an ND Filter.
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| SKU | 9103 |
|---|---|
| Brand | Porter's |
