As the title, which Lens filters do you recomend to be in the bag? I have not read to much into this subject at the moment, 1 step at a time, although i see the benifit of different types of Lens filter for different effects. As a newbie to photography, what would your recomendations be? Over to you. Edit. Perhaps not specific enough? for beach holidays, landscapes etc
A skylight or a UV. Not for any other reason but to protect the front element from crud and impact. It's a cheap crumple zone. Other than that a polariser. I have them for all my lenses.
Only a polariser for me, and some ND grads. i don't use UV filters at all, apart from one on the plastic fantastic, 50mm 1.8 as it's more vulnerable. I think the lens hoods protect the lenses enough for me. Some filters are sodding expensive too!
I have a couple of Circ Polarisers and a couple ND filters. I only use the polarisers to cut through reflections as you also lose about 1.5-2 stops of light with them on and every extra layer of glass is a drop in final quality. Note for beginners - never use filters at night as you'll get a 'ghosting' effect on your images as the light bounces around between the front element and the filter
If you're talking digital SLR then UV filters actually aren't needed for the reasons they were in the film days. If you want to have a protector on the end of your lens I'd recommend a clear protector, its like a filter only just clear glass multicoated as a filter would be to handle reflections etc, check out HOYA, these are also cheaper than UV filters, I get the Pro1Digital but buy from reputable supplier as there fakes around apparrantly. For general photography as others have said, Polariser and ND gradients are about the only ones you'll need. If you have a couple of lenses, get a quality Polariser for the largest filter thread of your lenses and buy step down rings to fit the same filter to your other lens/es. Another good alternative is to use the COKIN system, it's reasonably priced and universal, you just need different adapter rings for different lenses. There are graduated ND and polarisers available.
