Filters for landscape/architecture.

[evan47]

hi, i have an ultra wide lens on order. due to inherent flare and blown out sky issues with this type of lens i was looking for advice on grad and nd filters.
i would like to keep costs reasonable, so what would be considered as essential? should i go for a vari-nd, a couple of grads, (dont know what strength), and is a polariser a good idea?

[escaladieu]

The polariser is a good idea. Though I have a good set I don't use ND grads anymore - I do it in software. If you do go the ND route you can get a system that will hold the polariser as well as the filters - but not all systems allow this, so check. You will also need to be careful about vignetting ( the filter holder appearing in the frame ) on an ultra wide lens. Some manufacturers sell a special filter holder for wide angle use to overcome this problem. These wide angle holders typically hold a single filter only, and won't accept a polariser to keep the depth of the holder down & stop it appearing in the frame.
In my experience an ND will not help with flare - and in fact may make it worse. YMMV.

Cheers

J

[evan47]

thanks, what is the best way to do it with soft ware?

The polariser is a good idea. Though I have a good set I don't use ND grads anymore - I do it in software. If you do go the ND route you can get a system that will hold the polariser as well as the filters - but not all systems allow this, so check. You will also need to be careful about vignetting ( the filter holder appearing in the frame ) on an ultra wide lens. Some manufacturers sell a special filter holder for wide angle use to overcome this problem. These wide angle holders typically hold a single filter only, and won't accept a polariser to keep the depth of the holder down & stop it appearing in the frame.
In my experience an ND will not help with flare - and in fact may make it worse. YMMV.

Cheers

J

[dje]

Evan what sort of lens are you getting and what camera is it to go on ? As Jeff says, you need to be careful that you get a system that does not suffer from vignetting.

I have a couple of 4" Hitec GND's (made in Wales I believe !!). I guess you could call these mid-range in quality/price. I've heard that Singh Ray are very good (with a price to match !!). One of my Hitec's is a 3 stop hard grad and the other a 3 stop hard reverse grad. I haven't used the reverse GND yet and probably wont use it very often.

I have found sometimes that the 3 stop is too strong and you end up with too much exposure on the darker areas. So my suggestion would be, if you are going down this path, to start with a 2 stop and a 3 stop (I tend to think hard grads are more useful than soft grads but it would be nice to have both if your budget allows.)

One other thing to remember is that you can only really use GND's for certain types of scenes. eg if you are doing a sunset or sunrise where there are mountains on part of the horizon, it can be difficult to use them without reducing the exposure on the mountains (which are probably in shadow anyway). Every case is different of course.

I find a polariser useful sometimes but often take shots with it "on" and "off" because it can be a bit un-predictable.

Dave

[evan47]

thanks,
the lens is the tokina 11-16. i will be using it with the d7000, and perhaps the d90.
i will take my time gathering advice before lashing out on filters that will rarely be used. ,,,,,,is a polariser advisable on ultra wide lenses? some people say they may cause banding.

[escaladieu]

"thanks, what is the best way to do it with soft ware?"

Lightroom has a GND filter control, you can control exposure saturation, etc. You can achieve the same effect in Photoshop as well, using a gradient fill.

[escaladieu]

thanks,
the lens is the tokina 11-16. i will be using it with the d7000, and perhaps the d90.
i will take my time gathering advice before lashing out on filters that will rarely be used. ,,,,,,is a polariser advisable on ultra wide lenses? some people say they may cause banding.

You typically use the polariser shooting at a right angle to the sun. If the shot is very wide, the polarisation effect will vary according to the sun's orientation - so you get a variable effect across the frame which can look unnatural.

[evan47]

thanks, i think i will get a trial version of lightroom and see how i get on.

[dje]

thanks,
the lens is the tokina 11-16. i will be using it with the d7000, and perhaps the d90.
i will take my time gathering advice before lashing out on filters that will rarely be used. ,,,,,,is a polariser advisable on ultra wide lenses? some people say they may cause banding.

Evan I think you would definitely need 100mm GND's rather than 85mm and you may well need the wide angle holder that Jeff mentioned. You should check with the supplier. Vignetting is less critical for a crop factor camera compared to a FF camera.

Dave