[Nass]

Hello,

I'm very new to digital photography so I'm still discovering what this stuff can and can't do. I have a very simple question regarding filters and I wonder if anyone could help me.

I understand why a camera can't do polarising inside the camera so obviously that still needs buying.

But I'm wondering about other filters, ie the Hoya ones that I was considering buying, specifically 81b. Fiddling about on the b&w settings gave me some perfectly acceptible in-camera filters making the need to buy red, yellow etc unneccessary. Is there a way to also mimic the 81b - is it feasable to use a mixture of colour temperature and hue etc adjustment to achieve those?

many thanks in advance

[mickeyobe]

Check your owner's manual for White Balance.

Mickey

[Nass]

Yeah - thanks. *turns to page 191* I figured I was probably on the right lines with colour temperature, or some mixture of them both.

Is this what digital photographers generally do though? Ie omit forking out on a whole bunch of Hoya stuff (except those that can't be done electronically) in favour of using in-camera processing?

[Wombat]

A lot depends on what you want to achieve, Nass, and how deeply you want to explore post-processing. I used to use filters a fair bit on my film cameras for b&w work, but these days, apart from a polarizer and NDs, I tend to tweak for the look I want through software. I like computers and don't mind spending a few hours playing around to get the effects I want. Because I shoot a lot of landscape I don't like too much chopping and changing in the field in the very dusty atmosphere of South Australia. It may be different for you. Also from what you say, it sounds like there are some budget constraints (welcome to the club!) and good quality filters can be quite expensive, whereas there's lots of decent software around for free. To answer your general question, I don't use the camera's built-in filters (and I only shoot RAW).
For what my opinion is worth, I'd suggest you do some reading before you open your wallet. Get a few good books from the library that discuss filters and ask yourself what you actually want to do with them that you can't do in another way. When (if) you're certain that you really need a particular filter for the kind of work you do regularly, then it's time to go and buy. I hope that helps a little bit.

[Nass]

Thanks Wombat, that's definitely cleared things a bit - at least I wasn't totally barking up the wrong tree =). I guess I'm a little bit odd because my dayjob is web development so I've been a fairly 'expert' photoshop user for years now - so personally I love post processing which will probably minimise the need for pre-image filtration.

Part of the issue here is that I'm from a very outdated school of "get the exposure right first, worry about everything else later". This was all 20 years ago at art college - I've also done very little colour work. When I was taught it was very 'technical' (I can still remember having that 'expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights' mantra drilled into me).

But now I find myself with a fancy new digital SLR and looking at the work that's being done today I find myself wanting to be more of Galen Rowell than an Ansel Adams (pretentious or what!) And the wife expects to see pretty colours in the SLR playback on-camera rather than in photoshop!

[Wombat]

Looks like you might want to put a camera for your missus on the Xmas list...
It seems like you've been well taught and you've absorbed and developed skills which are still relevant in the digital world. You'll find few arguments on this forum with the "get it right in the camera" philosophy, but I think you'll find that there's simply no comparison between your camera's built-in filters vs the quality you can achieve with Photoshop.
Looking at where you live, did you by any chance do your training at Guildford School of Art (later called Guildford College of Art & Design)? I did a bit of lecturing there in the late 1960s, just after the famous sit-in. It was great fun. The students were very "bolshie" and there was a ton of energy around the place.

[Nass]

Hehehe! - I've told the Mrs a) not to touch it and b) if she does, turn the GREAT BIG ROUND BUTTON on the top to the GREAT BIG GREEN SETTING!

I didn't go to Guildford - no - when I did my training, dad was with BP stationed in California. So I did my stuff at the then Academy of Art College in San Francisco (now known as the Academy of Art University) under a gent called Ken Light, top bloke. Can't remember the name of the other teachers - Ken's surname is difficult to forget. It was fascinating - I went from being in an English public school to the liberal arts regime in California - quite the culture shock =).

[Wheatfield]

Hello,

I'm very new to digital photography so I'm still discovering what this stuff can and can't do. I have a very simple question regarding filters and I wonder if anyone could help me.

I understand why a camera can't do polarising inside the camera so obviously that still needs buying.

But I'm wondering about other filters, ie the Hoya ones that I was considering buying, specifically 81b. Fiddling about on the b&w settings gave me some perfectly acceptible in-camera filters making the need to buy red, yellow etc unneccessary. Is there a way to also mimic the 81b - is it feasable to use a mixture of colour temperature and hue etc adjustment to achieve those?

many thanks in advance

There is no point in the strong filters designed for B&W work. I tried it a while back, it just gives a badly coloured image that screws up in conversion.
OTOH, I do use colour correction filters as it seems to work better than white balance.

[alohadave]

Part of the issue here is that I'm from a very outdated school of "get the exposure right first, worry about everything else later". This was all 20 years ago at art college - I've also done very little colour work. When I was taught it was very 'technical' (I can still remember having that 'expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights' mantra drilled into me).

If you've ever shot slide film, digital is very similar. Expose for the highlights, once you blow them, they are unrecoverable.

[Nass]

Yeah, I've been reading up about it, thanks. Guess I have a lot of useful mistakes to make before getting it right =)

[RioRico]

After buying a K20D last year, I went on an eBay spree and bought way too many lenses and filters and stuff. [Hint: look for LOTS, bid on those with enough usable gear to make the shipping worthwhile.] I now possess several bins of mostly unused filters, which only see the light of day when I shoot film. At least they were cheap.

For much B&W work, the K20D's digital filters are fine, but there are a couple exceptions. If you're shooting infrared, then you NEED one or more IR filters. And if you're shooting in actinic (UV-violet-blue) light to replicate early photo emulsions, you need violet-blue filters (and no UV blocking!) in front of your lens. Shooping is still necessary but insufficient.

[K-9]

Filters you can definitely still use on DSLRs:

UV
Circular Polarizer
Neutral Density
Graduated Neutral Density
Infrared

[Kerrowdown]

There's a whole heap of threads on this forum about the use of UV, skylight and the like filters, left on or off lenses and WB. Have a quick search makes a good read.

Other filters for special effects, especially strong effects can have quite a short appeal and therefore limited usage.

[MRRiley]

A lot depends on what you want to achieve, Nass, and how deeply you want to explore post-processing. I used to use filters a fair bit on my film cameras for b&w work, but these days, apart from a polarizer and NDs, I tend to tweak for the look I want through software. I like computers and don't mind spending a few hours playing around to get the effects I want. Because I shoot a lot of landscape I don't like too much chopping and changing in the field in the very dusty atmosphere of South Australia. It may be different for you. Also from what you say, it sounds like there are some budget constraints (welcome to the club!) and good quality filters can be quite expensive, whereas there's lots of decent software around for free. To answer your general question, I don't use the camera's built-in filters (and I only shoot RAW).
For what my opinion is worth, I'd suggest you do some reading before you open your wallet. Get a few good books from the library that discuss filters and ask yourself what you actually want to do with them that you can't do in another way. When (if) you're certain that you really need a particular filter for the kind of work you do regularly, then it's time to go and buy. I hope that helps a little bit.

I agree with Wombat. About the only filters that you need with digital are polarizers and Neutral Densities (full and graduated) and maybe an IR (if your journey takes you into the infrared). Most everything else can be done in post processing.

Mike