THERE ARE TWO FILTERS THAT EVERY DSLR CAMERA OWNER CAN USE (11.05.2015)

During the digital camera and digital photo processing era, a lot of filters in front of the lenses lost their importance because most effects can be done later in the digital photo processing. Often even more accurately and with better quality than putting special effects filter in front the lens. There are two filters that I do recommend to a beginner photographer as a first purchase after buying the camera.

UV (ultraviolet) filter

UV filter looks like a thin nude glass that is placed to a threaded filter frame. Actually, the quality UV filters are covered with multi-layer coatings and these are meant in front of the camera to decrease the amount of UV light radiation that reaches the camera. Mainly, using a filter has a more pragmatic purpose – to protect the lens. During photographing, there may be situations where splashes, dust or fingerprints may end up on the lens. Photographers know that the cleanliness of the first lens affects the technical quality of the photo and that is why they make sure that the lens is clean. By cleaning the lens too often, we might damage the lens's coating. It is enough if the tiniest quartz crystal that comes from the sand ends up on the lens and we might scratch the lens while wiping it.

UV filter is cheap enough to protect the lens. Cleaning the dust and fingerprints from the filter glass is a much safer activity. And even if something happens, filter only costs a fraction of the value of the lens and there would not be too much damage. Nikon's high quality filters don't change the power of f-stop, cause chromatic aberration or blur the photo. We advise you to buy the filter together with the lens. You can find out the measure of the filter from the lens or the inner side of the first lens cap.

Polarization filter

This is one of the few filters that's effects cannot be done in the digital photo processing. What makes this filter so special? First, you can see that the filter is grey. For your information – this filter takes away 1.5 to 2 levels of light. Mostly, this filter is used outdoors. To see the effect of this filter you have to turn it in front of the lens. Now you can see that the sky has more contrasts and the clouds are more present. The colours get brighter; the mirrors on the water and glass surface disappear. While photographing in the nature and especially while taking landscape photos, the polarization filter is often used. The effect of the filter depends on the angle of the light path; it does not work equally from each direction. Also, it does not work equally from all surfaces. For example, polished metal surfaces only work if they are varnished or slightly oxidized.

The polarization filter is not recommended to put on top of a UV filter, use one filter at a time!

Try the polarization filter and you will understand that this recommendation makes your landscape photos totally different.

Get more information about the filter!

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