Introduction
As a
(landscape)photographer you will encounter them sooner or later: filters. Get
up early in the morning, put some water in the machine, add a filter and some
coffee.. Sorry, wrong kind of filter. Of course, this blog is not about coffee
filters, this blog is about the filters you can use to improve your
photographs. Too often you will encounter a scene where the contrast between
the sky and the ground is too great to get a nicely exposed photograph (think
about a sunset for example), the colours and the blue sky are not what they are
cracked up to be or there is too much light to create that beautiful soft
cloudy sky by using a slower shutter speed. Luckily for us, there are people
that came up with a solution to these, and other, problems. These people worked
around these problems by adding a piece of glass in front of their lenses.
These pieces of glass is what we call filters. These filters can be used to
solve great differences in contrast (gradient filter), revive colours and blue
skies (polarizing filters) or help you use those slower shutter speeds in broad
daylight (ND filters). These filters exist in all different forms, shapes,
sizes and price categories, but they can be divided into two subcategories:
screw in filters and system filters.
Figure 1: Screw in filter (UV)
A screw in
filter can be, as the name suggest, screwed on the front of a lens. This is
also the greatest advantage of this system. You do not need a special adapter
and filter holder to use the filter. Simply take it out of your bag and screw
it on your filter. A great disadvantage is that it is a set size. Some lenses
are 77mm in diameter, others 63 mm for example. This means that, to use a UV
filter on both lenses, you actually have to buy two. Some filters cost a small
fortune (you get what you pay for), so buying two is expensive! Another
disadvantage is that you are less versatile using these filters. As an example,
look at figure number 2. This figure depicts a gradient filter that darkens the
bright sky while leaving the ground untouched. If you were to use a screw in
gradient filter, you horizon should always be in the middle of your photograph.
A system filter (as in figure 2), can be adjusted so that the horizon of the
gradient is on 1/3rd of the photograph, making it more versatile. Also,
if you change to a lens with a different filter size, you only have to buy a
new adapter ring.
System filters (or filter systems) need special
equipment to work. First you need an adapter ring, which is screwed onto the
lens. Then you need a filter holder to keep everything in place, and last but
not least, you need a filter (as the one seen in figure 2).
Figure 2: Haida filter system (gradient)
Total cost:
255 euros (for one filter). A screw in filter will cost about 90 euros. So why
then, do professional photographers opt to use these expensive filters and not
just use the screw in filters?
I have
asked myself the same question.
Now, thanks to www.cameraland.nl and www.photosbenelux.nl, I can experience first had what it is like using these filter systems,
what possibilities they bring and if and why you should invest in them.
Cameraland has asked me to test a new filter system made by Haida. Haida claims
to have developed an affordable filter line up that delivers top of the line
quality, while leaving the photo quality untouched. I am excited to test these
filters!
Christmas
came early this year.
In
collaboration with Cameraland.nl, it was decided that I will be testing and
reviewing some filters. Underneath the Christmas tree there was a special
package with my name on it! Obviously I could not wait till Christmas day and
decided to unwrap my present.
Figure 3: Unwrapping the present
This
present contained the following filters from Haida: a 77mm adapter ring, a 100mm filter holder, a 3 stops ND filter, a 10 stops ND filter and a circular polarising filter.
Figure 4: Christmas came early this year
The first
thing I noticed is how much well these filters are packed using special casings
for all of them. All filters come with a special protective casing. There was
even a special casing that allows you to carry the adapter ring, filter holder
and one of the ND filters!
Figure 5: filters and their casings
After
opening everything, I faced my first challenge. How do I use these filters? I
am used to using screw in filters, but here I was, sitting in my studio with an
adapter ring, filter holder and some filters. So I set back and took some time
to think!
Before
long, I had the system figured out (go me, it was very easy) and a filter on my
lens. During the coming weeks I will test the different filters and tell you
what I think. You can follow my journey through the wonderful world of filter
systems on www.facebook.com/photojitsu.nl or www.photojitsu.nl/haida.html!
