Trip to Costa Rica - Need filter recommendations

[torontophotos]

Hi everyone,
I'm planning our honeymoon Costa Rica and need advice on what type of filters would suit me best (I have to stay within a reasonable budget and have to be able to travel LIGHT are the keys here for me). so here are my 3 questions, thanks for any help provided in advance (note I live in Canada so some things are much more $ here)

Q1. I'm looking into a 72mm circular polarizer for my Tamron 18-270 lens, I can get a deal on the Kenko Zeta's for around $100, but am open to other suggestions for brands? I think multi coated is always good, but don't want to spend like $300 on a CPL esp. since I'm just starting out. Any recommendations that are good that are reasonably priced?

q2. I know the CPL is the first choice in filter from various posts I've read, so what should come next? A grad or a neutral density filter? I will be touring so I don't know how much setup time I'll have, can I just reproduce the same effects of the grad in Lightroom/PS? I like the idea of in camera but it might be a pain to setup the whole system and take it off for the various shots I'll be doing. If this is a good thing to have, what brand , edge (hard/soft) and how many stops? Cokin/Hitech's are more in my starters budget, but definitely looking for recommendations again as this is totally new to me. I do know how to do HDR stuff as well for another option.

q3. About neutral density filters, I know these are good long exposures of waterfalls under bright conditions, but this seems pretty specialized use to spend $50-100 on. Is this a bit of a waste of $ for a tight budget? I read the CPL can be used as a ND filter as well?

My Kit: Canon 50d, 580exii flash, Tamron 18-270, Canon 50 1.8 and whatever filters will allow me to capture wildlife/landscapes the best during our trip over there.

Thanks everyone for the tips, my first post here but read the forum regularly and have learned a lot!

Cheers.

[Jon]

If you're worried about setup time for using grads, you'll face the same situation with a regular ND filter. You can use a grad hand-held; if you go for a long exposure with an ND, you'll need a tripod (= more weight and compulsory set-up). A polarizer also provides about 2 stops of straight ND, so you can effectively double-up there. Are you going to be on the beach or open country, or are you going to the rainforests? If the rainforests, you probably wouldn't use a grad, but (assuming a tripod and time to set it up) could use straight ND around water. In open country or at the shore you'd be able to use a grad (given a sharp, straight, horizon you'd want a hard transition one, maybe 3 stops, if you're just getting one). For grads, get a rectangular (Lee, HiTech or SinghRay) and (essential if you don't have a tripod, optional if you do) holder for it. That way you can adjust the transition to suit the composition, rather than have to adjust your composition to the filter as you would with a screw-in round grad.

Here's (http://jonbarrettphoto.smugmug.com/Travel/Costa-Rica-1/) a small gallery from when I was there in Jan. '08. The only filters I used were polarizers.

[torontophotos]

Hey Jon,
Thank you very much for your reply, and I love your shots! Just a polarizer sounds like it could do wondedrs.... I actually am taking a tripod (manfrotto 190xprob & ballhead) as I know the shots just won't come out good without one, esp for any slow exposure stuff I like to do (some night shots too). It sounds like I should just stick with the polarizer instead of a ND filter, and I'll think more about the grad filter. If I do buy one, I'd get a holder for sure as I totally get what you're saying about the horizon, the circular ones are pointless imho.

As for where we are going, I think we will be there for 2 weeks so a bit of everything..Beach, rainforests, open country, basically everywhere we can while we're there.

I did play around in Lightroom last night and found that I could do a fairly good job of 1-2 stops with the digital grad filter, only problem is, it seems to introduce some vignetting for some reason when I underexpose the sky deliberately...I was working with JPGs, so maybe if I shot RAW that won't be an issue.

That Volcano shot you took was incredible I must say, where was this exactly? You only used a polarizer to get that vibrant look?

Thanks for your help!

[Jon]

The volcano was Poas (http://www.infocostarica.com/places/poas.html), on a rare clear day (usually, I'm told, it's shrouded in clouds). It was a couple of years ago; if I used any filter it was just a polarizer, I really don't remember. I did shoot raw and I usually adjust the contrast range and saturation using DPP.

[torontophotos]

Thanks Jon for the info. I've spoken to the Mrs (to be) and we'll go on your recommendations and get a good polarizer, which will double as our ND filter. If I shoot raw, I should be able to recover the exposure without noise using Lightroom and play with some other settings like you suggested. I just don't like the amount of work in field with Grads, we won't have time to spend 5-10mins setting up shots unfortunately...

Good stuff, this should be fun! Thx for sharing your pics.

[BigBlueDodge]

I just got back from Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago, and the only filter I used were UV (mainly for protection from rain/water) or CPL. I didn't even bother with ND filters. I bought small Feisol CF travel tripod for the trip and found that I used it ALOT (mainly so that I could be in the pictures).

[JRMott]

Someone at B&H once recommended the following to me:

If the lens is under $500 = Tiffen
If $500 -$1000 = Hoya
If over $1000 = BW

Just a suggestion I'm passing along.

[torontophotos]

I just got back from Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago, and the only filter I used were UV (mainly for protection from rain/water) or CPL. I didn't even bother with ND filters. I bought small Feisol CF travel tripod for the trip and found that I used it ALOT (mainly so that I could be in the pictures).

Hey,
Thanks for the tip! Where did you go/stay in Costa Rica? We're looking at places to go / see, how long were you there? I'm totally sold on the CPL, I doubt I'll have time during walking tours to setup grads and such.... Trying to figure this out too (PM me with info if you prefer).

Thanks!

[torontophotos]

Someone at B&H once recommended the following to me:

If the lens is under $500 = Tiffen
If $500 -$1000 = Hoya
If over $1000 = BW

Just a suggestion I'm passing along.

Sounds like good advice to me, I'm in the Hoya line for sure , this board is awesome for info!

[kayl]

Hey,
Thanks for the tip! Where did you go/stay in Costa Rica? We're looking at places to go / see, how long were you there? I'm totally sold on the CPL, I doubt I'll have time during walking tours to setup grads and such.... Trying to figure this out too (PM me with info if you prefer).

Thanks!

When are you going and where in the country are you planning on going?

I spent 3 months there in 2006, it's a great country!

[torontophotos]

Kayi,
Going on my honeymoon, May 23rd onwards (hopefully won't be too rainy). Not sure where yet as we haven't planned a tour, but I'm open to suggestions, 2 weeks , maybe 3 depending on budget. Things I think I want to see : cloud forest, volcanoes, rainforests, and have some time (1 week) for chilling on a beach/resort and relax. Any ideas / recommendations? I'd love to see any pics you have of it.

[Jon]

We spent several days here (http://www.anywherecostarica.com/destinations/playa-hermosa-costa-rica/hotels/hotel-playa-hermosa). That's where all the photos with the Guanacoste tag were taken (on the hotel grounds, mind you, except for the beach at sunset).

[torontophotos]

Jon, nice hotel! What time of year did you go? Our wedding is May 22nd, so we were thinking to go right after the wedding, but I've heard it's the rainy season there starting in late may? How bad will it be, will it ruin the honeymoon? Should we go the month after instead?

Thanks!!

[Jon]

We were there in January; wife looks forward to getting away from the cold. I suspect it'll be very hot anywhere but at the coast in May-September. As to the rain, I couldn't say.

[torontophotos]

Thanks Jon, forgot to reply :) I've been playing with the HDR stuff yesterday after some sunset pics and honestly I think using grads and decreasing the dynamic contrast in camera should give better results overall as I just don't feel what I get with HDR is what i saw last night at sunset!