Filters?

just got a new sigma 17-70 f2.8 lens, i do a lot of car photography and drag racing and things of that nature, what kind of filters would be best? and which brands are best?

What do you want filters to do for you?

i think a cpl would be good for dealing with the reflections.

is a cp going to make the image too dark are night?

mikeweddle22795 wrote in post #15096471
is a cp going to make the image too dark are night?

It won't make the image dark..per se, but it will cut some light(up to 2 stops), which will lower your shutter speed. I can't see a need for filters, for drags..especially at night. I use a CPL for cars.. outdoors, during the day.

so during the day, doing shoots of cars throw it on. and at a night time race just take it off?

1Tanker wrote in post #15096543
It won't make the image dark..per se, but it will cut some light(up to 2 stops), which will lower your shutter speed. I can't see a need for filters, for drags..especially at night. I use a CPL for cars.. outdoors, during the day.

so which brand of filters are the best? and should i also get a uv filter for the protection factor?

No dont get a protection filter, use a lens hood instead.

A CPL can work well in decent light.

so in the end, all i should buy is a circular polarizing filter? if so which brands are good?

B&W or hoya I guess.

I think you need to learn what filters do before you go out and buy one, just look up CPL and ND filter on youtube.

They come in very handy when needed but can cause you nightmares when used incorrectly.

Ok well I'm just gonna get a cp filter to reduce reflections. Which brands work the best ?

So you're aware, a CPL only fully works on non-metallic objects (such as glass and water). The way light bounces off metal (rather than spreads through it on glass and water) tends to be glare rather than reflection. But it's not a super expensive thing to play with if you have your heart set on it, and sometimes you can find them used in the forum here and get your money back at resale if you find you don't need/want it. But as RobDickinson said, Hoya and B&W tend to be the most well respected, whichever is on sale at the time of purchase.

mikeweddle22795 wrote in post #15098376
Ok well I'm just gonna get a cp filter to reduce reflections. Which brands work the best ?

Do you realize that a polarizing filter needs to be rotated to select the amount of it effect? That's easy to do with a static subject, but if you're shooting moving cars you're going to have a heck of a time choosing the filter's position. Also, as the cars and your camera move, the angles to the lighting are changing and the effect of the filter on reflections in the car's paint (when the filter is kept at a constant position) will change.

A lens hood is always a good idea and will protect better than a filter ever could... In fact, you especially should use a hood when using a filter!

I've shot enough of that sort of thing to know that at times you might want a "protection" filter on your lens.... such as when close trackside and dealing with a lot of thrown dirt or stones as cars or whatever go flying past you. Using a 17-70 for motorsports, you will probably need to be pretty close to the action a lot of the time. If so, get a good filter such as B+W MRC (UV or O10), Hoya HMC UV, etc. The most important things are multicoating and quality, so the filter has as little negative effect on your images as possible. Put it on when there are risks. Take it off most of the time and store it away, though. Your images will be the better for it.

Actually, a filter is only a thin piece of glass. It can easily be broken. And it can be driven into the front of a lens scratching the elements. So, don't rely upon the filter alone to "protect" your lens. Use a lens hood, dip or turn the camera away at the last moment when crappola is flying at you. I also often wear a wide brimmed hat, too... to protect my face, the top of the camera, etc.

The Circular Polarizer is, IMO, the single most useful of filters with digital photography. It's nearly impossible to duplicate in software, while most other filters can be emulated. Again, get a good quality, multi-coated one. B+W, Hoya and some others are among the best. I mostly use B+W Kaesemann CPL, but there are other good ones, too.

Yes, it's mostly a daytime filter. You don't leave it on all the time, but use it when necessary.

Skip is right, moving around and changing orientations a lot you will have a difficult time using a CPL filter. However, if you are setting up in a corner and shooting horizontal orientation shots, you can preset the filter where you need it to help with reflections. You'll just have to remember to remove it or reorient the filter if you move or switch to vertical/portrait orientation of the camera. For example, following shot would have been better, the driver would be more clearly visible and the colors more saturated, if I'd shot it with a CPL filter. I made a large number of shots from this location over the course of the day, so it would not have been a problem to use a CPL... My bad for not using one.