GOOD filter setup for 16-35 F4 IS for landscapes/cityscapes

ed rader wrote in post #18388173
I shoot before the burn and after. sometimes there is no burn or the best shots occur before the burn. I had to clean up a little flare in this shot but I push my my equipment. I used a 3-stop grad here to hold back the sky.

IMAGE LINK: http://erader.zenfolio​.com/img/s7/v157/p2387​174498-4.jpg on zenfolio

awesome looking tree

Talley, I'm going to be on florida beaches in a month, have no clue what it's like there, hoping to come back with something nice. Either 16-35 or 24-70 would work well for beachscapes. advantage of the slightly longer lens is that you can kind of make the feeling you're in the water without being in the water Also, the compression of the sky can work well with less than dreamy conditions. That said, I've heard of the white sand beaches, but it's been decades since I've seen them! An ultrawide for said beaches is probably the way to go.

One thing to be aware of is temp and humidity

If you drive out to a location for a shoot and the air condition is blasting in the car, then step out on to the beach lenses will fog.

I noticed this when I stepped out on to the balcony of a vacation home in North Carolina, a cool camera and hot humid outdoor air means fog.

Lots of really good positive feedback. I very much appreciate it. Yes I heard about the temp on lens and outside before and I'll be at a company beach house in LA w/ the gulf it won't be the most exciting water but still want to walk away with some practice shots. I'm scheduling a trip to a small island near bora bora as well and want to perfect my techniques for then. Never really done beach stuff before and just assumed most used ND's.

Again love the feedback, gives me things to concentrate on.

i'd recommend checking out the photographers ephemeris(tpe) as well if you haven't done much sunrise/sunset stuff...you can see the direction the sun will set/rise from, and try and figure out where you'd like to head before hand...they also have a "skyfire" part that will try and predict how dramatic the sky will be...i find it's pretty decent if it says it'll be really good, chances are it is...they have a 30 day free trial, then it's like 20 for a year

i forget how much the tpe app is, but i believe online you can do it for free

DreDaze wrote in post #18388436
i'd recommend checking out the photographers ephemeris(tpe) as well if you haven't done much sunrise/sunset stuff...you can see the direction the sun will set/rise from, and try and figure out where you'd like to head before hand...they also have a "skyfire" part that will try and predict how dramatic the sky will be...i find it's pretty decent if it says it'll be really good, chances are it is...they have a 30 day free trial, then it's like 20 for a year

i forget how much the tpe app is, but i believe online you can do it for free

you dont need to pay for sunset/sunrise prediction, you can use sunsetwx.com for free. On vacation, you basically get what you can get and settle for it, not like you have many options. West facing, sunset, east facing, sunrise.

Charlie wrote in post #18388451
you dont need to pay for sunset/sunrise prediction, you can use sunsetwx.com for free. On vacation, you basically get what you can get and settle for it, not like you have many options. West facing, sunset, east facing, sunrise.

Hmm, looks like a good site, but doesn't make me regret paying the $20...even on vacation it is possible to drive to a better location, which is why i'm saying to scout it out beforehand...

I realize I'm late to this thread and most summer vacations are over for the year. It's still summer here in Florida for a month or so.

Anyway, I have to say..... I really don't like those smooth ocean photos. It seems to me like people learn a new skill and take all their photographs that way. I find them boring. I'd much rather see the power of ocean waves..... so high shutter speeds to freeze the motion is more to my liking.

I realize, this is against some people's religion. This is just one man's opinion.

I learned how to take selfies with ND filter so my face is so nice and perdy

All you really need is a Circular Polarizer....

I'd recommend B+W F-Pro Kaesemann MRC (about $80 in the 77mm size you need) or the slimmer framed B+W XS-Pro Kaesemann Nano-MRC (about $100 at B&H Photo).

The F-Pro has 8-layer multi-coating. The XS-Pro has 16-layer that makes it a bit more scratch/dust resistant and a little easier to clean.

I think both of them are now "High Transmissive" C-Pols.... which aren't as strong a gray as standard C-Pol, so they "cost" a little less loss of light (about 1.5 stops max, versus 2 stops).

Most other brands of C-Pol of this quality cost a little or a lot more. Heliopan, which use the same Schott glass and use brass frames like the B+W cost 2X as much.

If you think you'll be shooting at the beach in salty air and surf spray... or out in sand storms... you may want a UV/Protection filter. A B+W "010" UV MRC (8-layer coatings) in 77mm size costs about $40, I think. There's also a slimmer XS-Pro, Nano-MRC (16-layer coatings) version for about $5 more.

If you want to be able to take long exposures for blurred water or other effects.... you would want one or two fairly strong, standard Neutral Density filters... perhaps a 9 or 10-stop... or perhaps a 3-stop and a 6-stop that you can stack if you want stronger 9-stop. B+W offers quality MRC versions of those, too.

Graduated Neutral Density are not necessary shooting digital. It's easier, much more precise and better controlled to simply take two shots (or dual process a single shot)... one for the sky, one for the rest of the scene... and they combine the "correct" portions from each image in pot-processing. That's pretty easy with many image editing programs (layers & masks in Photoshop). Many software also have a digital graduate filter that can be used.

But some people still prefer to use Grad NDs... In which case you'd need two or three rectangular ones in 84mm or 100mm size, and a filter holder to install them on the lens. Lee, Singh-Ray, Tiffen (glass) and others make good ones. Most are uncoated and are rather easily damaged/difficult to clean optical plastic. So get a good storage case of some sort to protect them. It's also difficult to shade them very effectively with a lens hood. Get one stop, two stop and three stop Grad NDs... or at a minimum one and two stop. In some brands, there also are "hard", "soft" and "medium" transition Grad NDs. With a wide angle you want medium or soft... not hard transition that might be too obvious in images. (Round, screw-in Grad NDs are available, but they force you to put the horizon line right across the center of every image you take!)

Talley wrote in post #18385606
Well I'll get a CPL to knock out a stop of light and go with it. I'm not use to stopping down but need to explore outside of my realms.

I've never done sunrise/sunsets in any consistent form. This is my only real landscape attempt at sunrise.

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by Talley originally in forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive

For sunset and sunrise shots you shouldn't use ANY filter at all.

For one thing, Circular Polarizers will have no beneficial effect. They work best when the lens is pointed 90 degrees from the light source... and certainly not directly at it.

All any filter is likely to do when shooting a sunrise or sunset is cause additional flare... veiling flare, ghost flare artifacts, etc.

And because a C-Pol is a multi-layer filter, it's far more likely than most to cause issues.

So don't use ANY filter when shooting sunsets and sunrises!