Just curious...

[DianaS]

What filters do you use and why/when?

[Doug Sundseth]

Circular polarizer, to knock down some reflections and enhance colors in some situations.

Neutral-density, to get shallow depth of field in very bright light and to get long exposures in moderate or bright light.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

Circular polarizer, to knock down some reflections and enhance colors in some situations.

Neutral-density, to get shallow depth of field in very bright light and to get long exposures in moderate or bright light.

Pretty much this. I dont use UV filters for protection.

I do use a red filter for black and white film, though.

[karen_s]

I have one high quality B+W clear. I use it when the weather turns wet (rain or snow) or I am out with my dogs at the lake. (They like to get wet and shake all over me.) Other wise, my lens is typically free from extra glass.

I have a crummy Circular Polarizer. It's not that great of quality so I tend to leave it in the bag. That and what I shoot has kinda changed since I bought it. I shot more landscape but now shoot more action and the Polarizer often cuts down too much light to get the shutter speeds I need. That and I really don't need it for taking photos of my dogs.

I have one UV (I think it's UV) Sky Light. Hate it. I will never use it again. It was cheap and added a magenta cast to my images. It is the main reason I tend to go without.

On the occasional times I take my film camera for a walk, I have a red filter and a haze filter. Don't much use them though I would like to experiment with the red a bit more.

[RLucas]

I don't use any, unless it's a CP once in a while.

[dakwegmo]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

Circular polarizer, to knock down some reflections and enhance colors in some situations.

Neutral-density, to get shallow depth of field in very bright light and to get long exposures in moderate or bright light.

+1

I have a set of graduated ND filters, and a couple of others that came in a landscape filter kit, but I never use any of these. If I need to expose for two different parts of a scene I'll take two exposures and blend them, which I much prefer to the straight lines you get with the filter. I've found that color effects are just as good in post, and preserve the integrity of the original image.

[Preeb]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

Circular polarizer, to knock down some reflections and enhance colors in some situations.

Neutral-density, to get shallow depth of field in very bright light and to get long exposures in moderate or bright light.

This too. Buying a good circular polarizer can be painful, but I wouldn't have a cheap one. I have a neutral density filter which I still haven't had occasion to use yet. I use the CP regularly for landscapes.

[Krusty79]

Lee .6 graduated neutral density filter to reduce the brightness of the sky relative to the ground.

Also a cheap circular polarizer when I shoot in the day to reduce glare off non-metallic surfaces and improve colors.

[Nicole]

Like everyone else, I use CP, grad ND, and regular ND.

But I also enjoy throwing a warming or sunset filter on sometimes (yes, I know you can do it in post too, but just because you can doesn't always mean I want to if I can get it from the start).

Like Marcus, I also got a landscape kit with filters (mine is Cokin), and while I thought I would never find a use for the grad blue filter, what I've found is that it's really useful in taking seascape shots where the water is the bottom half of the scene. The horizon is always straight so the fact that it's a straight line doesn't matter, and it turns the water a nice blue. Whereas if you use it on the sky you wind up with strange blue clouds which just aren't good. So that's my adapted use for the grad blue filter I have.

[DianaS]

Ok, so this maybe a stupid question, but I've had this lens for so long, I don't even know. (I got it w/ my film camera in HS) Anyway, looking into different filters and such, I wanted to get a circular polarizer for this lens (Tamron 28-200mm) and as I'm looking at whats on there now it says "Tamron 72mm C-P.L Japan" Now, is that a CP? I am assuming it is, becuase on my other lens (18-55) it just says UV and I do have a CP for that lens but on that filter it says CIR-PL. I've never had anything else for on this lens, could it have come w/ it?