DSLR – Pentax Body

There is a school of thoughts that don’t believe in using any filters on DSLR lenses. The claim is that adding another piece of glass or resin in front of a lens becomes another layer that the light has to pass through. Could a lens with a filter not give as good rendition as a lens without a filter?

In my opinion, one has to consider the type of filter(s) and the quality of the filter(s) used. You can’t expect quality by adding a $10.00 filter in front of a $1,000.00 lens. However, you can certainly expect quality when adding a top-of-the-line filter in front of the same lens. Of course, it also depends on what filter you want to use.

In the Black and White film era, filters were very useful in that they would amplify the different tones and saturation. For example, using a red filter with B&W film, a blue sky gets darker and the clouds appears to be whiter. A deep green filter lighten the green trees and vegetation, and produces a more natural sky.

Now that we shoot mostly with DSLRS, the game has changed a little as PhotoShop and other software can emulate filter effects. Adding filter effects in post-processing is great to fix a picture that would otherwise look bland. You should always try to take a picture with all the tools and settings necessary to make it a great picture, before post-processing, not after. That includes setting the proper white balance, using fill flash when necessary, using polarizing or neutral density filters, etc.

I personally don’t like to put a filter in front of my lenses, such as a UV filter, with the single intention of protecting the glass from damages. I have heard all my life that a filter is a cheap and great protection in case something hit the front element. I my many decades of photography, I have never broken or scratched any of my lenses, and I had a few in my life.

That said, there are two types of filters I use very often. The CPL filter (circular polarizing ) and the ND filters (neutral density). Here’s why.

CPL Filter:

Firstly, a CPL will protect the front element if you have a tendency of banging things around.

Secondly, light rays which are reflected by any surface become polarized and polarizing filters are used to select which light rays enter your camera lens. They allow you to remove unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water, glass etc. They also enable colors to become more saturated and appear clearer, with better contrast. This effect is often used to increase the contrast and saturation in blue skies and white clouds. The high quality HOYA filters do not affect the overall color balance.

I always have a CPL in front of each lens attached to my DSLR. I take it off only when shooting in poor light conditions and when it’s impractical to use a tripod, or flash.

Neutral Density Filters:

ND filters are often ignored by photographers, but they have several uses and offer the possibility of capturing images, that otherwise would be unattainable. ND filters appear grey and reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor. They do not change color balance. They come in several intensity and several filters can be stacked to achieve the desired light restriction. The usual configurations are ND2, ND4 and ND8.

They allow the use of slow shutter speeds, even in broad daylight, to record movement in subjects such as waterfalls, clouds, etc. They are also a great tool to decrease the depth of field by allowing wider apertures to be used.

Graduated Neutral Density Filters:

Graduated Neutral Density filters are also available. One half of these filters has a neutral density coating while the other half is clear, with a soft boundary between the two. They are used to control bright/dark contrast, by reducing half the shot by 2 or more stops. Graduated ND filters are particularly useful in landscape photography.

The rotating mount allows bright skies to be easily controlled for dramatic effect. With threaded filters, you are forced to make the split between the sky and the landscape, in the halfway point. Cokin and other companies manufacture resin square filters that use a special attachment. They allow you to position the split anywhere you want, but resin will eventually get scratched and does not have the optical quality of glass.

I use Hoya HMC (Hoya Multi-Coated) filters only, and it doesn’t hurt that they are also the owners of Pentax.

Finally, there is one thing that I have to complain about when it comes to filters. I use Pentax DSLRs exclusively and have been using Pentax for many years, even before the advent of the DSLRs. Filter manufacturers produce filters ranging from a diameter of 49mm (DSLR Lenses) to 85mm and beyond. Lenses made by Pentax and other manufacturers are all over the map when it comes to filter sizes. Pentax smaller lenses are mostly 49mm in diameter and the big lenses are mostly 77mm in diameter. I write mostly because they are not all split between those two sizes. It costs a lot of money to purchase filters for all lenses that one owns. There are adapters, but when adapters are used, the lens hoods cannot be used. Why don’t they make their lenses with two filter threads only, 49mm and 77mm. The cost between the intermediate sizes and the 49mm/77mm, would be relatively small. In my camera bag, I now only have lenses with 49mm and 77mm filter threads. I have a set of 49mm filters and a set of 77mm filters. I have started to sell the other lenses that don’t meet my criteria. Eventually, that’s all I will have.