Life Through the Lens

By admin 　http://www.hurryupandwait.net/tiffen-filter/

Tiffen Filter
I got a Tiffen UV filter for my Canon Xti, is it actually worth using?

I think it cost like $15 and is a UV filter I can leave on all the time, which supposedly protects the lense and reduces UV rays. I don't know how necessary it is because I do have a Lens Cover for when I'm not using the camera and I'm very careful. Since I bought it I might as well use it, but I don't want it to negatively affect the quality of my pictures. Is it worth using or should I just shoot with the bare lense and be really careful? I asked this question before and got mixed responses. Its a Tiffen, which is supposedly good, but it was only $15 so don't know what kind of quality it is.

Many people use a skylight or UV filter to protect the front glass of the lens, but you can also buy High Quality plano glass filters for that purpose. Whatever you do, at least buy a decent Quality Filter instead of trying to get off cheap.

Personally, I'd say the first place to start for effects is a Polarizing Filter. You want a "circular" polarizer. Check these examples and you will see what it does:

You might also find a Neutral Density filter (varying degrees of darkness are available) useful for taking shots of bright subjects at wider apertures or slower speeds.

As far as all the rest, you can do this in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Okay, I don't want to argue with anyone about how it's better to use the real filter, but our asker can try a few in Photoshop (etc) "for free" and see which ones will be the most useful before you start spending money on the real thing.

Or, go here http://www.thkphoto.com/products/hoya/index.html and see what you can learn.

Or here http://www.tiffen.com/tiffen_filters.html Tiffen makes a kit to get you started on filters, if you think you want more than one. They include a polarizer, a UV filter and a Warming Filter. B&H Photo and many other places sell this kit.

Many people use a UV filter simply to protect the front element of their lens from damage. "UV filters absorb ultraviolet rays which often make outdoor photos hazy or indistinct." (from: http://www.thkphoto.com/products/hoya/gf-01.html )

We get this question often enough that I decided to upload a sample to Flickr showing the same subject taken with and without a UV filter. Download the image, cut a small section out of the top half and drag it to the same section in the bottom half and see what you think. The photos were taken about 15 seconds apart in subdued sunlight, so I think the lighting was virtually identical for each. There was no post-processing at all so you can make a fair comparison. I will not comment any further and let you decide for yourself if there is any color shift.

The picture was taken with a Nikon D200 at ISO 100 with the Nikon 18-200 VR lens @ 112 mm at f/5.3.

Here's a comparison that I did by accident. Read the comments and you'll understand:

Buy a name brand like Hoya or Tiffen. Don't get cheap junk to put on the front of your fine lens. Personally, I am now switching over to plain high quality Optical Glass "filters" from Nikon for Lens Protection, even though they cost more than a good UV filter.

Check out the Tiffen Filter listings below and save 20% to 70% off retail prices:

 

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Tiffen Filter Basics


 

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