Filters - canon t2i

Russell Moore

Russell Moore

Well-known member
I recently purchased a T2i.

Filters seem to be important. Which should I purchase first. The Tiffen .3,.6,.9?
I'm on a budget.

How do I know which filter's will fit which lens? I have the original lens that comes in the basic kit right now.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.
 
Your lens should have the thread diameter on the front alongside the aperture ratings. It'll be in millimeters, like 52mm or 58mm. Or, the manual for your lens should have the filter thread diameter listed in the specs.

As for where to start, well... what do you want or need to do? If you find yourself having to stop down more than you want to, or use a faster shutter speed, then ND is the place to start. So... how many stops do you need back? For ever .3 of ND, you filter out one stop of light.

A good starter kit for ND contains .3, .6, .9, and 1.2. You can always stack a couple of you need more. Also, don't forget a polarizer (circular), which is incredibly useful outdoors and around reflective surfaces like glass and water.

After that, graduated ND filters are also very useful. These apply ND to half the filter, with either a soft or hard edge (very gradual or very sudden fall-off). These can be used to cut down the sky in order to bring up the ground, or to cut down the water in order to bring up the sky, or to knock down a bright building (they rotate, so the ND can be vertical or horizontal or anything in between).

It's also important to plan ahead. If you have more than one lens (or plan to get a couple more soon), and they don't all have the same filter thread... buy filters for the largest thread diameter and then use step-down rings to adapt the filters for the smaller thread sizes.

This is also why a matte box can be a handy tool: they use glass plate filters (much more expensive, but much more versatile) and switching lenses requires only an adjustment of the matte box.
 
I'll start with the with the ND filters and polarizer you mentioned. I am really just starting to experiment with my camera, taking in all the online tutorials etc, that I can find and educate myself, but I know nothing beats hands on experience. So I want to have as many accessories in place as possible, when I really start trying to get different looks with the camera.

Hell, there is actually such an abundance of information, my head starts to spin trying to sort it all out.

Your post was concise and gave me all the info I was looking for...thank you!
 
If you're on a budget, Cokin P-mount filters provide a nice intermediate between the versatility of matte boxes and the cheapness of Tiffen etc. screw-on filters. You can also go super-cheap with Kood filters that fit the Cokin mounts, although the quality is definitely much lower. All you need is one filter holder (generally holds up to three filters), and then an adapter ring to each size of lens filter thread you're going to use - the holders just clip on and off of the adapter rings.
 
If you are going to invest in screw-on filters I think your money will go farther by purchasing 77mm filters and using step rings to fit smaller lenses, rather than having to purchase new larger filters when you purchase new lenses with a different diameter than your current lens.
 
If you have to leave an ND behind, let that be the 0.3. The 0.6-0.9-1.2 kit is actually good enough for most situations, and while I don't really mind so much going from ISO 200 to 400, or from 400 to 200, I don't like having to stack 3 filters, and 6 stops of filtration are needed most of the time in bright sunlight (that can be 1.2+0.6, or 0.3+0.6+0.9). This are the filters I use: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003AV3HPG...www.similaar.com/foto/equipment/us_video.html And these are my tests with them: http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsn.html As others said, buy them big enough so you can use them in all your lenses; for me that was 67mm, for you it might be 77mm, or even bigger.
 
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