As a camera lover, you’re going to be absolutely buried in stuff that people want you to think that you “need” to own. The trouble is differentiating what is truly essential versus what is nice to have versus over-marketed junk.
That’s a lot of ground to cover so we’ll be revisiting this topic in the future. For now, let’s focus on just one area: lens filters.
What Do Lens Filters Do, Anyway?
Before we get into the details, let’s figure out what the point of lens filters is to begin with. What do they do, and why would you want to use them? This is kind of a tough one, because filters actually do a lot of different things. Some of them are tremendously useful. Some are great for minor artistic flourishes. And some don’t really do much of anything.
Lens filters run the gamut from essential to borderline useless. It’s the camera accessory market in a microcosm, when you think about it.
Essentially, a filter is something you add onto the end of your lens to have some sort of effect. Most will screw on, but there some attach with magnets or use a matte box. The effect can be practical like reducing the amount of light in, or artistic like adding a soft focus look.
But which do you really need?
Lens Filters You Probably need
Let’s address that “probably” in the headline right away. You can take photos and shoot video without any filter. You need a camera and a lens, but filters can open up a lot of options to you. I would argue the two essentials are neutral density and circular polarizers. Now what do those do?
Neutral Density Filters
Neutral density (ND) filters reduce the amount of light that enters the lens. This will allow you more freedom to work with aperture and shutter speed to get the look you want. When shooting in where there is a lot of light, you’ll either need to reduce your aperture, increase your shutter speed, or both to get a properly exposed image. The ND will act like sunglasses to control the light for you.
ND filters come in two types: fixed and variable. A fixed ND will reduce the amount of light be a specific number of stops, where variable NDs are adjustable over a range of stops. Obviously, this makes a variable ND a lot simpler to work with.
This is especially essential if you’re shooting video and trying to maintain the 180-degree shutter rule. Being able to tweak the ND amount to fit the lighting is a huge time saver.
The trade off is that an inexpensive variable ND filters can introduce color shifts, vignetting, and an X pattern of darker area on the image. If you’re going to buy a variable ND, read a lot of reviews and don’t cheap out.
For my money, you can’t go wrong with Nisi filters. They’re a bit more pricey than some others on the market, but the quality is exceptional.
Circular Polarizer Filters
Circular polarizers are interesting because of the way they affect light by reducing glare and reflections. This can radically change the image you see out of your camera by making colors more saturated and eliminating glare off of glass and water to allow you to see through them properly.
If you don’t already have a pair, pick up some polarizing sunglasses and try them out on a hazy day to really appreciate the impact these filters can make on your image.
Once again, I highly recommend Nisi filters, but PolarPro and K&F Concept both make solid circular polarizers for less.
Lens Filters You May Want
Moving away from the essentials, there are some filters that are nice to have in your bag. These filters are primarily used to achieve a specific look.
There are filters that will change the color cast, warming and cooling filters, graduated ND filters that darken on a gradient, and filters that make your image a little less sharp by applying a “mist”. Of these, I only own an use a mist filter, and that is used pretty rarely.
Good filters are pricey, make sure you have a solid use case before you plop down your hard-earned cash.
Lens Filters You Don’t need
In the film days there was another type of essential filter: the UV filter. The UV filter was sort of like the polarizer in that it would reduce haze and give you a cleaner image.
However, digital cameras generally have a built-in UV filter, making the screw-on type obsolete. That said, many people still recommend using a UV filter as protection for your lens. Essentially, the filter will block the dirty and scratches from your expensive lens. And if you drop your camera, the less expensive filter could save your good glass.
The issue with this is that you’re introducing an unnecessary piece of glass to your lens. If it’s not high quality, it will adversely affect your image. Instead, I would recommend simply using the included lens hood for protection and skip the UV filter altogether.
A Money-Saving Hack
Before we go, I do have one huge recommendation when you’re ready to purchase some lens filters that can save you loads of money.
Lenses come with different filter diameters, and if you were to buy filters to fit each of these the cost would add up quickly. Instead, you can buy the filter in the largest size you need, and then purchase inexpensive step-up rings to mount the larger filter to your smaller lenses.
Step up rings are simple adapters that allow you to use a larger filter on a smaller lens. This lets you buy one filter to use on all your lens rather than buying a different filter for each size. The trade off is that using, say, and 82mm filter on a lens with a 57mm filter thread can look kind of silly, but I don’t mind looking a little silly if it means spending loads less.
My recommendation here is to buy everything in 82mm. That should cover almost everyone for whatever lenses they buy in the future.