was_a_guru

Since my camera (Nikon D7500) has a white balance setting for fluorescent is there any need for me to carrying around a FDL filter that came as part of a filter kit that I bought? I'm guessing no.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

None whatsoever. FDL filters are useless on todays DSLRs.

Joe Blow

There are only two filters you should have. The first is a Circular Polarizer; to deal with reflections, and a Neutral Density (or two or three) for longer exposures. Anything else, including to protect the front element, is superfluous.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Really? I survived a sandstorm in Death Valley where the UV filter on an expensive Tamorn 70-200 lens was scratched, but the front element of the lens is fine. Not so superfluous.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Much of my photography is done in the desert, and I’ve survived my share of sandstorms with no damage to filters, lenses, or cameras. But then, I have enough sense to stay in my Jeep til it blows over.
Edit: If I want pictures that look like they were taken in a sandstorm, I use Tri-X film!

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

So you didn’t actually do them in the desert.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Add one more to that list. A good quality UV filter. There are rare times when you'd want to remove it to photograph, but otherwise it's great for saving your front element.
--Bob

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I too believe it's a good idea to have a quality UV (or similar) filter on hand for "protection".... I have them in various sizes for all my lenses that can be fitted with filters. HOWEVER, I leave them OFF my lenses and only install them in the very rare circumstances when they might actually be needed. It makes no sense to me to "shoot through" filters (or anything else) unnecessarily. And, many times when conditions might actually require a "protection" filter, I'm not very likely to be out shooting anyway! Hence, "protection" are my LEAST used type of filter. Lowest priority, when shopping.

Highest priority filters, by far... quality Circular Polarizers. Very useful for a lot of things, much of which simply can't be done in post-processing or other means.

Specialized filter that can be useful... Neutral Density in a couple strengths (usually fairly strong, such as 3 stop & 6 stop, which can be combined for 9 stops if needed). Use to be able to shoot slower shutter speeds and/or larger apertures in bright lighting conditions, where the camera's lowest settable ISO (usually 100.... 50 in some cases) just isn't low enough.

Utterly useless for digital... any sort of color correction or conversion filter (FLD included). Auto WB works pretty well, but if needed use Custom White Balance. The key for Custom WB is to have a good "target". To set a neutral WB, I use Lastolite EZ Balance gray/white target (folds up for storage). For slightly biased WB renditions, I use Warm Cards. In addition to the warming targets their name implies, a set of those also includes a special target for Fluorescent, plus a couple "cooling" targets, plus neutral gray/white. The warming, for example, are much like using 81A or 81B filters with film.

Also largely useless for digital are Graduated Neutral Density. The same results... actually much better than was ever possible with the filters... can be done in post-processing.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That filter can be handy in many situations, just think of taking images with flash!