Tina

The larger the front diameter of the lens is more light can enter through. The professional lens have the larger front diameters compared to the equivalent lens although, some large telescopic professional lens have rear mounting filters.

alliragg Loc: Iceland

Ther is another option in photofilters.... Cokin is an option that is worth an attention :)

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

focal length and fstop dictate that change.

ps / sorry for the repeat info. didn't realize this topic had more than one page.

Roger Salls Loc: Stratford, CT

Either the outer ring of your lens or the insied of the lenscap should give you the diameter of the front lens element. A lens may be marked as 72mm or 77mm or whatever the front diameter is. This means that , that is the size filter you should use. One person her suggested step up or step down rings, these can be very handy but be aware that the adapter rings can cause vignetting which means the rounding or shadowing of the corners of your images. I would never think of being without my filters because they serve a purpose of enhancing some element of the image. Polarizers really can't be duplicated in PS or any other program and Neutral density filters can serve to darken an image enough so that when your photographing running water as an example, you get that nice smooth effect your looking for.
Buy filters and experiment and above all enjoy learning.

George H Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Depending on the length that the lens can reach out is a factor, also if it is internal focusing.

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

Agree. I use the Coken holder but I opted for the Hi-Tech filters for better quality. At least that is what the reviews say.Hi-Tech filters do fit in the Coken Holder.

Stephe Loc: Near Rockwall Texas

filter size? one formulas is - Circle Of Confusion plus, m.m. length of lens over Pi. or look at the front of the lens, it should have something like: 24-105mm 1:4 L and a'O' with a'/ ' through it and 77mm(or some other number). that should be the size for filters and hoods.

carlreno2

On the front barrel of the lens you should read the mm size that is 49, 50, 52, 62, 67, 72, 77 etc. As far as to what the different filters do you need to read the package papers that come with the filters, or go to the Hoya website and research. You should have either a Skylight or UV Haze filter to protect the front element of each lens you have.
Hope this helps.

oscar perez

The reason for this is so the filter can fit a particular lens size. Some lenses have a size 62mm while others have different sizes. Checkout various lenses in sizes (24mm) (50mm) and zoom lenses. Notice also that the faster the lens (widest aperture) the higher the mm in front of the lens. Also wide-angle lenses have to be wider in order to have a larger coverage area. I hope I have been helpful.

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Joyfullee,
Go to the Nikon website and find out all the info you need. Click on this link and it will take you to the pages with these lenses. But the short answer to your question is they both take a 52mm filter.

18-55 is on page 1, 55-200 is on page 2.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Camera-Lenses/Travel-and-Landscape/index.page

JackKLE Loc: Missouri , USA, St. Louis Metro

Ha, ha! Joyfulee!

I often have to open My mouth, just to EXCHANGE feet !

jhubbs Loc: Torrance, CA

That's a good idea. I've never heard of step-up rings before.

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

I think the best idea is stepDOWN rings. Buy a filter for your largest size lens and then step down rings to fit all of your smaller lenses. That minimizes the risk of vignetting.

Eric

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Filters and lenses used to create a difficult problem for photographers, especially those of us using multiple lens arrays. To best understand this problem we need to understand what is involved in lens manufacturing without all the mathematical equations.

Each lens has two major elements; 1-The element closest to the film plane, or sensor inside the camera. 2-the Objective lens farthest away from the camera. The objective lens has one major task, to capture light from the scene and transfer that light through the lens assembly to the photo sensitive device.

The objective lens is primarily responsible for the quantity of light captured and thus sets the maximum Aperture figure of the overall lens. More expensive lenses will have a larger Objective lens and lower Aperture figure (more light for the sensitive device).

In dealing with filters you only need to know 2 requirements; 1-The diameter of the Objective lens thread mount (printed on the lens filter ring). 2-The effective purpose of the filter (polarizer, warming, UV, special applications).

Once you have the lens objective diameter for all your lenses you can look for filter kits that will work for all your lenses, one sets fits all. You can buy circular screw-in filters for each lens, or you can buy a one size fits all. (The one size fits all refers to the filter itself)

You may still need adapter rings to fit the lens to the filter holder, but those are relatively inexpensive compared to separate filters for each objective lens. Tiffen makes a wide variety of threaded filters in different diameters (They screw onto the objective element of your lens and may cause "Vignetting" on your image.) You can look at Cokin filters and filter holders for your various lenses. (Purchase one filter to fit your largest Objective element and it fits all your smaller lenses.)

lizardworks Loc: Western Slope of Colorado

If I might recommend a place to buy quality filters at really good prices http:www.buyphotogear.com. This is actually a small camera store in Montana called Spotlight Photo that has it's own website. Their prices usually beat Amazon, B&H, Adorama, etc and usually with free shipping and no sales tax. I have bought from them numerous times, service is excellent, extremely fast shipping and they beat just about everybody's prices (but not in the "too good to be true" range). Plus, you get to feel good about supporting small business. Check them out!