whitewitch Loc: Buffalo NY

OK, here we go. I am confused by how each of the following filters differ. Under what circumstances would I use each one?: 1.) UV filter, 2.) Daylight filter, 3.) Skylight filter and 4.) Neutral Density filter.

Plus, can or should any of them be stacked?

Thank you to everyone in advance for your input. :?: :D

snowbear

Neutral Density is used for decreasing the amount of light - think about sunglasses. The "Neutral" means the filter doesn't (or shouldn't) affect the color.

The UV and Skylight filters block UV light, such as the bluish cast you can get with landscapes - especially in the mountains. I think the Skylight warms the photo a little more than the UV. It is debatable if these are needed anymore. There is a UV filter attached to the sensor of most, if not all, digital cameras. I understand modern films are not as susceptible to UV as they once were.

The daylight filter, if it's what I think it is, allows you to shoot daylight film indoors (incandescent light) without a flash. With digital, the color of the light is controlled by the white balance setting.

LarryD Loc: Mojave Desert

1. The UV filter blocks blue light that gets in the way atmospherically.. It is true that the digital sensor has a glass protector that acts as a UV filter. These filters have various strengths.. They are sometimes called UV/Haze, since they will reduce distant visible haze and improve contrast. One example is Leica's M8, which had such a weak built-in UV filter that they provided a screw in UV filter for lenses for that camera.. If you believe in lens front element protection (these have a coating that can be damaged), then this is the filter usually used..

2. Daylight filters are used under Tungsten lighting (some arenas) and block red wavelength light to approximate "daylight".

3. Skylight.. These come in a few different flavors such as 85B and 81A etc... They are color correction filters and and provide warm tones as well as block UV.. I use these during the day in the Desert because of the harsh blue sun light here.. They can also be used all the time as a "protection" filter if you like the warmer tone look.

4. Neutral Density... as mentioned, these simply block all light entering the lens and come in several strengths.. They are used if you have a need to slow shutter speeds or need a wide aperture without changing shutter speed..

You should never stack filters unless you need to for a desired affect...

whitewitch Loc: Buffalo NY

Thank you so much for the info, snowbear. I appreciate it.

:-P

whitewitch Loc: Buffalo NY

And thank you as well, Larry. I appreciate your knowledge. I also love your photos on Flickr. They're fantastic!

BurtLehman Loc: Santa Fe, NM

Re #1: The filter in front of the sensor is an infrared (IR) filter (it may do double duty as a UV filter as well, but I don't know this for sure). The primary purpose of this filter is to cut down infra red light that may reach the sensors which have a propensity to overreact to this wavelength of light.

rew999

I couldn't help but notice that no one has mentioned polarizing filters. I almost use one exclusively for outdoor photography (scenic s). It just stays on my lens at all times except in very low lighting conditions.
They work by filtering out reflected or Polarized light. Since the filter is actually to glass lens, it allows you to "dial" in the amount of polarized light. The net effect is a deepening of color saturation. and the amount of reflection in your pictures. It will work on any part of a scene that has polarized light such as the reflection given off my leaves on a tree. works well for the sky, and water. They work in varying degrees depending on the amount light that is polarized.

BurtLehman Loc: Santa Fe, NM

The title of this post is "A Study in Filters,", but the actual question posed by whitewitch was:

"OK, here we go. I am confused by how each of the following filters differ. Under what circumstances would I use each one?: 1.) UV filter, 2.) Daylight filter, 3.) Skylight filter and 4.) Neutral Density filter.

Plus, can or should any of them be stacked?

Thank you to everyone in advance for your input."

BurtLehman Loc: Santa Fe, NM

BurtLehman Loc: Santa Fe, NM

The Neutral Density (ND) filter is used when you may want to slow down the shutter speed in bright light conditions. This will allow you to acheive a blurring effect such as is sometimes desirable when photographing moving water. Another instance would be to create the effect of motion such as panning in sync with a moving object. The background will appear blurry while the object you are panning with will appear relatively sharp.

The reply by rew999, although not directly answering your question, may have a secondary desirable effect of using the properties of a polarizing filter to act as an ND filter. Most polarizers lose about 2-1/2 stops of light.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I recently purchased an "adjustable" ND filter. Pretty much it works about the same way as my polarizing filters.

rew999

Hi,

ND filters will not eliminate or reduce reflections which is what usually causes light to become polarized. So If you are photgraphy a tree with leaves on it, and you use a PF filter.. you can reduce or eliminate the reflection coming off the leave and see the detail and the color.
The ND filters are good filters, I like to use to lengthen shutter speed, or to use wider aperture settings. They will help with color saturation mostly by under exposure

Richard

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

That was helpful!
I'm learning a lot from this forum. I hope I can contribute something.
Thank you.
Now I have to go out and buy a polarizing filter.

BurtLehman Loc: Santa Fe, NM

rew999,

I'm a newbie here, too. I got involved in a long discussion on another subject a few days ago, and one of the regulars was kind enough to point out that several of us had strayed from the subject of the question posed in the original post.

From what I've seen while perusing the a multitude of topics is that the original post sets the specifics of the subject to be discussed.

I suppose the best would be for the originator of a topic to be very specific in entitling the heading. This would make searches much easier.

I've forgotten how I stumbled across this site, but I'm hooked. I hope your sojourn is as enjoyable as mine has been so far.

Welcome

rew999

Thanks for the heads up. I will stay within the topics