Purchased first set of ND, CP and Protective filters

So I just picked up three filters (sized to fit my largest lens) and step up rings for the smaller
lenses.

Settled on HOYA as a good fit between higher end B&W and lower quality options. Cameron was also an option locally, lots of Canadian dealers seem to push them .. and they may be great...but very hard to find user experience or web info on them, so seems a bit risky. Only web site I found was via a dealer (!) : Cameron at Henry's - Henry's best camera store in Canada

Ended up ordering though B&H Photo. Those guys are awesome. Ordered Sunday morning and its delivered to my cross the border door on this morning, 3 days later.

Hope I selected correctly:
I have much to learn on using the CP and ND filters, but one quick question was, when using the CP, or the ND, do I need to remove the PROTECTIVE filter...or can I leave it on, purely for convenience. I gather the conventional wisdom is stacking in general may cause vignetting and glare, therefore it would be wise to remove the protective filter.

First off, I'll state that I'm in the Don't-Need-No-Steenkin'-Protective-Filter camp.

That said, I would never stack anything on top of a 'protective' filter. Adding glass in front of a lens always degrades an image, and stacking even more degraded it even further. And yes, stacking filters can cause vignetting.

Looks like you got a good selection. You are correct about UV and digital sensors, but most studies say that so long as you have a high quality protective filter, there will be no noticeable decrease in your image quality. I only know a few pro togs, but all three of them say to use a protective filter.

As for the polarizer, that takes 1.5 stops from your light, so only use it in daylight when it gives you a great advantage to cut glare and really darken up those skies. They work best when used at a right angle to the sun, or you can use it to cut glare from a pond or other reflective surface. In autumn, the CP will really help you get the rich colors from fall foliage by cutting the glare.

The ND is good for deliberate long exposures, but you probably won't use it as much as you think, unless you're shooting waterfalls or fountains to get a silky water effect, or shooting public places to "erase" the crowd.

As for vignetting, just test it on each lens. An FX lens should not vignette on a crop sensor, even with all the filters stacked, but you may discover otherwise. Only way to know is to shoot it.

Thanks for the tips guys.

On the potential vignetting, my macro is an FX lense (and legacy lenses are effectively FX I assume) ; balance are DX, so I will pay particularly attention there. No real need to stack, so that issue is solvable.

Hope to get good use of the CP filter, but ya, I realized going in that the ND was an optional purchase, really intended for advanced users, and limited use, but I have the time now, so thought I would experiment.

FYI: If it doesn't say DX on the lens, it's FX.

480sparky said:

FYI: If it doesn't say DX on the lens, it's FX.

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Agree completely for Nikon lenses.

But DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon for APS-C image sensors. There are other non-Nikon DX format-specific lenses for the Nikon F-mount, eg Sigma's DC designation, which state it is "designed for APS-C size sensors so that the image circle matches the smaller size of the image sensor " I consider these to be "DX" lenses as well.

For my collection:

Mediaman09 said:

Hope to get good use of the CP filter, but ya, I realized going in that the ND was an optional purchase, really intended for advanced users, and limited use, but I have the time now, so thought I would experiment.

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I very rarely shoot outdoors anymore without a CPL. And I have found ND filters can be reeeeeally handy when shooting in snow, in the desert or or on the beach. For these applications I find ND16 (four-stop) is about ideal.

As for filters for protection and all that... I'll just say I'd much rather remove dried-on salt-spray from my $60 filter than the front element of my $1200 lens. Same goes for the sand we have in the high deserts which has NOTHING in common with ordinary beach sand; this stuff is finely abrasive talcum powder, gets everywhere and can be be very difficult to remove... Well, except with running water which makes it easy peasy.

,,,,

Thanks for the insights. The 4-stop ND16 filter is not something I had considered but it sounds quite practical (certainly more so than the NDX400). And lots of snow this time of year up here! I think I am filtered up for now, but might just put that one on my watchlist and pick one up on sale. Thanks for the info. Also better get me a filter pouch!

I agree completely on the protection filters. I dont think my eye could distinguish any negative impact (with a quality filter) and it just seems like the logical thing to do. All my lenses have them. But I think I will remove them when using other filters - ie avoiding stacking is also logical

Think of it this way - which is more tough the lens' front element or a $20 thing piece of glass? I'd worry that with enough impact, the shattered "protective" filter might do more damage than the object of collision. A much better idea is a good hood.

SkvLTD said:

Think of it this way - which is more tough the lens' front element or a $20 thing piece of glass? I'd worry that with enough impact, the shattered "protective" filter might do more damage than the object of collision. A much better idea is a good hood.

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It's not just about the possibility of impact damage though. The kind of shooting I do salt water, fresh water, mud, dust and desert sand are all things I encountered just yesterday in a day of shooting. All the crap that came off my Hoya "Protector HD" filter could have been on my front lens element instead, but wasn't. And while we can debate need, I suppose, it's definitely my preference to remove crap like that it from filters instead of the lens itself.
....

Getting ready to get the 9 stop Hoya as well. Hope it works well for you.
I wish i could get by with not having protective filters on my lenses, but the past tells me it's a good idea. Tracking through the woods and brush is a regular thing here. Plus, i'm like that fella on charlie brown - pig pen. The dust cloud always hovers above me.