What lenses do you think make up a good all-around set up for an aspiring photographer who doesn't want to spend a tremendous amount of cash?

My current lineup is:


EF 17-40 f/4L USM


EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM


EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

I have Tiffen circular polarizers and UV filters for each lens, and I have a color warming filter for nature shots. I have been pleased with the results from these lenses and filters but I have questions about various other lenses and filters.

For instance:

Have you used a Tiffen UltraPol, ultra polarizer? If so, are they worth the extra money?

What do you think of the UV versus Haze 1, 2, etc. filters?

Any suggestions for UV photography?

What filters do you think are essential for good outdoor and indoor photography?

Anyone? Byron?

You should have just sent this as an orgnote to MostBeautifulGrlNTheWorld

use the one in the middle...its the best looking






good luck

lovemachine said:

Then he wouldn't be able to show off the new stuff he got.

justkelley said:

Those are just the ones that I have... I use all of them for various things.

lovemachine said:

Is she a photographer? If so, I will certainly talk with her.

Thanks.

IceNine said:

i was just messin witcha baby


it was for your devil remark on my lovely thread

Shoot this!

justkelley said:

Ahhh... okay. I do so love Satan though.

IceNine said:

im sorry...do you love me as well ?

justkelley said:

Just you and Satan!

IceNine said:

then i love you too sweetie

Question Ice...are you considering digital?

teller said:

I am using a Canon EOS 10D digital camera, in fact. It is very good and I am very pleased with it, I just need any information that anyone can give me on filters, lenses, etc.

IceNine said:

I don't know shit about lenses...I just push the Foveon X3 imager for high-end digital cameras.

IceNine said:

I'm still stuck with my EOS 650.

xenon said:

No shame there...

SHOWOFF!!

LOL

IceNine said:

I think your straight. Considering your educational background go with your judgement. I saw your fox picture and it was good. What do you think about this one?




The reason I ask is because it was shot with a basic 35mm camera.

Minolta basic lens range from 55 - 85

I personally believe it comes down to who is behind the camera and IF the lens/ camera is working correctly.

IceNine said:

You really don't need many filters if you're shooting digital. I would just stick with a circular polarizer and a UV filter. Most people leave the UV filters on all the time just to protect the lens (cheaper to replace a filter than a whole lens if it gets scratched). It's not a total necessity, but a ND filter would come in handy with really extremely bright situations.

Everything else such as color correction, saturation, etc you can do in Photoshop.

Polarizers block certain rays of light. Theyre mostly used to knock reflections out of glass or water. But at the right angle they can create a really cool dark blue sky. If you have a manual focus lens, a regular polarizer is fine. If you are using an autofocus lens you need a circular polarizer, because regular polarizing filters confuse them.

In most cases, you could correct UV haze in Photoshop. There's different levels of UV/Haze filters, but I would just pick up the weakest one to protect your lens. If you go with a higher one, you're gonna loose light and consequently either loose an f-stop or have to increase your exposure time, compromising the depth of field and/or the sharpness of the final image.

ND filters are only needed on rare occasions. Say you're shooting a really bright scene, but you wtill want to use an Fstop like 4, but your meter is saying the image will be wayyy over exposed, even at the fastest shutter speed. A ND filter is like a pair of sunglasses for your camera. Photographers use them alot when shooting images of the sun.

Color warming filers, soft focus filters, star filters, etc arent worth buying. Just do all that on your computer.

If you want to shoot black and white, you may want to pick up a red, green, and blue filters. With digital, you get much better results shooting in B&W mode rather than taking a color image and converting it to BW. You wind up with alot more grain the later way. Red, Green, and Blue filters are used in B&W photography to change the tones of an image. They can make the sky look dark, the grass look brighter, skin tones look softer, etc... Because they're blocking certain colors from coming into your camera.

you'd have 2 ask my bro...he's been published in Nat. Geog. and Al Hayat

Also, you should check out the series of Nik filters for photoshop, they rock.

mrbungle said:

That is a damned fine picture!

Really great, actually.

Tom said:

Yeah, that's about what I was thinking and how I have been approaching it thus far. I have just started really getting into the whole photography deal, so I am trying to learn as much about it as possible. There is a lot more to it then meets the eye.

Thanks for the info!

Ardeo said:

Damn, that's really cool!

Does he like being a photographer? I would seriously like to get into it as a profession after I learn a LOT more.

IceNine said:

he likes being a photographer, but thats not his prof. job, he's a Dr. the bastid has 3 cameras and wont even buy me a crappy nikon cool pix

but his pics are real cool. dont tell him i said that though

oh and buy good filters. otherwise you're turning those nice cannon lenses into cheapo tamrons. lol.

Tom said:

I am using Tiffen filters... what is better?

I have seen Hoya and Quantaray, but I chose Tiffen because I know that they are used by a lot of pros. What do you think of Tiffen filters?

Ardeo said:

You should "borrow" one of his cameras and only return it after he asks 15 times.