Three very useful filters.

[jayhawk]

This is about three filters I never knew existed, until I stumbled into my local camera store today. Now I wonder why I never had them in the first place, and for someone reading this, you may want to consider owning them, too!

Firstly, a 3X filter. This is really a magnifying glass for your camera. If you are like me and cannot afford a macro lens, this may be a great buy.

Without the 3x magnification:


With the 3x magnification:


Cropped XTREME superzoom zOmG loL!11!1 magnification:


It may not seem like there is much more magnification, but for a person who likes to do close work with flowers like myself, it is night and day!

PROS:
-cheap magnification.
-more detail of the subject.
-Image is not in any way distorted.
CONS:
-cannot use a lens cap on it.
-only works with some lenses. Works great on my 18-55mm lens and 35-70mm lens, but not my 55-200mm.
-cannot use a step up ring, because it is curved.

Secondly, a orange YA2 filter. This is used for black and with photography, as it creates a strong contrast.

Without a YA2 filter (desaturated in PS)


With a YA2 filter (desaturated in PS):


You can now see that the middle guitar has a tiger strip pattern!

PROS:
-less adjustments in PS.
-do what the pros do.
-get the b&W results you want.

CONS:
-Have to plan out your photography, sporadic color shots may be lost.
-lighting needs to be good.

Next, I bought a 80A filter. This is a filter with a blue tint, used to color correct and compensate for too much yellow in incandescent bulbs.

Without the 80A filter:


With the 80A filter:


And this guitar head was illuminated by my most "whitest" bulb!

PROS:
-cleans up indoor shots, makes light more useful.
-less adjustments in PS.
-a must for indoor use.

CONS:
-must change from 80A to neutral density or polarizer if you step outside.
-worthless outside. Unless you think people and objects look good blue.
-will certainly take away from the warmth that only incandescent bulbs can produce.

So there you have it. I spent $12 each on them, and got a third one free because of an in-store special on Quantaray filters at Wolf/Ritz camera. FYI, Quantaray filters are made by Hoya. Whether they are exactly the same is up to speculation.

[SileNceR]

Nice write up Jay, some extras to this however,

Shooting in RAW the 80A is practically useless as you have full control of white balance anyway.

Another con for the Magnifier is that lenses that have a floating focus (where focusing moves the lens front forwards and backwards) will put themselves out of focus while trying to focus - at least with the 4x (I have 1x, 2x, 4x and 10x - 10x is useless) and my Canon EF-S 18-55mm this happens, it's easier to focus manually and then move myself/the camera back and forth slightly to move the focal point around the subject.

One i'd recommend is an ND8 - very handy to have in your camera bag for those occasions you want to do some semi silk style water shots, be it at a beach during sunset, or waterfalls etc. Might be a better idea to store this with your tripod as you'll definately want that for those shots also (I used to store my remote switch with my tripod too, for the same reason, it's relatively uncommon to use one separate to the other)

[jayhawk]

^Excellent advice!