1d

[bottomdweller]

Thanks.. I picked up the sigma lens. Had a deal on a used one but i waited to long and it was sold. Ended up with a new one.

One question, I really dont know anything about filters but I picked one up and a polarizer. Do I leave the filter on all the time and just use the polarizer outside or can the polarizer be used for indoors also.

[Steve Foss]

The polarizer is used to cut reflective glare, like what you get from sunlight off water or off window glass. It also intensifies colors and brings out detail in bright whites like clouds. It's an outdoor filter (generally) that you only use when the situation calls for it. If you bought the style called a "circular" polarizer, you can twist it once it's mounted and it changes the degree of polarization. If it's a fixed round polarizer, you won't be able to adjust it.

I don't know what other filter you got because you didn't say what kind it is, but it's probably a UV or skylight filter. If so, it's a clear filter you can leave on all the time as a protector against dust/scuffs/scratches on the front lens element.

[bottomdweller]

Yes its a uv filter. Is the polarizer used for mostly sky shots or could it be used most outdoor shots. Salesman told me I needed it. Might have been suckered into that one. But Im sure it will come in handy sometime

[Steve Foss]

If you are shooting in bright light or want to kill reflection, a polarizer is sometimes a good filter to have. Depending on which one you have, you will lose from one to three stops of shutter speed when it's on, because it also darkens by cutting down on the light allowed through the lens.

You don't need the UV filter either. Quite a few people just use them as I said, as protection for the front lens element.

But you didn't get taken. It's good to keep the UV filter on permanently except when you clean it, and there will be times a polarizer comes in handy.