Filter Questions

[Weed Shark]

"Polarizer" filters have a tint, so do others such as "Sepia" filters. Do I need to compensate for their darkness? I never have before. Would you ever stack the above two filters together, maybe even onto a UV filter?

I have a Nikon N90S and Tiffen filters.

[Steve Foss]

WeedShark, because I'm shooting digital I rarely use filters. Many filter effects can be duplicated in post processing on digital images, and so I don't have to spend big bucks for the best quality filters.

An exception is when I want to slow my exposure way down, as in fuzzy/cottony water images, where I might have exposures up to 8 seconds to achieve the look I want. Then I'll use a circular polarizer or a neutral density filter, or both stacked, to bring that shutter speed way down.

I don't recognize the Nikon model you mentioned, so I suppose it is a film camera.

Regardless whether it's film or digital, it likely will have TTL (through the lens) metering, which means you should not have to compensate by changing your own exposure when using/stacking filters, because the camera does it for you with its own metering system.

Stacking a polarizer and sepia filter could produce some interesting effects. Stacking even high quality filters can cause problems with ghosting (strange patterns of light intruding on the images), because there are more layers of glass in front of the lens, and light passing through the first filter can reflect back slightly off the second filter or the lens element itself.

Cheap filters will pretty much guarantee ghosting when stacked. The more expensive filters, such as those produced by Hoya, B+W and Singh Ray, use much more sophisticated multi coatings to cut down on ghosting.

Hope this helps!

[Weed Shark]

STFCatfish,

You're right, I'm still shooting slides and the N90S does have a good metering system...Thanks for the info!

[Dbl]

Also when stacking you will very likely get vignetting on your corners when using wider lenses.