Lens filters are one of the most affordable yet also most versatile accessories you can stow in your lens bag. Some of them, like polarizers and UV filters, are practically ubiquitous in modern-day photography, used both to lend images a unique look as well as to protect your costly gear.
Back in the days of film photography, things weren’t quite as advanced as they are in our modern digital era. Photographers struggled to manipulate available light or had to work a lot harder to capture simple in-camera effects. That was the reason for the invention of photographic lens filters.
The neutral-density filter, or ND filter, is a powerful lens filter photographers use to reduce the amount of light entering a camera lens in order to select exposure combinations that would otherwise result in overexposed images. This article is a basic guide to ND filters and how they are used.
Moment has launched a new line of CineClear UV Filters that promise to protect agains sun, dust, scratches, and spills without sacrificing image quality.
Inexperienced models often struggle in front of the camera because they lack insight into their own appearance. While we all can look our best in front of a mirror, it's because we can see ourselves. This filter aims to bring that ease of posing to photography.
Photographer Nicco Valenzuela recently published a helpful "crash course" that covers everything you need to know to get started using lens filters for landscape photography. The video covers everything from the two main filter 'formats,' to the three main filter 'types,' to the various situations where you might want to use each filter for the best possible results.
Moment has announced its new CineBloom Diffusion Filters. The lens filters are designed for both cameras and phones and help you capture "dreamy, film-like vibes" straight out of a camera.
The folks at filter manufacturer H&Y have just unveiled a variable step-up ring for your camera lens filters called the REVORING. The idea is simple, brilliant, and apparently extremely popular: the REVORING Kickstarter campaign was fully funded in just 90 minutes, and has already raised almost $170,000.
While digital photography and post-processing have done away with the need for certain types of lens filters, there are still a number of filters that can't be replaced by Photoshop. Here's a 8.5-minute video by DPReview on which filters you should still consider keeping in your camera bag.
The New York-based smartphone camera accessory company Moondog Labs has announced its new Multi-Camera Filter Mount, an accessory that lets you use 52mm lens filters on your iPhone.
Tired of buying a new set of filters or working with step-up/step-down rings for each lens with a different filter diameter? Aurora Aperture unveiled a groundbreaking new filter system today called the Aperture Adapter Mount Format (AMF) that fixes that hassle for mirrorless camera shooters.
PrismLensFX unveiled a set of Variable Prism Filters back in March that lets photographers achieve prism effects using specially-designed lens filters. Upon seeing the prism filters, landscape photographer Christian Mögnum Möhrle decided to try his hand at making his own do-it-yourself version.
In this article, I'll discuss how I use lens filters in my landscape photography. Chiefly I use filters when I want to smooth the water in a waterfall, shoot long exposures, or balance the light in a scene.
PrismLensFX has unveiled a set of Variable Prism Filters. These are lens filters with prisms built right into them for capturing creative effects in photos and videos.
LEE Filters has unveiled its new LEE100 filter system for 100mm filters. It's a next-generation system that introduces new features for making the experience of using filters faster and more intuitive.
Breakthrough Photography has launched a magnetic circular lens filter system that allows filters to be attached and removed instantly with zero screwing and zero light leaks.
PolarPro has announced that it is expanding beyond the drone and action camera products it is best known for and into the world of still and cinema cameras. The company's new QuartzLine Filters are a series of full frame lens filters for DSLR, mirrorless, and cinematic cameras.
I've used diffusion filters for years but rarely for their intended purpose. If you haven't heard of them before, diffusion filters are transparent glass or plastic sheets that go in front of the lens and diffuse the light as it enters the camera. The resulting images taken with a diffusion filter have an appearance of reduced contrast that ultimately looks hazy, offering a slightly dream-like effect.
In addition to its 3 new wide-angle lenses, Nikon has also announced a new line of "high-performance" lens protection filters under the brand name Arcrest.
Here's a helpful 12-minute video by landscape photographer and vlogger Thomas Heaton about lens filters. With the emergence of digital photography and powerful editing software, the benefits of some filters can be recreated digitally while others cannot.
Back in December 2015, Sigma announced the world's first protective lens filters made of ceramic -- filters that it claims are 10x stronger than traditional filters and 3x stronger than chemically strengthened filters.
Sigma has just published pricing and availability info for the new filters, as well as the above video, which demonstrates the filter's strength through a ball drop shatter test.
Last week, Kenko Tokina USA unveiled the new line of Hoya HD3 lens filters, which promise to be harder than their predecessors while still providing photographers with excellent optical quality.
If you're just getting started in photography, perhaps you've confused or overwhelmed by the different types of filters that are available for your camera lens. Photo gift company Zippi wants to help you wrap your mind around the concepts more easily, so they created a handy "cheat sheet" infographic that lists out the different kinds of filters on the market along with short explanations and example images showing what the filters do for your shots.
Sapphire glass was used by Apple for the iPhone 5 camera, and more recently it has appeared on the screen of the new Apple Watch. It will soon be available for DSLR camera lenses as well. A new company called Novo is getting ready to launch a new line of camera lens filters for photographers. The lineup will include the world's first filter to use sapphire crystal glass, and other filters will feature Gorilla Glass.
Sick of wiping and blowing dust off your lens filter? Check out Hoya's new line of EVO Antistatic lens filters, which actively repel dust particles to keep them from sticking to the glass.
Want to play around with lens filters that add splashes of color to your photographs? Stanford design students Olivia Vagelos and Martin Bush want to help you out. They've designed a new line of color-splashed lens filters that can transform "the feel" of your photos.
French optical filter company Cokin has launched a new line of lens filters under the brand name Pure Harmonie. The new filters are unique in that they're the thinnest and lightest in the world -- the UV filter in the set measures only 3.3mm (~0.13in) thick!
You know those handle-equipped glasses called 'lorgnettes' that were popular among fashionable women in the 19th century? Instead of being fixed to your face, the spectacles were simply held up to your eyes with one hand, and were used mainly for style rather than vision correction. Kenko's new Filter Stick is kinda like that, except for camera lenses instead of booshie eyeballs.
Product developer and part-time wedding photographer Joel Malone has come up with a …