One of the standard accessories that are usually purchased after buying the digital camera is a UV filter. This filter is usually connected to the lens. The purpose in addition to filtering out ultraviolet rays so that the color becomes brighter – is to protect the lens from impact, dust or scratches of the digital camera lens. The idea, if for any reason hit the front of the camera, then who scratched or affected by conflict is the filter. If it must be replaced, the price of the filter is cheaper than the lens itself.
In the heyday of analog camera using a medium of celluloid film, color filters are essential accessories to give an artistic effect on photos. At that time, a photograph can not be changed again after the shutter is closed. Currently in the digital camera era, through a digital process we can change the brightness, lighting, even the color. Some cameras – such as the Olympus E-620 and Pentax KX – even providing a choice of ‘digital filter’, i.e. the process in which the camera produces images with tonal such as the use of certain filters.
So do we still need a filter for our digital camera?
Of course we do, the following are the filters commonly used in the digital photography.
UV Filters
UV stands for Ultra Violet light has a higher frequency than violet light, but in fact are not caught by the human eye. Film media is very sensitive to this type of light, its effect on the photo is the color that faded like mist.
Sensor in digital camera are not too sensitive to UV light like the film, but even slightly, the use of UV filters will enhance the color contrast of the image. Function is more dominant than UV filters – such as early in this article – is to protect the camera lens from scratches and impact. So if you do not use other filters, just let this UV filter on the lens attached.
ND Filter
ND stands for Neutral Density. This filter is gray with varying levels of intensity. ND-2 Filter lighter than the ND-8. This filter is useful for reducing the intensity of light reaching the sensor so that photo session can use a larger aperture or longer exposure time. If you want to perform slow shutter speed photography in the daytime, ND filters are required equipment.
GND Filters
Graduated ND filter is an ND filter with a thickness that changes gradually as gradations from dark to light. This filter is very useful for landscape photography on a sunny day.
When used, the more dense parts mounted on top, its function to absorb light from the sky and keep the light from the mainland in order to obtain images with uneven illumination with blue skies.
Macro or Close Up Filter
Macro Filter has function to change the focus distance, enabling the capture of an object with a very close range. This filter acts like a magnifying glass. However, the use of macro filters will take effect, among them:
1. Lighting down 1-2 stops
2. Sharpness decreases
3. DOF is narrower
Polarizer filter
Polarizer is useful for reducing light reflection from non metal surface, is very useful for shooting through glass, such as shooting fish in a fishbowl or historic objects in the museum.
This filter also improves contrast and color saturation, as well as reducing the light scattering. The effect appears most clearly when used in photographing the sky with bright white clouds. You can get a photo with blue sky dark, but clouds remain white color. The effect of this polarizer filter is very influential on the photo and could not be obtained through a digital process, so this filter is very useful completeness.
There are two kinds of polarizer filter:
1. Linear Polarizer filter (PL), with the direction of the straight line
2. Circular Polarizer filter (CPL), which has direction of the circular line. This Polarizer filter can be adjusted the intensity of filtering by turning the ring.
IR Filter
IR stands for Infra Red or Infra red light that has a lower frequency than red light. If the UV filter holds UV light and continue another light, the IR filter allows Infrared light to continue and holds the other spectrum of light. Basically, the digital camera sensor is designed to be insensitive to IR light, hence the use of IR filters cause the importance of lighting for a long time (slow shutter speed).
In digital camera, it’s easier to do IR photography using a specially modified camera for that photography.
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Tags: camera accessories, camera filter, digital camera, Digital Photography