Filters are an often overlooked part of photography and videography, but they can have quite an impact on final results. Good filters can be pricey, considering their small size. But right now, you can save quite a bit on Tiffen filters, which are some of the best available. Tiffen filters are well known for their quality, durability, and wide availability. The company makes an expansive list of filter types, and now you can take advantage of this Tiffen filters early Black Friday deal on Amazon.

Tiffen 62BPM2 62mm Black Pro-Mist 2 Diffusion Camera Filter $32.20 (was $85.00)

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Diffusion filters are typically used by videographers but have benefits for both photo and video applications. Overall they soften contrast and lower highlights, providing more of a film look. They also soften wrinkles and blemishes, making them a useful tool for portraiture. But perhaps the main reason to use this type of diffusion filter is the blooming effect it has on highlights. With a diffusion filter like this Pro-Mist filter, any light source will be diffused outward, creating a glow. This works especially well at night with warm lights to create a dramatic mood. Tiffen’s Pro-Mist 2 is typically pricey, but you can snag a 62mm version for just $32.20 right now. Some other filter sizes are also on sale as part of the Tiffen filters early Black Friday deals:

Additional Tiffen filter early Black Friday deals:

• Tiffen 49GG3 49mm Glimmer Glass 3 Filter $35.70 (was $65.00)
• Tiffen 52BWFK 52mm Black and White Filter Kit $37.50 (was $50.00)
• Tiffen 52BPM1 52mm Black Pro-Mist 1 Diffusion Camera Filter $38.20 (was $62.49)
• Tiffen 67mm 21 Filter (Orange) $42.50 ($50.00)
• Tiffen 49mm Photo Essentials Kit with UV Protector, 812 Color Warming, Circular Polarizing Glass Filters and 4 Pocket Pouch $25.30 (was $33.37)
• Tiffen 82mm Digital HT Multi Coated Circular Polarizer $102.00 (was $119.95)
• Tiffen 72mm Neutral Density 0.9 Filter $26.80 (was $33.63)
• Tiffen 49PM14 49mm Pro-Mist 1/4 Diffusion Camera Filter $36.50 (was $65.00)
• Tiffen 67BPM3 67mm Black Pro-Mist 3 Filter $43.20 (was $85.00)
• B+W 46mm Yellow Camera Lens Contrast Filter with Multi Resistant Coating (022M) $40.70 (was $55.44)
• Tiffen 82mm 25 Filter (Red) $52.50 (was $70.00)
• Tiffen 37BPM14 37mm Black Pro-Mist 1/4 Diffusion Camera Filter $52.80 (was $90.99)
• Tiffen 52mm 85C Filter $26.30 (was $35.00)
• Tiffen 77mm SKY 1-A Filter $29.30 (was $39.00)
• Tiffen 49BPM2 52mm Black Pro-Mist 2 Diffusion Camera Filter $40.20 (was $62.49)

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Good news for fans of the long exposure. Fotodiox has announced a new Canon EF- to Sony E-mount adapter, but it’s one that comes with a built-in ND filter, so you can limit the amount of light hitting your sensor.

The Vizelex ND Throttle Adapter has a blue ring at the base of the mount adapter, which lets you adjust the ND filter to varying degrees of light stoppage. As with all ND filters, this means that even in bright sunlight you can then use large aperture lenses with narrow depth of field. Or, if you’re a fan of long exposure, you can take extended shots even in bright conditions.

The mount adapter has an asking price of $99, and will allow any Canon EOS mount lens to be used with a Sony E-mount (APS-C sized) camera. As with most adapters, it won’t allow you to autofocus, and you’ll give up some of the other automatic features of modern lenses, but Fotodiox does guarantee infinity focus on any lens.

So if you’re trying to adapt some old Canon glass to go on your Sony mirrorless gear, this adapter could give you the freedom to shoot in brightly sunlight in ways you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

The post New Gear: Vizelex Fotodiox ND Throttle Adapter With Built-In Neutral Density Filter appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Hoya HD3 UV and Circular Polarizer Filters

When you’re looking to buy a filter to stick on the front of your camera lens, there are a couple qualities you want to look for. The hardness and anti-reflective properties of the coatings, as well as the light transference are among the most important, and they seem to be Hoya’s primary focus for their new HD3 series filters.

There are two flavors: UV (which many people use purely for protection) and a circular polarizer. According to the press material, the new HD3 filters are four-times stronger than the glass typically used to make lens elements, and the coatings are eight-times harder than the HD2 filters that came before them (only on the UV filter). The Circular Polarizer is 200% harder than its predecessor.

The filters will be available in sizes from 37mm to 82mm.

Having used the HD2 filters, I have pretty high-hopes for the HD3 versions. I’m one of those shooters that likes to keep a UV filter on just about all the time, so making them more durable and easy to clean is always a welcome improvement. We’ll share a review when retail units become available.

The post New Gear: Hoya HD3 UV and Circular Polarizer Filters are Harder Than Ever appeared first on Popular Photography.

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When it comes to filters, it’s actually the coatings on the outside of the glass that can make a huge difference in performance. Hoya‘s newest filters have some brand new coatings that they claim bring a few different improvements.

The filters are treated with antistatic material, which means it won’t hold onto dust and dirt like some filters do. If you’ve ever looked down at the front of your lens and found it a speckled wreck, you know how handy that could be if it’s as effective as they claim. It’s also resistant to water, stains, and scratches.

Second, they also claim that they have improved light transmission from 99.7% of light to 99.8%. The numbers make it sound a bit hilarious, but when it comes to letting in light, every little bit counts. They also claim to have 100% transmission at some wavelengths.

You can get the filters in Protector (a clear filter meant just for protection), UV, and circular polarizer in sizes from 37mm all the way up to 82mm.

The post New Gear: Hoya EVO Antistatic Filters Repel Dust and Dirt appeared first on Popular Photography.

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The Circular polarizing filter is one of the few remaining filters that can’t be replaced with Photoshop after the fact (though, scientists are working on it). However, just this summer I have seen several people keeping them permanently attached to their camera’s lens to protect the front glass. While it might be saving their lens, it might be ruining some of their photos.

There are several benefits to using a CP filter. It lets you control reflections on shiny surfaces in your photos, and it can even cut down on the atmospheric haze that can wash our precious contrast from your photos. But, it comes at a price. Normally, a circular polarizing filter will block one-to-two full stops of light from coming into your lens.

In some instances, that reduction in light can be a positive. If you want to shoot wide open in bright sunlight or if you’re trying to use a long shutter speed to blur moving water during the day, it’s a desirable effect. But, in many situations, a polarizing filter is going to hurt, forcing you to crank your ISO higher than you normally would, or even worse, pushing down your shutter speed and giving you blurry images.

So, what do you do if you want to protect the front element of your lens without eating into your light? A standard UV filter is a popular choice because it transmits nearly all light straight through to the lens without shifting its color or quality. There are also special filters like the Hoya Protector specifically designed to protect the front element of your lens without changing the way your pictures look. There are also many people out there who adamantly oppose the use of any always-on filter because of their potential to degrade image quality even slightly.

The most recent example of this phenomenon I saw was at an athletic competition held in an old armory building. Big windows at each end provided beautiful light, but not nearly enough of it to capture fast-moving athletes without seriously cranking the ISO. One of the other photographers was using a mid-level DSLR with a kit lens. He remarked about how hard it was to get sharp photos and I noticed how dark his front lens element looked. He was hesitant to take the polarizing filter off, wanting to protect his lens from the sweat that was flying in the venue, but he eventually did and later came to tell me how much easier it was to shoot.

So, while it’s not a bad idea to keep your lens protected, it’s important to pick the right tool for the job.

The post Polarizing Filter Fail: Protecting Your Lens appeared first on Popular Photography.

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On a bright day, many photographers know it is nearly impossible to capture a landscape with a balanced exposure that retains enough information to render the scene as it appears to the naked eye. Either you meter for the foreground and blow out the sky, losing details of the clouds in a white haze, or meter for sky and leave the foreground shrouded in unreadable shadow. That’s usually where HDR comes in. Many photographers take several images and then use software (in the camera or on a PC) to merge them together. Though practical, however, the effect of HDR can often be unrealistic, overwhelming and kistchy.

Since the early days of analog photography, landscape photographers have been using a simple workaround, Graduated Neutral Density filters. Basically, an ’ND Grad’ is a piece of glass that is darker and lets less light pass through towards one end, and is completely translucent at the other, available with either a gradual or sharp gradient. With the darker side aimed at the sky, and the translucent at the foreground, it’s possible to get a balanced image without stitching together bracketing exposures. The following video from Photoplus magazine explains how to use ND filters and explores some of the mounts available for today’s digital cameras.

[via the Photoblographer]

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Back at WPPI 2016, I saw that Fotodiox was showing off an early version of their massive WonderPana XL filter system. Now, the system is showing up out in the wild and people seem to be truly impressed with how XL this thing really is.

For the unfamiliar, Canon’s 11-24mm F/4 lens is a rather massive piece of glass with a front element that bulges outward from its body and an integrated lens hood to help protect it. As a result, using filters over the front element can be a real challenge. So, Fotodiox has adjusted its WonderPana system, which is typically used for lenses like the Nikon 14-24mm wide angle zoom to accommodate Canon’s new monster.

The WonderPana system attaches to the lens and gives it a front filter size of—get ready for it—186mm. That makes for some massive glass discs. You can also use the WP80 Filter Bracket in order to use rectangular filters up to two at a time. Even though the actual front lens element isn’t that big, the filters need to be oversized to prevent vignetting around the edges.

The WonderPana FreeArc XL retails for $229, which is just for the attachment system. You’ll have to buy the massive pieces of glass for it separately and those are definitely not cheap. You do, however, get a 186mm lens cap, which looks like it could also be used as a pan to hold a personal pan pizza.

From: Outdoor Photographer

The post The Fotodiox WonderPana FreeArc XL Filter System Is Built for the Massive Canon 11-24mm Zoom Lens appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Despite what some folks might say, filters are still necessary pieces of camera kit. But, with each additional layer you stack on the front of your glass, you add length and weight to your kit. Now, Cokin has tackled that problem with the Pure Harmonie line, a set of filters billed as the thinnest and lightest in the world.

Cokin is offering a trio of filters, starting at just 3.3mm thick with the Multi-Coated Anti-UV (UV MC), 4.5mm for the Circular Polarizer (C PL) and 9.5mm for the Variable Density Neutral Gray (ND X). The UV and polarizer filters are available in sizes from 37mm on up to 82mm, and the variable density can be mounted on a lens as small as 52mm, while blocking 1-8 stops of light.

The Pure Harmonie line is available through Amazon, with prices stretching from less than $50 to more than $200.

As one commenter pointed out, the claims to being the smallest on the market might be up for some debate, and Kenko makes a circular polarizing filter that’s just 4mm thick. Still, they’re definitely thin and there’s no arguing against that.

[via Phoblographer, Petapixel]

The post New Gear: Cokin Pure Harmonie Are “Thinnest and Lightest Filters in the World” appeared first on Popular Photography.

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If you keep a filter on your lens at all times for protection, you’re about to be jealous of Hoya’s new ultra-hard HD2 glass filters. Using their exclusive hardened optical glass technology, the 1mm thick lenses are much stronger than typical glass. Hoya claims they’re four times as strong, and after watching the video below, we’re inclined to believe them.

There are three filters in the series, including a UV filter, a transparent Protector filter and a low-profile circular polarizer. Because circular polarizers need to rotate, they’re often thicker than typical single-glass filters and can creep into the edges of an image when used with a wide angle lens.

We look forward to getting a few of these new ultra-hard filters into the office where we can put them through their paces and see if their optical quality matches up with their toughness.

The post Hoya’s New HD2 Filters Can Survive Being Hit With a Pipe appeared first on Popular Photography.

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With the popularity of off-camera flash on location gaining popularity all the time, neutral density filters are becoming an increasingly necessary accessory. Hoya has a new series of Solas IRND neutral density filters that cut down visible light, but also fight off infrared radiation that can mess with shadow detail and noise, especially with long exposures.

The filters start at $48.90 and go up from there. They’re available in thread diameters from 49mm to 82mm and from .3 (one stop) all the way up to 3.0 (10 stops) in one stop increments. Bigger filters and heavier tinting obviously raises the price.

We’ll be interested to give these a try once review units are available.

The post The New Hoya Solas IRND Neutral Density Filters Cut Down On Exposure, Infrared Radiation appeared first on Popular Photography.

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