Filter in Digital Photography

Filter in Digital Photography are elements of an optical system, which mostly attached before the lens of the camera for various reasons like to create effect, to protect the optical system from UV rays etc. Usage of Filter in Digital Photography that means Digital SLRs (mainly) has some difference with older SLR camera Filters due to various factors.

What is this Filter actually is ?

Filter used in photography are for both as a correction measure as well as for creating so called filter effects. Filter can change saturation, contrast or can include elements such as stars and effects. Most filters reflect a portion of the incident light so that less light reaches the lens. This is usually indicated on the version of the filter. Also a filter actually works like a transparent cover for the lens.

Basically a Filter is nothing but a simple circular plate usually with a screw mechanism to get attached in front of the lens. They optically usually has no power, but a separate kind of lens is used based on the principle of Filter. There are called closeup lenses.

Types of Filter used in today’s Digital Photography

Unlike the old film photography, today we can actually create various effects in any Advanced Image Editor like Adobe Photoshop. That factor has reduced the craze of using filter to some extent, unlike they were used before. Filter are usually specific to brand of camera : Filter for a Nikon Lens, might not be mounted on a Canon Lens.

The major types of Filter used today can be classified broadly in to :

• Polarization filters (also known as Polarizer)
• UV-blocking filters (usually referred as UV-filter)
• Color filters and Chromatic correction filters (red, green, blue, yellow, etc.)
• Special optical filters
• IR filters
• Neutral density filters (ND filter)
• Filters used for creating optical effects

Cost of Filters used for DSLRs

Cost of filters depends on th manufacturer and quality. There are many well established brands that can cost a huge premium. Filters can be sold as a separate unit or as a set of various kind of effect creating filters.

We will go in detail on each kind of Filter individually in future articles.