My sister-in-law is getting rid of some of her older photo equipment (she shot mainly film), and she told me to take anything I might want. It's a couple of film cameras, a couple of lenses (only two fit EOS cams), a flash (Speedlite 200E), and a crap-ton of filters. I'm contemplating keeping one of the lenses, but right now I'm trying to learn about filters. (I know nothing about them!) So I listed them out here and am trying to figure out the main uses for each of them.
Some of them are color filters:
1. Tiffen 55mm 11 green 1 (not sure what this one does)
2. Promaster 52mm red (R2) (used to increase contrast in B&W photography and darken blue skies)
3. Promaster 52mm YA2 (orange) (used to increase contrast in B&H photography)
4. Quantaray 52mm Y2 (not sure what this one does -- it's yellow)
Others look like they might be more helpful:
5. Quantaray 52mm UV
6. Quantaray 55mm UV
7. Quantaray 55mm C-P.L. (I think it stands for "circular polarizer")
8. Promaster 52mm diffuser (used to achieve a soft-focus effect in commercial photography and portraits)
9. Promaster 52mm cross-screen 4x (used to achieve a 4-cross flare on bright light sources in photos, to achieve a softer focus)
...and two more, one cooling filter and one warming filter:
10. Promaster 52mm 81A (used to decrease color temperature [warm up colors], like on an overcast day with gray skies)
11. Promaster 52mm 80A (used to increase color temperature [cool down colors])
I read on this site that these cooling and warming filters (that change the white balance) are not really necessary if you shoot RAW files on a digital camera, which I do, so maybe I'll get rid of those two.
Too bad none of them are neutral density (or graduated neutral density) -- I might actually get some use out of one of those.
Otherwise, it seems that the circular polarizing filter is probably the most useful out of the whole list (if it fits any of my lenses). The site I linked to above has this to say about them: "They work by reducing the amount of reflected light that passes to your camera's sensor. Similar to polarizing sunglasses, polarizers will make skies appear deeper blue, will reduce glare and reflections off of water and other surfaces, and will reduce the contrast between land and sky."
The same site says that, "The effect [with the CP filter] is strongest when your camera is aimed in a direction which is perpendicular to the direction of the sun's incoming light." Very interesting. I'd like to give that a try. I'll have to see if 55mm is the right size for any of my lenses.
The red and orange ones (#s 2 and 3) also look intriguing --- I do like the look of black and white photography, so maybe it would be fun to give one of those a try. I'm not super-excited about them, though, because I feel like any effect they might grant to a photo can be done in post-processing afterward, and with less hassle (no filter to keep up with, attach, care for, &c.).
I might get rid of #s 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Though it would be nice to figure out what the green and yellow ones (1 and 4) do before I sell them.
I'm hoping to have time to play with a couple of these in the next few weeks. Also will maybe try out the Speedlite, if it works. If I decide to keep either of the lenses, I'll post some details about that later, too.
