[gemma86]

I could do with an extra battery for my canon 400d. Is it worth being cheap and buying one for 99p off Ebay or should I pay a bit more from elsewhere? Obviously I don't want my camera to blow up but a battery is a battery... Any recommendations?

Also is there a quality factor with filters too? I quite fancy buying a ND one...

[ImpInaBox]

There was a bit of a scare a couple of years ago about Chinese copies of Canon batteries blowing up inside cameras and Canon refusing to fix them under the warranty. I decided to play safe and get a genuine Canon battery for my 5D (At least I think-and hope- it was genuine) I figured that the few pounds saved on the battery was nothing compared to the couple of grand (then) for the camera.

There's less of a quality issue with filters than with lenses since filters are only pieces of flat glass. As long as they are coated to reduce reflections there's not much between them. Tho doubtless somebody will now tell me I should be spending as much on filters as lenses .

If you want to play with filters, particularly if you have more than one lens and they have different size filter threads, it might be worth looking at the Cokin filter kits.

[willman]

i bought a cheapo one -it's no better or worse than the canon. i do find the 400d batteries run down wuicker than the 300d ones.
same for filter i use "camerapartner" on ebay , usully a pound or two for uv ones thats all.

[ukstudent]

I'm a beginner to digital slr photography and have bought a canon 400d.

A neighbour also has one of these cameras and mentioned about filters, can anyone explain (in a simple way!) about the different ones and if I should get any.

She mentioned that they can make the sky look more blue etc

I am going on a voluntary project to work on a safari in south africa in september and would love to get some great photos

[Grissom]

Have a read of this page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_(photography))

Look for UV/Haze (gets rid of haze, for example if your on a mountain ), polarizer (can do your blue skies) and the Neutral Density Grad (also helps with skies as it makes the contrast between sky and land less, so your camera can capture both sky and land at same time). Most UV/Haze and polarizer are round and screw-on, but some people get ND grads that can move up/down and even rotate so they can use them when the horizon isnt in the middle of the photo

I have 105mm Polarizer and ND Grad from Lee (bit expensive) - Cokin are way cheaper

http://www.cokin.com/ico3-p0.html

But this document from Lee shows the effects of these and many other filters nicely (scroll down to page 19)

http://www.leefilters.com/downloads/...m_Brochure.pdf

Most filter effects can be replicated in Photoshop - so many people only buy a polariser - as its the one you cant yet replicate.

For this reason some people shell out a few extra quid and get the B+W Kaesemann polarisers like these, which are the best available according to many people. They are made by hand by Ooompah Loompahs or something and are rather fabulous If you have wide angle lens, ensure you get the 'slim' version, which doesnt suffer from something called vignetting - see this page

I've got one of those, and some Lee Filters (105mm polarizer and couple of ND Grads). More money than sense

If you go to the HKDIRECT shop on ebay you'll find loads of differently priced polarisers. Remember to get right size for your lens, and ensure its a 'circular' polariser if you are using autofocus on your camera ...



EDIT : forgot to say - some lenses need a filter on the front to complete their weather sealing - in which case a cheap UV/Haze filter does the job nicely - can be useful abroad to keep dust from getting in etc

[ukstudent]

Hi, thanks for that
Well I have a Canon 400d with the stand 18-55 lens.
What size would I need?
Cheers

[willman]

look at the lens end on your camera it will say 55/52/78 etc with a 0 with a / through it.
that the size filter you will need.

[ukstudent]

ok thats great thanks

so for as beginner a polarizer would be a good start?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by ukstudent

ok thats great thanks

so for as beginner a polarizer would be a good start?

Also as grissom said a UV filter which you keep on the lens for protection from dust and damage

[Grissom]

If you have the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens it is a 58mm filter that you will need (but check on your lens as mentioned above)

Canon show the filter diameter that you need for each lens on the 'product spec' page - so if you go here and then click on 'product specification' link you'll see oodles of details on the lens, including that magical number you desire

[gemma86]

Thanks for all that info, it's saved me a lot of time figuring it all out myself lol