Filters?

I have "inherited" a cokin filter adapter and a couple of filters from my mum ( not that she's dead yet )

My question is this; is it worth buying filters such as graduated filters or warming filters to use when taking the shot, or, am I best to edit it later now that I'm getting a handle on using layers in paintshop?

My reasoning is this; if I electronically "filter" the shot, I can then apply different filters to the same shot rather than having to live with what was put on the front of the camera when I took it.

I can see the point in the starburst filter and the polarizing filter, but not sure about the others I've seen

As my budget is pretty much £0 I don't want to waste money un-necessarily.

I hardly ever use filters on digital. All filter effects are done in Photoshop.

You obviously understand what the exceptions might be, such as effects filters and polarisers.

tape the warming filter to your flash...
check out the varicolor filters, polarizers, and graduated nd's......
add some step up/down rings to fit your lenses.....
get an adapter for your video cam also...

When I bought my K10D one of the first things I did was sell all my Cokin filters on eBay, except a polariser and a graduated ND, and the adapter, of course.

I got £30 for about 5 of them (warming, blue, starburst etc) and was very pleased with that.

I've not had the slightest need for them since.

NDs and polarisers are very much worth keeping, though. I can't see how there'll be a digital equivalent of either of them any time soon.

Thanks for the speedy reponses
You've pretty much confirmed what I thought I knew.
I've got a polariser, so I'll look out for an ND filter. I've seen them advertised as ND4 ND8 etc. Presumably the level of "darkness". What am I best going for and how best to use it?

Graduated filters can help you beat the camera's limited dynamic range. You can't do that with post processing unless combining multiple shots with a whatsitcalled program.

Having said that, I rarely find the energy to get mine out of the bag and set it up. But I should do more often.

There are two types of ND filter.

One is ND across the whole filter. It's for making the whole frame darker - so that you can open up the lens, for example, to get less DOF, even in very bright light.

The other type is graduated ND, where half the filter is clear, and half ND. This is commonly used for reducing the exposure over part of the frame - sunsets, for instance, where the dynamic range is very high, and to expose the darker foreground correctly would burn out the bright sky.

Both types are worth having. They all come in a variety of EV reductions, and the graduated ones sometimes have quite a sharp cutoff between clear and ND, and others a more gently blended transition.

Couldn't find any "Whatitcalled programs on Ebay" so I guess I'll have to get a graduated filter instead.

Thanks guys

I believe the phrase you are looking for is a High Dynamic Range processing program, often abbreviated to HDR. Example here:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/

Duncan

You don't need an HDR program to replicate an ND Grad: https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6327&start=20

Dan