Filter Thread Size??

Recently we encountered a few customers purchased the wrong filter size just because they misinterpreted the focal length as the actual filter thread size when purchasing a UV filter for their new lenses. Daily, we encounter dozen of customers ask us whether Canon Kit Lens 18-55mm uses a 55mm size filter. Some even placed order in shopping cart ordering the wrong size for their lenses.

In this post, we would like to aid beginners in purchasing the correct filter sizes for their lenses. Along with picture, we will show you how to check which size does the lens that you own can fit.

Alright, check out the picture below, have a look at the symbol beside the figure 58mm, which looks like this: ø. This symbol tells you that the lens can fit a 58mm size filter.

For some other lenses, sometimes it's not written at the front of the lens, like a few lenses below, the filter thread size info can be found at the side of the lens.

Image on the left: Nikkor 18-135mm, the size is 67mm.

2nd image on the left: Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6, the size is 77mm

3rd image on the left: Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, the size is also 67mm.

Hope this post will clear things up for everyone. Thanks for reading and enjoy photography ^^

Creative lighting with reflector.

You have heard of the use of reflector, you have seen 1, but do you fully understand the usage of it and how can it help you to get creative lighting out of it?

Before we go any further, let us brief you on what is a reflector, in a simple and layman way. For most people, it looks like those windscreen cover found on your car. A reflector is a device, comes in variety of sizes, shapes and materials, used to reflect available light to the surface of subject that you wish to photograph. Besides reflecting, modern reflectors also come in variety of colors for different purposes. For eg, black color reflector is not used to reflect any light, it is used to shield off available light (undesirable) or also can be used as a backdrobe of all your outdoor shootings. Macro enthusiast will find black color reflector useful to get rid of distracting backgrounds while shooting macro shots.

Another special type of reflector is translucent reflector, same as black color, it's also used for excessive light shielding, sometimes it's also called a diffuser because the way it filters off excessive light on the subject.

You will get all the mentioned type of reflectors in a set of 5 in 1 reflector, for eg: 110cm 5 in 1 Reflector.

Lets get back to basic, how to use a reflector? Simple, reflector is just like a piece of oversized aluminium foil, the reflective surface is used to direct available light to the surface of the subject that you are about to photograph, check out the picture below: (click on image to enlarge)

Simply erect a reflector, point it to the subject (just like the picture above), adjust the direction of light (the way you want it), snap and that's it.

Sometimes a reflector is more useful than a flashgun itself because:

• it gives you results even before you press the shutter button, you can reflect it off the surface of the subject and see the direction of the light, change the direction, adjust the light intensity; all before pressing the shutter button. The results is right in front of you to view and evaluate, check before you snap.
• It uses natural light, for eg, sunlight, it gives natural results, unlike harsh flash casting onto subject
• It uses no battery at all, shoot until you drop (or at least the sun goes down).
• It's a lot more cheaper! The biggest reflector available is just a small portion of the cheapest flashgun available in the market.

The only let downs?

• You need assistance (to hold the reflector for you), get this if you do not have an extra hand: Reflector Holder
• You need sufficient ambient light. Not really useful indoor or at night.
• A bit bulky to carry around.

Of all the pros and cons above, a reflector is still fun to have 1 around, check out the shots below, perhaps lots of masters out there would have better "reflector shots" than we do, it still gives us satisfying results that we have always wanted to. (click on the image to enlarge)

Check out the pictures above, using a reflector on the left of the image, we manage to get reflected light onto the subject itself without casting extra light onto rocks and surrounding. If we were to use a flashgun, most probably the whole area (or at least the around around the subject) would more or less be tainted with flash lighting. Using a reflector, we were able to plan our shots and view the results prior to pressing the shutter button itself.

The end result is a nicely lit subject with natural ambient lighting on the surroundings. Check out shots below:

Thanks for reading, if you like post like this, do give us feedback, if the response is good, we will continue to review as much as possible on all the products available :)