Graduated filters, part 2

Last year, I bought these cheap (about $6 a piece?) six graduated filters from an eBay seller from China or Malaysia (see:  http://photonfarmers.blogspot.ca/2011/07/graduated-filters.html.)

With all the small gadgets I bought, I tend to forget to carry the filters along on my trips.  The other day though, when my younger brother was here, we went down to a park to take some pictures of Toronto.  Cheap as they were, these filters worked quite well!  They can be used to bring the contrast between the sky and the land down a bit or to simply change the mood of the scene.

Here was a shot using an orange filter:

Not bad IMHO. :)

Graduated filters

I'm still on a shopping spree ever since I acquired the D90.  I have just ordered these six 72mm graduated filters from eBay.  There is no gray filter though.  They are red, orange, green, blue, purple and yellow.

While searching for graduated filters, I ran across adapters for those square Colkin filters.  I think Colkin filters are really great.  You can reuse the same Colkin filters for any lens as long as you have the proper adapter for the lens, and they are really cheap (less than $10).  I was so tempted to buy the Colkin adapter and filters but I remember using them in Cuba a few years ago.  At 18mm, the adapter is too deep it creates vignetting in the corners.  I have three lens with a 72mm filter ring so I thought these circular filters will be fine.  These happen to be the lenses I usually carry around, and hence, these 72mm filters.

Stuck filter on lens

My saga with the Quick Strap and the broken SB-800 did not end with fixing the SB-800 and purchasing a new SB-900. No, I just realized this morning that the drop inflicked even more damage than severing the SB-800. The Hoya Pro1 Digital glass UV filter I had screwed onto the Nikkor 18-200mm lens took a hit too. The glass was fine, but the filter ring got dented. Without the filter, I might have had to replace the lens too but now, it was well stuck to the lens. I tried many times to remove it by hand. As hard as I tried, it would not budge. I get only a sore hand.

Notice the dent on the filter ring? I tried all my might to untwist the filter. I used a rubber band around the filter but it was just stuck solid. I needed some more leverage. I read somewhere someone used a lens cap but I did try that too. My next course of action would be to buy this lens filter wrench from eBay:

It probably would work but I'd have to wait a good couple of weeks for it to arrive. I had to give the rubber band another try, but this time, teaming it up with the lens cap, this way:

There was enough surface for the rubber band to stay on the filter ring. I then applied the same amount of elbow grease as before, with one hand on the extended barrel and the other hand around the rubber band. Lo and behold, the filter started to move. I thought maybe it was the lens cap that moved, but no, the filter did!

(As it turned out, the filter ring got warped. The lens seemed to work completely fine, except for a slight heaviness in the zoom ring.)