Depends on who makes them and whether they're coated. Quantaray is sort of like a cheap house brand and may or may not actually be something decent just rebadged and sold at a discount.

Originally Posted by SubieBoobie

Okay, how about Tiffen? Is Tiffen a decent brand? I was looking at getting some filters, specifically a circular polarizer, a UV, and a warming filter.

I think any of them would be fine for now, there's no need to spend tons of money on filters when you're just starting out.

Also, I would skip the UV filter (unless you just want it to protect your lens) and the warming filter.

I agree with Scott.

My preference for affordable filters goes to Hoya. In fact optically Hoya filters are excellent, their coatings are great but more finnicky to care for than B+W who is my favorite higher end filter company.

UV filters are good for protection, but not necessary in most other cases. I do have UV filters that I occasionally use on various lenses and often wind up taking them off. For this reason (and the reason that I don't want to put plane plate glass over a good lens) I only use good multicoated UV filters and I have Hoya super multi coated (I think two of them, one in 58mm and one in 77mm) as well as a B+W multi coated filter in 77mm size. Primarily I keep them for protection when I need it.

The other filters I carry regularly are multicoated polarizers (all hoya) and a 9 stop ND (multicoated Hoya). B+W makes great polarizers as well but they are pricier however one nice thing about B+W is they have brass rings which don't get stuck on things as often.

A warming filter isn't that important anymore, it was useful during the film days (I have a couple) but your auto white balance will see right through it and probably correct as if it isn't there.

The only ones you should really have IMO are polarizers, but UV filters are nice as protectors at times.

Originally Posted by SubieBoobie

^Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. I'm still learning, no need to spend big $$.

You think i should skip the warming filter?? Some of my people shots come out funky looking, bland almost. I've tried adjusting the WB but still kind of funky that PP can't fix the way I like.

A warming filter won't fix that. I think you're talking about color casts and general lack of contrast/pop.

The key is to get the RIGHT white balance that looks natural for a shot. As for looking bland, that can easily just be flat light or a bland subject. Also, what mode do you shoot in file wise? RAW or JPEG?

RAWs will always come straight out of camera looking flatter than JPEGs.

Originally Posted by emorphien

A warming filter isn't that important anymore, it was useful during the film days (I have a couple) but your auto white balance will see right through it and probably correct as if it isn't there.

Ah, good point, Carl.

I wish raw converters had color enhancement filters built in. You could just select various kinds like you would have used on the lens when shooting film. No reason it couldn't be done and maybe it has been outside of photoshop plugins, I just haven't seen it.