The answers depend on how much you want to fuss over your images and how you plan to visit.
Are you in a group? Are you able to work at your own pace? Is your primary purpose or major goal of the trip to do photography?
I own a set of gradient neutral density filters... but this is a lot of fuss if you’re not specifically there for the primary goal of doing landscape photography. In other words, if you are there with other people (friends/family/etc) and photographs become incidental things you do throughout the day rather than structuring the day around the photography, then I wouldn’t recommend gear that involves a lot of fuss.
A wide-angle lens for landscape is recommended... the 16-35 III is basically the pinnacle of all the options. There are a few wider lenses such as the new 11-24mm... these are not cheap lenses.
The polarizer does need to specifically be a “circular polarizer” (sometimes abbreviated “CPL” filter). In the days of manual focusing film cameras that didn’t use built-in light meters, the polarizer was a simple “linear polarizer” (sometimes called a “top polarizer”). But polarized light makes the auto-focus sensors struggle and it also gives the built in metering system some complications. To fix this, the “circular” polarizer is actually a “linear polarizer” in front, with a quarter-wave plate immediately behind it ... the quarter-wave plate (it’s a layer .. you don’t actually see two pieces of glass) alters the polarized light in such a way that it doesn’t create problems for the auto-focus or metering sensors in the camera. Any camera that supports phase-detection based auto-focus or built-in metering should use a “circular polarizer” instead of a “linear polarizer”.
A standard “neutral density” filter is light sunglasses on your lens... it just dims the light. But doing this allows you to do one of two things... you can either increase the exposure time (especially useful if you want to “blur” something in motion... such as a stream, waterfall, etc.). Or you can use a wider aperture (which results in a narrower “depth of field” so you can have a sharp subject and a blurred background.)
But then there’s something called a “gradient neutral density” filter. These are typically rectangular (not round thread-on filters) and they “slide” into a filter-holder bracket. The filter is tinted on one half... clear on the other half... with a transition from clear to tinted which is either rapid or slow. The idea is that it allows you to darken the sky more than the foreground to create a more balanced expososure. They come in “hard edge” (rapid tint change) or “soft edge” (slow tint change) versions... and even in different strengths (how dark the tint is).
If you’re pulling out gradient neutral density filters (abbreviated “GND”) then you are, by definition, “fussing” over the photo and taking your time to capture it. This isn’t something you do in a hurry. You switch on spot-metering and manually meter the sky... then manually meter the foreground... determine how many stops of difference there is between sky & foregrond... then select the appropriate filter based on the difference that meter reported.
If you are with friends and family who are NOT photographers... this is the point where they start to give you the evil eye and regret you coming along on the trip. (Hence my previous questions).
BEFORE YOU GO... any new gear you pick up will need a full shake-down with lots of practice sessions. The time to learn about new techniques and how to use new gear is not in the midst of the trip.
Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da
