Have Camera Will Travel - Reviews & Tips HomepageHave Camera Will Travel - Reviews & Tips

David Coleman Photography

  • Reviews & Tips
  • GoPro
  • Lightroom
  • Places
  • Photos
  • Reviews
    • Nikon
    • Sony
    • Fujifilm
    • Ricoh
    • Cameras
    • Lenses
    • Sample Images
    • Travel Tripods
    • Adventure Cameras
    • 360°
  • GoPro
  • Memory Cards
  • Flash
  • Travel Tripods
  • Books
  • Social Media
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Twitter

How to Use Step-Up & Step-Down Rings for Screw-in Lens Filters

If you don't have a screw-in filter that's the right size for your lens, step-up and step-down rings work as size adapters.

Lens Filter Step-Up and Step-Down Rings

Categories: Filters

Last updated about 1 year ago // Originally published about 1 year ago

Camera lenses come with different lens diameters at the front of the lens. Chances are, if you’ve got a couple of lenses in your camera bag, you’ll need a couple of different-sized screw-in filters to fit them.

Ideally, you’d have a set of perfectly sized filters for the diameter of each lens in your kit. But that’s not practical or cost-effective most of the time—good-quality filters aren’t cheap! Carrying three or four polarizer filters, for example, can be pricey and cumbersome.

So if you don’t have a specific filter size that you need for your lens’s diameter, a good option is to use a step-up filter. They’re also sometimes also called stepping rings or adapter rings. Not to be confused with lens adapters (or lens mount adapters), which let you put one type of lens mount on a camera body that has a different style of lens mount.

Lens Filter Step-Up and Step-Down Rings

All step-up or step-down rings do is adapt the diameter of the filter to match the lens diameter. They don’t have any glass or electronics, so they have no bearing on the optical quality or features like autofocus.1

Lens Filter Step-Up and Step-Down Rings

Things Worth Knowing About Step-Up & Step-Down Rings

  • Step-Up/Step-Down rings don’t work well with lens hoods, so you’ll likely have to do without the hood.
  • As with regular filters, don’t over-tighten them. If you do, there’s a good chance you’ll damage the lens’s thread. If they do get stuck, you can use a rubber band or filter wrench to undo them.
  • There’s no optical quality to the filters—there’s no glass in them—so I’ve never seen the need to get expensive ones. The one caveat to that is that I much prefer metal filters to plastic ones—they’re just more durable, especially the threads.
  • It is possible to stack these rings to get to a size that no single ring can do, but it increases the chance of vignetting. And it’s less than ideal to push the filter glass further away from the lens itself—it just increases the risk of optical issues from dust or smudges on the filter.

Lens Filter Step-Up and Step-Down Rings

Where to Find Them

You can but them individually or in kits like this one.

Filter Ring Adapter, K&F Concept 18pcs Camera Lens Filter Metal Stepping...
Filter Ring Adapter, K&F Concept 18pcs Camera Lens Filter Metal Stepping...
  • Include Step Up Filter Adapter Ring Kit(37-49, 49-52, 52-55, 55-58, 58-62, 62-67,67-72, 72-77, 77-82mm)
  • Include Step Down Filter Adapter Ring Kit(49-37, 52-49, 58-55, 55-52, 62-58, 67-62,72-67, 77-72, 82-77mm...
Check Price at Amazon

  1. An exception to the optical quality is if you’re using a filter that’s smaller than the lens diameter, in which case there’s a strong chance you’ll get vignetting around the edges and corners of the frame. ↩

Images and product information from Amazon PA-API were last updated on 2021-04-13 at 03:49. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

By David Coleman
Instagram: @havecamerawilltraveldc

Last updated on March 6, 2020

Categories: Filters

I may earn a commission for purchases using links on this page. Learn more.

News & Deals

With the holidays fast approaching, there’s some great deals on photography gear and services available. I’ve put together a roundup of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 Photography Deals. It’s a running list as new deals are announced, so be sure to check back.

Canon announces new EOS Rebel T8i DSLR. Canon has announced their new T8i DSLR. 24MP APS-C cropped CMOS sensor, 4K24 video, and updated image processing and detection systems. It’s available for preorder from B&H Photo.

New Firmware for the Ricoh GR III. Ricoh has release firmware v1.31 for the GR III. Release notes are: “Corrected — When shooting with the multiple exposure, in rare cases the live view may not display correctly. Improved stability for general performance.” You can download it here.

New Canon 1D X Mark III Pro DSLR Announced. Canon has announced their new flagship model of pro DSLR, the 1D X Mark III. They’re sticking with a 20.1MP CMOS sensor, but it’s a new and improved version and boasts an incredible native ISO range of ISO 100 to ISO 102400 and an extended range that goes up to a jaw-dropping ISO 819200. With revamped autofocus, a new image processor, and all sorts of other bells and whistles, it’s no wonder that Canon is billing it as “The Ultimate EOS.”

New Manfrotto Pro Rugged Memory Cards. Manfrotto, an Italian probably best known for their tripods and studio accessories, has launched a new Pro Rugged range of high-end SD, microSD, and CompactFlash cards. While they don’t have a huge selection of sizes and speeds, the cards are aiming for very fast cards that can put up with rugged demands. For instance, they claim that their V90 rated SD cards can withstand three times the force (20kg / 45 lbs) of a regular SD card. I’ve ordered some to run through my speed tests.

New Sony Alpha a7 firmware released. A firmware update for the Sony a7R IV now lets you control external Sony flashes from the camera’s own menu system. Up to 15 flashes in five groups can be controlled via the camera. It also applies to the a7R III and a7 III.

Questions & Comments Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.

About Me

I take photos. I travel. I do it for a living. Seven continents. Dozens of countries. Up mountains. Under water. And a bunch of places in between.

Get in Touch

Newsletter

© 2009–2021 David Coleman · Have Camera Will Travel LLC · all rights reserved


Photos by David Coleman. Please contact me for licensing images.
All images are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.


Privacy & Disclosure · Cookie Declaration · Disclaimer · Terms of Service · Copyright · Contact


XML Sitemap