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monochrom color filters

gooomz

Member
anyone using a yellow or orange filter 24/7 on their monochrom?

even indoors?

is there much light loss with the orange filter? 1/2 stop?
 

Paratom

Well-known member
I leave yellow filter on the lenses most of the time. I believe yellow works well for both landscape and also skin, and can help to prevent highlights.
I also have one orange and one light red filter but the yellow seems a good "compromise" to me. I dont want to screw filters on/off all the time.
 

Anders_HK

Member
The best write up of filters for B&W is in Ansel Adams book The Negative :thumbs:

He describes very exact their effect.

Worked when I had M8 and works on any camera :D
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Early on with my MM I shot an Xrite color checker under controlled lighting with no filters and then with B+W 022 (medium yellow) and 040 (yellow orange). I did the same thing with the same lens and Kodak Tmax 100 (I know you hate this film}.

I scanned the film on my Imacon. In LR I adjusted tone, contrast and curve of the MM files (using the gray patches) to approximate the scanned film.

Results: in terms of how it translates color to B&W the MM is quite similar to the Kodak film - differences are minor and given my fairly casual methodology probably don't have much meaning.

The MM reacts to filtration very much like film. Side by side landscapes with blue skies, foliage and puffy clouds confirmed this.

This test also let me confirm that the Silver Effex Pro software does a decent job of approximating Tmax.

With the 022 filter the MM's metering is roughly accurate; with the 040 there is an underexposure bias - a +1/3 setting (rather than the usual -1/3) seems about right.
 

gooomz

Member
anyone using color filters for b&w for indoor existing light portraits also?

i dont shoot landscapes.
if i am going to pick up one filter for portraits which would be advisable:

yellow, yellow orange, or orange?
 
V

Vivek

Guest
The best write up of filters for B&W is in Ansel Adams book The Negative :thumbs:

He describes very exact their effect.

Worked when I had M8 and works on any camera :D
Is that Adams book available for iPad? :rolleyes:
 

Hosermage

Active member
goomz, you could probably just take a color indoor portrait image, and try out the different color filter presets in lightroom to get an idea which one you will prefer. I suspect the results should be similar. My guess is yellow.


if i am going to pick up one filter for portraits which would be advisable:

yellow, yellow orange, or orange?
 
V

Vivek

Guest
I think it will be swell if Leica come up with a Wratten 90 attachment for the view finder.

(Although, personally, I would like to see a true liveview monochrome cam)
 

algrove

Well-known member
I use either orange (now getting to be my favorite) or yellow. Did try red today and sometimes I liked it and sometimes not, orange is my filter of choice. I think the orange losses about 1 stop. The red losses at least two more over the orange.
 

Anders_HK

Member
Is that Adams book available for iPad? :rolleyes:
You will likely, same as I did, very considerably flip back and fourth in the pages when reading and to compare. Thus the printed version will yield better value and a nice addition for your shelf. :D

The Negative is one of best books I have read on photographic process.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
I have all his books for ~15 years now.

Reading and understanding is highly recommended. :)
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Here is a data sheet from Leica comparing the spectral response of the MM to Tmax 400. It confirms my experience but at a greater level of scientific accuracy:

spectral response is very similar to Tmax. Flesh tones very close. On the MM
some saturated reds and oranges are a little darker. This means that the experience of working with color filters is very similar to film. A very sharp IR cutoff, again consistant with my experience.



 
V

Vivek

Guest
One real problem while using color filters on the MM, especially while using fast lenses (typically the ones used for portraits) is the focus shift. This will vary depending on the color of the filter as well as the thickness of the filter used.
 

gooomz

Member
is the focus shift on the MM a problem at f5.6 or are is the focus shift only a problem at f2 or 1.4?

would a wide angle like a 24mm exhibit any noticeable focus shift on the MM with color filter or is it only a real problem with 50mm and above?
 
V

Vivek

Guest
is the focus shift on the MM a problem at f5.6 or are is the focus shift only a problem at f2 or 1.4?

would a wide angle like a 24mm exhibit any noticeable focus shift on the MM with color filter or is it only a real problem with 50mm and above?
Depends on the lens and the thickness of the filter used for a given lighting situation. Experiment. It is a digicam, after all. :)
 

Shashin

Well-known member
With front mounted filters, focus shift, or more correctly, object distance shift, is not an issue. Filters mounted behind a lens can cause problems.
 
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