Should I shoot Ektachrome with or without a filter?

[jpa66]

When shooting landscapes with a lot of green and moisture ( think Western Pennsylvania, Ireland ), does anyone recommend the use of a filter ( I was thinking of a polarizing one )? I'm going to be shooting in both places relatively soon, and will be using Ektachrome ( and maybe Provia ) as my color film. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for filter usage? Will the film have too much of a blue-ish/green cast to it without a filter?

I haven't used a filter in many, many years. I recall from my earlier days that it didn't usually make much of a difference to my eyes, and I'd personally rather see the image unadulterated from whichever lens I'm using.

Regardless, should I use a filter, and if so, which kind? Or simply not use any filter?

I'll be shooting the color film through Nikon slr glass ( blasphemy, I know! ).

Thanks,
Jan

 

[nikon_sam]

While shooting Velvia 50 I would use a Polarizing Filter to get as much color out of the film as possible...
The Polarizer will only work at certain angles in relationship to the sun's position...
Read up on using a Polarizer then go out and experiment with the filter without the camera...look at a tree with leaves, water, most things shiney or a window...you should be able to see the punch in color and the loss of unwanted reflections...

 

[jpa66]

My main concern is everything being too green ( or blue ), not so much the intensity of colors. I guess I'm wondering if any filter can cut the tendency of the film towards the blue/green side of the color wheel.

 

[Landshark]

An 81A will knock out just a bit of the blue.
The effect is subtle but shoot the same scene with and without the filter and compare them on a light box. Without the side by side, it's doubtful that you will notice any difference between the exposures.

As an aside, if you use lenses from different manufacturers like Nikon vs Canon vs Leica vs any aftermarket providers There's about the same sort of visible difference if the slides are compared Side by Side. It's not visible in a color negative because a print isn't original and chemical/filtration in the printing process are variable.

 

[kokoshawnuff]

I shot E100VS in Kauai a couple months ago with no filter except a polarizer occasionally and I had no cast issues and I definitely didn't reduce the vibrance after scanning. If you plan on scanning and post processing then I'd suggest you don't use a filter because the difference a filter will make is so small it can also be made in pp without any degradation to the image. If you are only going to project them, then I couldn't tell you anything other than I thought mine replicated the actual colors pretty well

Here's one with E100VS and no filter:

 

[jpa66]

OK, I may try to fool around with a polarizer ( I think I have one somewhere... ) and a warming filter to see if I think it's worth it to use either one.

Thanks, gentlemen.

Jan

 

[Tom D.]

What Ektachrome are you shooting?

What Ektachrome are you shooting?

I worked on the Kodak R&D teams for most of the latest Ektachrome films. Your choice of filter may to some extent depend on which film you are using... E100GX and E100VS are balanced somewhat warmer than E100G. The Elitechrome amateur stocks are also somewhat warmer than the E100G. Your other big "knob" is the inherent color saturation/contrast of your film. If you are concerned about oversaturated greens and foliage, then you should stick with lower saturation films such as E100G/GX and Provia. E100VS and Velvia have very high color saturation--- with a polarizer this can start to look cartoonish, IMO.

That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't use a filter with any of these films. As others have suggested, warming filters (Wratten 81A,B, etc.) will help reduce the blue content in your images and might be helpful if you are shooting foliage in shade or overcast lighting which is inherently more "blue". There are CCmagenta filters which could reduce the amount of green in your image, but these are less easily found, and you would want to test the effects of these before your trip to confirm the effects are what you want.

The polarizing filter will probably have the largest impact on your images by removing reflections from foliage/rocks and thus significantly changing the appearance of your images. I think this is well worth trying, and since you can see the effect in your viewfinder, you can decide how much (if any) polarization you want to apply before taking the shot.


Hope this helps. Enjoy your trips.