Black and White filters

Black and White filters

  • 80% - 100%

    Votes: 131 19.0%

  • 50% - 80%

    Votes: 116 16.9%

  • 25% - 50%

    Votes: 106 15.4%

  • 10% - 25%

    Votes: 80 11.6%

  • less then 10%

    Votes: 121 17.6%

  • I never use them

    Votes: 65 9.4%

  • I don't own any

    Votes: 69 10.0%
  • Total voters
    688
I only use the chromogenic B&W films (developed in C41 colour chemicals) and as they are all ISO400 a filter can help give more aperture/speed options on bright days - after all, when many older cameras were designed 400 ASA was as fast as the meter setting would go.
I usually stick with yellow or yellow/green but recently had some interesting results with a dark green filter while doing macro shots on an SLR.

Cheers, Robin
 
Have to have a UV filter here in sandy, sunny, humid Florida for my CV Color- Skopar 35mm/2.5. I shoot mainly B & W. Should the filter be Multi Coated? Don't use color filters, I PP instead.
 
Light Yellow almost continuously. Occasionally I use red or red-orange. Rarely green. Sometimes I forget whether I have B&W or Color loaded in the Leica, and then I tend to a Sky-1A, Haze-1 or 81A, to be on the safe side. You do not want to use a yellow filter on color film (unless you like that sort of thing).

That is the best argument for a three way switch/marker on the back of a camera: B&W, C-41, E-6. I can't even deal with reminders holders, but windows work great.
 
Interestig results, half of us almost never filter, and the other half almost always filter...

I filter nearly 100% of the shots in b&w and color, no matter the format or lens.
 
I use a R72 (for infrared obviously). I have a red and a yellow filter, never used the yellow before, oh, and I have a blue filter which I've also never used. Really like the red filter but never use it due to the 3 stops lost
 
I voted less than ten percent back when this poll was first published, and when I shoot film, that is still correct, but I do most of my stuff digitally now, and Nik Silver Efex Pro has an absolutely fantastic filter simulation algorithm. I find myself using it on pretty much every shot I convert to black and white, and if there are no people in the shot, I find myself using the Blue filter most often. For any of you who shoot digital or scan their black and white negatives, I highly recommend it, as it lets you decide after the fact which filter will work best for each individual shot, as well as the intensity of the effect. Another bonus is that it doesn't cost you stops.
 
If you shoot color digital and convert them to B&W, you never need use a filter. You can get the exact same effect in post-processing. Google Picasa makes this especially easy to do, and it handles a wide array of raw formats now.

/T
 
I've had this 25A fitler for a long, long time but never got around to using it until last week...I really liked the results with the clouds in the background...
 
I have a collection of the colored filters for BW but honestly never use them. I had never bothered using filters all my life and last year I spent the money to buy a set of them to fit my Hasselblad and have never seen the need for them. I should try them though
 
I use either a Hoya orange "G" (actually more of a dark yellow) or a B+W 040 (which really is orange). I tried a red filter but apart from losing some light I could barely tell the difference from the either of the yellow/orange filters on Tri-X so it went back in the box. Both the G and the 040 make a very noticeable difference to outdoor scenes with foliage or blue sky.

While there is a lot of advice floating around about filter factors I have not found it necessary to add more than 1/3 stop with either the G or 040, using cameras with TTL metering (despite what the M6 manual says). After some controlled testing, now I don't bother and just shoot the film "straight up" at its rated ISO.
 
ssmc said:
I use either a Hoya orange "G" (actually more of a dark yellow) or a B+W 040 (which really is orange). I tried a red filter but apart from losing some light I could barely tell the difference from the either of the yellow/orange filters on Tri-X so it went back in the box. Both the G and the 040 make a very noticeable difference to outdoor scenes with foliage or blue sky.

While there is a lot of advice floating around about filter factors I have not found it necessary to add more than 1/3 stop with either the G or 040, using cameras with TTL metering (despite what the M6 manual says). After some controlled testing, now I don't bother and just shoot the film "straight up" at its rated ISO.
Click to expand...

Filter factors that come in the instructions for filters assume use of a handheld meter, not a TTL meter that is reading through the filters. TTL meters do pretty good with most filters at automatically giving he correct increase, but some colors, like red, need a little more exposure than the TTL meter looking through the filter will say.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Filter factors that come in the instructions for filters assume use of a handheld meter, not a TTL meter that is reading through the filters. TTL meters do pretty good with most filters at automatically giving he correct increase, but some colors, like red, need a little more exposure than the TTL meter looking through the filter will say.
Click to expand...

That is good information, Chris. I've had that experience but never realized what was going on; thanks.
 
Yes, agree with Chris on the red... the meters tend to be a bit more sensitive to red than the typical B&W film, so will deliver underexposure in red/orange light or with TTL metering through red or orange filters.
 
I use a duplicate filter on the spotmeter

I use a duplicate filter on the spotmeter

I typically put the same type of filter on my Pentax spot meter that I am using on the camera (Fuji 6x9), that way I have not needed to worry about filter factors.

If I use a filter on my ga645zi, which does not meter through the filter, I first measure the filter by taking several readings with the Pentax spot meter with and without the filter in the same type of lighting conditions I want to shoot in. I then using the weighted (by judgment call) difference in the readings as my filter factor for the ga645zi by reducing the ISO setting the appropriate amount.

My Nikon FM & FE meter through the filter and usually get the exposure right.
 
would cokin p filters do as well as screw-ins?

would cokin p filters do as well as screw-ins?

Just bought several colored p filters since I have various-sized lenses in different formats, and waiting on them to arrive via post.

Any input would be appreciated,

Cheers!
 
I voted 10-25% but it completely depends on what I am shooting. If I am just out walking around and shooting quickly, I don't use filters. If I am looking and studying things more closely I will sometime use filters to separate some of the color/gray tones that would otherwise blend too closely. If you shoot in color and are converting to b&w, you can do this on Photoshop or Lightroom or other editing programs. I use yellow, orange and red. Jim
 
I have yellow and orange and red filters too. But I rarely use the yellow or orange ones, because I always get more of what I'm after with the red ones. Lately I prefer 29 to my old stand by, 25.
 
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