FILTER: UV or SKY?

[mike goldberg]

Good morning,

Yesterday, a wonderful Cosina 20mm lens in Nikon mount was delivered to my door from Tokyo. Filter size is 62mm, and I want to protect the broad front element with a good quality fiter.

I'm wondering if Sky is the way to go, since the Zeiss lens on my Sony videocam has a good quality UV filter on, all the time.

Comments on this appreciated.
Mike

 

[back alley]

not much difference really. the skylight filters were sold more for colour to keep the blues from the sky in hand.
the uv was marketed for b&w and then there were the haze filters...

if i used filters i'd go with a uv as i shoot only b&w.

joe

 

[Ergo]

To quote don chatterton,even tho at the time i didnt use his advice,"why put a $10.00 piece of glass on a $1000.00 lens?"

 

[Kim Coxon]

One answer could be "so your $1000 lens does not become a $400 one!" I wouldn't put a $10 filter on a $1000 lens but I wouldn't use a $10 filter. I would use a $35 B+W MRC one or similar. The quality on these is a match for a $1000 lens but it is down to choice. I have had several scratched/damaged filters but the only scratches/dinks on my lenses are the ones they came with.

Kim

To quote don chatterton,even tho at the time i didnt use his advice,"why put a $10.00 piece of glass on a $1000.00 lens?"

 

[Finder]

Mike, buy the best multicoated UV you can afford. That will be good for both black and white and color. Skylight was designed as a black and white filter and uses a slight magenta cast which would not be a problem with black and white, but will impact color.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

I'd recommend the B+W or Heliopan UV filters, they are the best, brass mounts, highest quality glass. The MRC multicoated ones are so good, you will probably not even see the actual glass itself.

 

[jaapv]

The best quality you can afford, Heliopan as suggested. They offer special "protective" filters, which are less likely to shatter and scratch you front lens if/when the worst happens. Leave the filter on when you are tempted to clean your lens and take it off in any hi-contrast situation, and you should be fine! 😛

 

[ruben]

Kindly correct me if I am wrong: UV is for B&W only, while Skylight is for both BW and Color.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[jaapv]

Kindly correct me if I am wrong: UV is for B&W only, while Skylight is for both BW and Color.

Cheers,
Ruben

I don't think so, magenta light has an influence on b+w emulsions as well. It is not that b+w film does not react to colour, it simply renders it in various shades of grey. Otherwise red, yellow, green etc. filters would have the same effect as neutral grey.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Skylight filters were originally made for colour film and have a very slightly warming effect with colour. Many are just slightly weaker than an 81A Wratten or KR1 in B+W gradings. Some like the Hoya's are a little stronger up to a max of about 81B. This should have little effect on monochrome so there is not much reason why you shouldn't use a Skylight. Personally, I tend to prefer UV with colour (depending on the film) and then colour correct as required with warming/cooling filters to get the right colour balance. To me it is the same as altering the contrast in monochrome with yellow, orange and red filters.

Kim

Kindly correct me if I am wrong: UV is for B&W only, while Skylight is for both BW and Color.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[ruben]

Oh folks Jaapv & Coxon, then you agree: The guy looking only for lens protection will save money by buying Skylight filters as they will not harm neither color nor BW emulsions !
Yes or No ?

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[jaapv]

Did you miss the bloody fights on : "to filter or not to filter" then? If you read carefully Kim and I are saying exactly the same thing!

 

[ruben]

Did you miss the bloody fights on : "to filter or not to filter" then? If you read carefully Kim and I are saying exactly the same thing!

Kindly note I rephrased my former message into a more diggestible one.

Cheers,
ruben


Ps: as for bloody fights, I quited boxing looking, unless they are documentaries or fiction films about Mohammed Ali. Thrilling !, brother.

 

[jaapv]

Best from the Heliopan "protective"series.

 

[Kim Coxon]

To take this point a little further, Skylight filters are more of a pink than a magenta. The magenta filters tend to get more use in the darkroom but can be used on the camera to correct the colour cast you get with some films. In the case of magenta, I think it is green.

The eye is a wonderful piece of kit and automatically makes many adjustments. The problem is that it can be fooled such as in the thread on the "colour eye trick". Film is more predictable. A skylight filter and the Wratten series are designed to correct colour temperature. The obvious and extreme case is in the daylight to artificial ones and vice versa. Any colour film is designed to work at a specific colour temperature and if used outside of this will produce results with a colour shift as opposed to what we think we saw with the eye. With C41 film, this is a lesser problem as the resultant cast can be corrected in the print stage but it can be very noticeable on slides. I haven't seen one for a while but you can get colour temperature meters in the same way as exposure meters and using a table you can use a filter to match the light to the film. (typically 5500 degrees K) The amount of cloud, the time of day, altitude and declination of the sun will all affect the colour temp and it is sometimes this that causes very blue images rather than just the effect of UV.

Kim

I don't think so, magenta light has an influence on b+w emulsions as well. It is not that b+w film does not react to colour, it simply renders it in various shades of grey. Otherwise red, yellow, green etc. filters would have the same effect as neutral grey.

 

[ruben]

To take this point a little further, Skylight filters are more of a pink than a magenta. The magenta filters tend to get more use in the darkroom but can be used on the camera to correct the colour cast you get with some films. In the case of magenta, I think it is green.

The eye is a wonderful piece of kit and automatically makes many adjustments. The problem is that it can be fooled such as in the thread on the "colour eye trick". Film is more predictable. A skylight filter and the Wratten series are designed to correct colour temperature. The obvious and extreme case is in the daylight to artificial ones and vice versa. Any colour film is designed to work at a specific colour temperature and if used outside of this will produce results with a colour shift as opposed to what we think we saw with the eye. With C41 film, this is a lesser problem as the resultant cast can be corrected in the print stage but it can be very noticeable on slides. I haven't seen one for a while but you can get colour temperature meters in the same way as exposure meters and using a table you can use a filter to match the light to the film. (typically 5500 degrees K) The amount of cloud, the time of day, altitude and declination of the sun will all affect the colour temp and it is sometimes this that causes very blue images rather than just the effect of UV.

Kim

Dear Kim,
Mike is asking for lens protection only. Do you agree on a single Skylight for bw and color emulsions or we are indeed going to clarify the issue at a world ecumenical concilium (this I deleted in my abovementioned posting) ?

 

[Kim Coxon]

I will second this. UV or "protection" filters are neutral in colour shift. Skylights give a warming effect which might not be wanted. Heliopan and B+W are similar quality and price. Either are equally good and both better than even the "premium" Hoya ones.

Kim

Best from the Heliopan "protective"series.

 

[ruben]

I will second this. UV or "protection" filters are neutral in colour shift. Skylights give a warming effect which might not be wanted. Heliopan and B+W are similar quality and price. Either are equally good and both better than even the "premium" Hoya ones.

Kim

So you are saying there is a single type both for bw and colour, but it is not the Skylight but the UV, right ????


PS, fellow Kim and Jaapv, you are driving me nuts this time, fortunately this is not MY thread since if it was I would delete it too !!!!

 

[Kim Coxon]

Yup

Kim

So you are saying there is a single type both for bw and colour, but it is not the Skylight but the UV, right ????

 

[Kim Coxon]

Half the problem is that all three of us were typing at the same time so the posts kept getting crossed. 😀 😉

Kim

PS, fellow Kim and Jaapv, you are driving me nuts this time, fortunately this is not MY thread since if it was I would delete it too !!!!