Filters and B&W

[5nap5hot]

How many who shoot with B&W with their rangefinder use filters? Do you use them all the time? Which filter do you use most often?

 

[woodphoto]

I usually have a UV or a skylight filter on my lens, just for portection. I really only use a 25A red filter for B&W to give a bland sky some pop.

 

[rogue_designer]

I use them - tho certainly not all the time.

most often - ND .6 (two stops)
next most often - Red #25

 

[peter_n]

Most modern lenses are fairly contrasty and don't need color filters, but if you like high contrast in your pics like I do then if you have older lenses it is worth considering. I occasionally use a 5cm/f3.5 Elmar and it always has a 1/2 stop light yellow on the front.

 

[mervynyan]

yellow then red then a UV, in that order

www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filters.htm

 

[Xmas]

%hot%ot

Hood always, helps contract with all of my lenses, inc Leitz

Light Yellow for B&W unless it is overcast, for blue sky wisps of cloud days, yellow to orange, sequence through if using tripod.

Pola for colour with blue sky, fiddle with angle if on tripod.

Skylight for cats and dogs, sometimes I forget and just leave sky/light yellow on all the time, I've been known to shoot colour with yellow when changing types, tusk tusk.

Noel

 

[Bryce]

I use a light yellow (K2) as a standard filter. Times when it's not needed for contrast in the sky, I use a skylight filter for protection. This would be overcast conditions, indoors, etc. If there's a lot of evergreen trees I'll use a yellow-green filter or the trees render too dark for my liking. If I'm exposing for the shaded side of a scene, I'll use an orange filter to darken the sky since the yellow or yellow-green filters will leave it white.
Gets complicated, I often just use the yellow even when I shouldn't.

 

[FPjohn]

Light yellow

Light yellow

Hello:

I use a light yellow* as standard for B&W and skylight for colour.

yours
Frank

*Deep yellow or orange for pop.

 

[Trius]

Yellow-green, yellow, ND, in that order

 

[Russ]

A lens shade and deep yellow (#15) filter.

Russ

 

[richard_l]

I use a light yellow most of the time. If the sky is hazy, I may switch to an orange. If there is much atmospheric haze, a red seems to help improve apparent contrast.

Richard

 

[Terao]

Another vote for yellow here. Used to use red a lot, but find I need it less on my RF than I do on my old Nikon gear...

 

[markinlondon]

My vote is exactly what Trius said. Yellow/green for scenic or landscape, no.8 yellow for city stuff, ND8 (3 stops) for wide apertures in bright light.

 

[Russ]

Wedding party on the beach of Oregon. Deep yellow #15 filter used.

Russ

 

[Trius]

Mark: Yellow-green is also nice for skintones in many situations ... no doubt you know that, just thought I'd mention it for other folks.

Russ: VERY nice shot; now I have to get some deep yellow filters.

 

[Russ]

Mark: Yellow-green is also nice for skintones in many situations ... no doubt you know that, just thought I'd mention it for other folks.

Russ: VERY nice shot; now I have to get some deep yellow filters.

Trius

Thanks. The regular yellow #8, doesn't really do it for me. I really like the deep yellows. They're also great for people with heavily freckled complexion.

Russ

 

[bsdunek]

I've always found that a yellow filter makes B&W look more 'natural' to my eyes. I'll use red if I want more contrast. I only use skylight and UV filters for color, as I think the colored filters are more effective for B&W. IMHO