Filters- Leica vs B+W or none?!

Filters- Leica vs B+W or none?!

  • Leica UV filters

    Votes: 38 10.6%

  • B+W MRC fliters

    Votes: 177 49.2%

  • Hoya MC filters

    Votes: 18 5.0%

  • Go "Commando" (no filters at all)

    Votes: 127 35.3%
  • Total voters
    360
Noooo, raki is the liquid "Sildenafil" that they give you before you buy a carpet! Oh, man; they have some stories...
 
There are also Rodenstock filters as well.

I have a mixed batch of B+W, Leitz, Contax, Lee, Rodenstock and Kodak Wratten filters that I've built-up over the years. I use the Leitz filters for monochrome work. I bought the 55 mm Contax filters because they were cheaper than other brands, secondhand, but they didn't work on the 90 mm Summicron as the mounts are too large and prevent the lens hood from working. I can use them on my Contax SLRs, though. I'm now building up my stocks of Leitz 55 mm filters, as I know they fit properly.

I have a Heliopan polarizer but it doesn't seem as well made as the B+W, Rodenstock or Leitz filters. The rotating mechanism is looser and less precise.

Nick
 
Interesting find, Treb!

"If we had meant for our lenses to have a flat piece
of glass in front, we would have designed them that way."
-Leica lens designer

So regarding the response about Absorban, we are to assume that they started using it some time in the early 60's?
 
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Well it was my memory first and to confirm Google came second...

I remembered a book I own with two pictures of the same scene shot both with a 50 mm Leica. One with an old 50mm lens, one with a recent 50mm. One suffered from UV, the other didn't.

The book is called Leica M6 by Richard Hünecke. Published in 1990 by Laterna Magica. ISBN 3-87467-407-X. See page 86/87. Oh, and being able to read German is a must for this book...

200px-M6-90.jpg
 
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Cool. I'll look for that book. Although my German is almost nonexistent, I am always up for a challenge, especially when it involves other languages!
 
Hi all.

First time subscriber to the forums.

I use a UV filter on all my M Lenses instead of a lens cover - primarily for protection only. I take it off when shooting......

Best Rgds.

Izzy KL Malaysia


Since 1995 - IIIc IIIg M2 M4 M6 50 Summitar 28 Elmarit 50 Lux 50 Summicron 90 Elmarit
 
I agree that Hoya is harder to clean an easy to ruin the coating. So I don't use them much any more. But TIFFEN are cheap and very good. Much cheaper than B+W.
 
I used to think UV filters were not necessary until a huge drop of melted ice cream magically appeared on the front elements of a lens that had the hood on. The lens hadn't been near ice cream... I still don't know how it got there. It was the only lens I had with me at the time, so I couldn't take more pictures until I got home and tried cleaning it. Cleaning ice cream is much harder than cleaning a mere fingerprint. Sounds silly, but I now use B+W filters just in case.
 
On my Gronica rf645 lenses I've B+W UV MRC slim filters and they are great!!ON my contax g2 I've a Kaesermann pol filter for standard lens (28/35/45/90) and a slim kaesermann pol for my 21mm biogon and they are great!!Few years ago I've got 5/6 bay 3 filters for my rollei 2,8
 
I have voted for B+W filters, because there are only a choice for voting. I have many filters B+W, but also Marumi or Tamron or Kenko or Hoya, in many diameters, for many lenses, for rangefinder or reflex 35 mm cameras, or TLR cameras (B30 or Rollei I).
I use only BW filters (red, yellow, green or orange), while for the colour photography i use 81C/KR3, 82C/KB3, Circular Polarizing, ND4x and 499/FLD and KB20 when i shoot in interior without the flash.
Ciao.
Vincenzo
 
leica and B+W make the most accurate brass shaped thread, you could not damage your lens normaly. Hoya can be aluminium or older alloy and can mess up.
 
I voted B+W. But in reality, I use several brands. I do favor B+W for the MRC coating, which is the next thing to having no glass at all. But the B+W filter rings are very thick, which can be a problem with wide-angle lenses. Heliopan, on the other hand, makes a very thin filter ring. I don't believe anyone even mentioned Heliopan. You know, they had the ad with a moose hiding in the bushes, and he says, "I'm not coming out unless it's a Heliopan filter?" Nikon makes thin filter rings, too; but hey, this is a Leica thread, and Leica doesn't use 52mm filters.

Hoya? One of the sharpest pictures I ever took was through a Hoya filter. They have several different coatings at various prices. I believe the best is the HMC, or Hoya MultiCoated. It is a good brand.

Tiffen. Have you ever seen a coated Tiffen filter? I have not, and I have a bunch of them. When I hold up a Tiffen, all I see reflected is the color of the light bulb I'm using for illumination. No blue, green, or red reflections. I don't think they coat them. Too bad, since they make most of the color correction filters I use, like 81A, B, and C, and the Tiffen 812, which is kind of double-strength skylight. I use 'em when I need 'em, even though not coated.
 
lawrence said:
I think aluminium thread filters are more likely to bind than brass thread filters. Anyway I don't use filters, except for occasionally an orange filter for b&w.
Click to expand...


Aluminum threaded onto aluminum will gall--meaning it will stick tight. An example is with the front and rear halves of a Tiffen filter holder, both parts being made of aluminum. Aluminum and brass have a mutually sliding, non-binding quality; which is why Leica makes its helicoids using brass and aluminum together. A brass filter screwed into a brass lens can bind pretty tight--that is just a personal observation.

I suppose another reason why aluminum can seem to bind is that, being a soft metal, the threads might be more easliy distorted over time, with comtinued or rough use.
 
great.. too many B+W users...

1. anyone tried the new xs-pro filter? does it REALLY make a difference?

2. which do you usually get? 010uv or 007 no effect? Im really curious.
 
I used to put filters (B+W multi-coated) on some of the more vulnerable lenses, but in the end found them to get in the way of good images. Especially when shooting at night, two problems pop up. First one is that even with the best filters, there's ghosting of lights and lighted objects into the darkest parts of the picture.. The other is the often fast drop in temperature when the sky is completely clear. The water vapour in the air caught between the filter and the front element starts to condense, leading veiling and flare.
 
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