Need advice on filters

[ChrisN]

Can someone point me to some good basic information on filters for B&W. I've just acquired a Series VI hood for Canon, which came with two Walz filters; a UV and a B.5. I understand the use of UV, but what effect does a B5 filter have? And how many stops do I need to add to the exposure setting? Thanks.

 

[Ralf]

I'm not sure what a B5 is ot it's effects.

The most common filters in B&W (not C41) would be -

Yellow (Slight darkening of blue skies, can improve skin tones and for some people. Lose 1 stop of light). Some folk leave on on thier camera for most shots.

Orange - More pronounced darkening of blue sky, not particulalry good for portriats as it tends to lighten the red areas of skin like lips and around the eyes which can give a ghostly look, increase contrast for some scenes, lose two stops of light.

Red - Turns blue skies dark. (IMHO, this only looks good if you have white clouds in the sky, but thats just me), not very good for portraites, increases contrast. Lose three stops. Combine a red filter with a polariser to turn blue skies to almost black (5 stops)

Others on the list may use a blue or green, and IR filters etc for specialised purposes, however I think the orimary three filter are listed above.

I didn;t answer your question, but I hope this helps.