Old green filter on Zorki ?

[tunalegs]

My Zorki 4 is away at a friend's so I bought another one off of ebay... I was surprised when an old and extremely dirty slip on green filter came with it. There are no markings of any sort on the filter. I'm assuming it is a yellow-green filter, and google found me a few comments that suggest these filters came with Zorkis when new.

So two questions - is it true this filter would come boxed with a new Zorki? And does anybody know what the filter factor is for these filters?

Thanks.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

You could easily determine filter factor with anything which has light meter.
I use iPhone app. I measure with filter on camera and without it.

Yes, they made a lot of different filters in USSR, not just cameras.
If your looks trashed, most likely it has lost white paint markings.

 

[KnipsOmat]

I've got a couple of similar ZhS-12 light yellow and ZhS-18 yellow filters, these have filter factors of 1.4 and 2, respectively.

They are marked with manufacturer logo, filter type no. and filter size, but filter factors are not shown on any of these filters themselves.

Yellow green or light green filters typically have filter factors of roundabout 2. Green filters more like 3.

Precise factor depends on subject and the light colours it reflects anyway, so that should be a good enough starting point.

I've got no idea if these filters came boxed with the camera when new.

 

[farlymac]

It's possible that you could buy a kit camera with filters and other accessories back when they were new. But I've never heard of such marketing of FSU stuff.

PF

 

[ddutchison]

In B&W photography, light green filters will act similarly to a yellow filter (darkening blue skies from very pale to medium gray - making clouds stand out), but they also brighten green foliage which is often rendered a darker gray than we might expect.

They were/are very popular with Landscape photographers. Assuming this is a copy of the Kodak Wratten 11 filter, 2X would be a good guess for the FF.

 

[newspaperguy]

I seem to recall someone - Peter Gowland, perhaps - recommending green filters for daylight portraits... B&W film of course. This was b-i-t-d.

 

[farlymac]

Yeah, green filters are recommended for proper skin tones on B&W film, besides the foliage brightening.

PF

 

[Sparrow]

Yeah, green filters are recommended for proper skin tones on B&W film, besides the foliage brightening.

PF

... but only if your sitter has a good complexion ... any blemishes, spots or freckles will become darker.

So someone with a good complexion will look tanned and healthy, a poor complexion will look like an extra in a zombie film

 

[Muggins]

Yes, anything red - spots, veins, etc - will be darkened. Great for Garbo-style lips, but potentially very unflattering. I recall seeing a portrait of Amy Winehouse where it was very obvious that everything red had been darkened (I suspect digitally rather than a green filter, but similar effect), and it made her look much worse than she did at the time.

Adrian

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I'll join suddenly started knowledge limbo with some personal experience. Do forgive me, OP.


Untitled by Ko.Fe., on Flickr


Roots of care. by Ko.Fe., on Flickr

Taken with FED-2 and I-26m.

It works well with snow and on people. I have World Naked Bike Ride photos on my Flickr, which I can't show here. But believe me - a lot of human skin and no blemishes revealed by the filter.

I often use it just as ND filter for 400 film on sunny day.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

The more I looked the more confused it became. Up to x6 seems to be the conclusion from the older books dealing with B&W film. It might be best to experiment.

If it came with a Zorki then the camera's passport would list it. Alas, I've not the luxury of that in the collection.

Regards, David

 

[sevo]

The more I looked the more confused it became. Up to x6 seems to be the conclusion from the older books dealing with B&W film. It might be best to experiment.

Even TTL can be off when it comes to strongly monochromatic film. It depends on the film, or rather, the colour sensitizers used therein, and on the illumination.