Optical Filters on Digital BW?

[ZorkiKat]

This question would apply for digital cameras with BW setting and 'filter' (eg, red, yellow, green) options in them. So which would be better- using the virtual filter settings or placing the real thing over the lens? Better in this sense would be defined by the sort of tonal contrasts achieved, discounting issues lens quality degradation from having filters over it.

FWIW, the only optical filters I've used on digital cameras are IR and polarisers. Would using, say a #2 yellow on digital BW give the same effects as the same filter over Tri-X?

Jay

 

[kaiyen]

light is light. A yellow filter will lighten yellow and darken blue with digital just as it would with film. So if you are shooting and use B&W mode, the tonal difference should still show up.

allan

 

[dazedgonebye]

Better than all of that would be to shoot in color and use the channel mixer in photoshop to do the filterings after the fact.
I can recommend an excellent book on the subject: Mastering Black and White Digital Photography http://tinyurl.com/vrt4t

Otherwise, I think it's down the the camera maker's implementation of the greyscale conversions and filters. I imagine it would vary by brand and even model.

Does using the B&W simulations limit you to .jpeg files? If so, that's another very good reason to avoid them.