UV filter at night?

J

Jaans

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I have always tended to use a medium yellow or orange filter for my summicron, elmar or rokkor lens during the day. The medium yellow would be on them for 90% of the time and the orange filter for the other 10%.

At night I have always used the lens as is with no filter. I have had a few close calls recently with drinks nearly being spilt onto the lens.

So, I was wondering, would a BW UV filter work well at night under dim conditions?

Furthermore, are there any adverse side effects from using a UV filter at night?

Alternatively, would a sky light or another filter be preferable for nighttime conditions?

I was hoping to use yellow by day, then change over to the UV at night. I wanted to purchase a MRC from B@H and wanted to check on other members opions on this.

Thankyou.
 
Anybody?

I am was wondering what a UV filter will do to highlights etc with photos taken at night. I am particularly interested in its effect with black and white film, like TRI-X etc.

thanks
 
Where is the UV at night supposed to come from? The intensity of starlight is negligible, and artificial light tends to have none or negligible amounts of UV. Unless you are photographing near a high pressure discharge lamp with broken outer (fluorescent) bulb, or some UV rich special light source (decorative blacklight, or terrarium and greenhouse illumination), a UV filter will have no effect.
 
It will have the unpleasant effect of mirrored-reflections.
 
Sure, use it as a protective filter. The risk of internal reflections is sufficiently miniscule that I've never worried about it, nor had a problem: a UV filter lives on the front of my 35 Summilux, and has for 30 years. The real risk of reflections is inside the lens itself.

Cheers,
 
Well this example is from the 35 Lux Asph v1 wide open with a B+W MRC UV filter on. This lens can flare easily at night so, for one, I take it off at night now. Other lenses dont seem too bad - even big stuff like the CV 50 1.1 wide open is good with filter for controlling flare
 
Roger Hicks said:
Sure, use it as a protective filter. The risk of internal reflections is sufficiently miniscule that I've never worried about it, nor had a problem: a UV filter lives on the front of my 35 Summilux, and has for 30 years. The real risk of reflections is inside the lens itself.
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I agree with this 100% for the gear that I use. When I first started shooting at night in earnest, I always forgot to take off the UV filter from my daytime shots. When I couldn't notice any flare whatsoever from leaving it on, I figured it wasn't worth the time or the risk of damaging the front lens element at night to remove it.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Sure, use it as a protective filter. The risk of internal reflections is sufficiently miniscule that I've never worried about it, nor had a problem: a UV filter lives on the front of my 35 Summilux, and has for 30 years. The real risk of reflections is inside the lens itself.

Cheers,
Click to expand...
Does this mean you never use a yellow filter?
 
I am guessing what you are getting at is whether or not you will get any light loss or other problems. Light loss, no, unless it is a very dirty filter. Other problems, such as increased flare, look at Mr. Hicks' entry above.
 
Firstly, I would like to thank: Roger Hicks, oftheherd, Double Negative, kshapero, imokruok, craygc, flip and sevo for all of your collective wisdom.

Looking back at my original post I now realize that it sounded a little convoluted.

So, I should have framed my question more along the lines of: what is the best kind of protective filter for night work that doesn't affect or change the image reproduction/quality of negs? Skylight, UV or clear glass filter (by the way do b+w makes those?)

Thanks again everyone^^
 
Jaans said:
Firstly, I would like to thank: Roger Hicks, oftheherd, Double Negative, kshapero, imokruok, craygc, flip and sevo for all of your collective wisdom.

Looking back at my original post I now realize that it sounded a little convoluted.

So, I should have framed my question more along the lines of: what is the best kind of protective filter for night work that doesn't affect or change the image reproduction/quality of negs? Skylight, UV or clear glass filter (by the way do b+w makes those?)

Thanks again everyone^^
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Dear Jaans,

Doesn't really matter. ANY of those, from a good manufacturer, will be fine. The filter on my old Summilux is a Leitz UV.

Cheers,

R.
 
You can clean spit off;) I'd leave the filter at home. Just last night I had an otherwise good shot ruined by a double image of the moon from the front lens element reflecting against the filter. I'm sure it can happen with any lights though this was one time i forgot it on there.
 
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Dear Roger,

Thanks for answering my second question.

I think that you made a really good point there - a good manufacturer should factor into the final choice.

I have recently sided with b+w due to the high quality of their glass and the rim doesn't seem to wear/brass as much as the Heliopan equivalent. I found that in terms of glass yellow filters, Heliopan and b+w are neck and neck. However, b+w doesn't seem to wear as much as Heliopan. I was surprised as to how quickly my Heliopan brassed along the black rim.

I think that I will purchase a UV so I can use it both day and night, when I am not using my yellow and orange.

chris7521 - I would also prefer to leave the filter at home, but like I said, I had too many close calls recently with my lens. If I had a bigger budget I would be less protective, but I have to look after my gear as it is too expensive for me to damage then replace.

cheers,
jaans
 
The clearest filter(meaning, really, the most effective AR coating) I've seen so far is the Nikon NC. I'm waiting to see a recently ordered B+W 007 MRC. BTW, to eliminate direct, bounce-back type reflections, one can(with some trouble and possible annoyance)arrange to mount a filter at an angle; Like the so-called 'slant' filter holder or matte box as used for motion picture work.
 
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