Warming Filter for High Altitude

Hello,

 

I do 80% of my picture taking above 4500 feet and the rest above 7000'.

Except for the short time before and after sunset/rise I am always contending

with scattered blue light from the sky. I now own a digital camera that can

take filters; I bought a 81B filter but have found that it is too warm. I

don't really care to post-process the blue light out of all my images...what

warming filter do you recommend for my altitude?

 

I bought a Vivitar, but I understand that there are higher quality, coated

filters. Should I consider one of those?

 

Thanks.

For your D50? Get a B+W UV/IR cut filter (or the Rodenstock offering).

When I go to the Colorado Rockies in late Sept, I am going to try my B+W KR3, about an 81C which I used all the time with Velvia 50 or 100 in my film days on my d 200 with white balance set at cloudy. I shoot in NEF. What other settings do you use that could be affecting the image? At sea level I use a 81A with the white balance set at cloudy. Joe Smith

Digital cameras don't really require color correction filters (e.g. 80 and 81-series). The purpose of these filters is to change the light temperature which is useful when using film, since a given film has a pre-designated temperature rating. With digital cameras the same effect can be achieved by varying the white balance.<br>

Your best bet is to use automatic white balance in the field, capture raw files, then correct as necessary in the raw converter on a color-calibrated screen at home. I wouldn't bother with warming filters.<br>

<br>

Guy<br>

<a href="http://www.scenicwild.com">Scenic Wild Photography</a>

Generally an 81A, or use the "shade" icon on the digital, it's made for taking the blue out.

 

Also, RAW and adjust, this is really the best bet

I agree with Guy. Why complicate things by using filters when the camera itself is designed to work around these things?

 

 

Kent in SD

I will tell you why I have decided to use an 81A or a KR 1.5 B+W filter with white balance set on cloudy for daylight scenic shots at sea level on my D 200. Because the results are what I like and I do not have to spend any time adjusting white balance during processing. When I shot with a UV filter in " auto wb" the results were too bluish. Same for daylight.

 

I have a friend with a D 70s who uses an 81a and he sets his white balance on shade most of the time for scenics.

 

Joe Smith

JD, you might try the Nikon A2 (81A) warming filter...I think you will like the results with that filter. I use that one on my Nikon 24-120 and sometimes on my Nikon 300mm. However, I recently noticed that Moose Peterson, whose article on the use of warming filters originally turned my attention in that direction, no longer uses warming filters due to the "improvements in digital technology."

I certainly appreciate all of the great suggestions. It interesting to see how each photographer finds different, workable soulutions to the same problem. I've learned much.

 

Thanks!

You have three methods of removing the blue color cast from a digital photo:

 

1. Use Camera Raw as suggested in one of the previous posts.

 

2. Or if you don't want to adjust the color temperature in Camera Raw, you can do the same filter effect, with a much better control, in PS using the Photo Filter.

 

3. Or you can perform a color correction on the photo. This includes setting a white and a black point.

 

Obviously, you can do all three together.

 

Tien

Warming filters are for slides. You don't need them with negative film or digital cameras. If you shoot in RAW mode, you can easily tune up blocks of images for white balance (etc) in Adobe Bridge or Lightroom (and others). Nor do you need haze filters. Haze is largely due to scattering which polarizes light. Consequently, a polarizing filter is more effective than any UV/Haze filter. A polarizer will also increase the saturation by reducing skylight reflections from rocks and foliage, in any light, not just bright sunlight. This has a strong warming effect in western landscapes. Finally, pick the time of day carefully so that the sun direction brings out the texture (get up early, stay out late!).

 

When using a polarizer out west, be careful to limit the amount of darkening of blue sky (not a particular problem in the Grand Canyon, unfortunately).

I do agree that you do not need to add the warming filters with a digital camera. I could just as easily achieved the same effect by setting a custom white balance in my camera. I thought about doing this. I decided against it in that I was afraid I would not remember to set it back at the end of a particular shoot. Also, I already owned the filters, so for me adding the filter was the easier way to go. Joe Smith

If you shoot using the RAW mode, it doesn't make any difference what white balance you use in the camera. The WB is just a number in a tag applied when converting or opening the file, and can be changed at any time without degrading the image. Besides the greater color depth (12 bits/channel), this is one of the prime reasons to use the RAW mode. If you need a custom balance, include a Color Checker chart in one of the images and analyze it in post.

<i> If you shoot using the RAW mode, it doesn't make any difference what white balance

you use in the camera</i>

<p>

Edward, this is true of most cameras, but I believe the Nikon D2x and maybe some others

are different. In those cameras, white balance affects the gain that is used in the analog

stage as the data are read off the sensor. On the D2x, there are 4 analog data channels

from the CMOS sensor: R, G, G, and B. The white balance setting affects the analog gain

applied to each of these channels before the A/D conversion. Thus, setting the white

balance correctly can help reduce analog stage noise whether the camera is shooting Raw

or not.

<p>

The Better Light scanning back, used by Steve Johnson at http://www.sjphoto.com also

works this way, although it's not a Bayer-interpolated camera so the differential channel

gains apply to every pixel location.