Filters for both B&W and other uses

[craig_sander]

I am new to B&W photography. In fact, this weekend will be my first adventure

in trying it out. I am planning on buying some Kodak T-Max100 film and I would

like to get a filter that can actually serve purposes.

I want a filter that will darken the blue sky, and I hear that a deep yellow or

orange can do the trick.

So my question is, if I buy an 85, 85B or 85C filter, will I get the same

effect?

The reason I ask is, I used Tungsten film sometimes and if I can get one filter

to do the job for both my B&W as well as my indoor shooting, that would be

great.

Does anyone have any input on which I should buy, or if this is even a good

idea for a beginner?

[richard_cochran]

Filters that are strong enough to be noticable in B&W are generally too strong to be useful with color film. Those 85, 85B, or 85C filters are very subtle, and won't have a very noticable effect in B&W.

 

A polarizer (circular if your camera requires it) is useful for both B&W and color work. It's probably the most useful "dual purpose" filter.

 

An actual deep orange or red filter in B&W is great for darkening skies and making white fluffy clouds stand out, but it's far too strong an effect to use in color photos, unless you're intentionally going for a nonrealistic look.

[randall ellis]

Filters work by blocking certain bandwidths of light and allowing others. AS the other post suggested, filters that work well with black and white film will not produce anything usable with color film unless you are going for an extreme effect. I would suggest getting three filters for black and white to start: #8, #15, and #25. This will give you a good spread of effects that you can use to learn with and then if you feel the need to fill in the gaps later you can. Green filters are also useful, but I would wait on them until you have a better understanding of how filters work.

 

This is a good introduction to how filters can be used, and why they do what they do.

 

http://www.fineart-photography.com/bwfilter.html

 

I suggest reading it a couple of times and then doing a bit of testing to see for your self, then perhaps a bit more reading. I find that cycle to be quite useful for learning anything.

 

- Randy

[craig_sander]

Thanks for the great link and thank for letting me know that the 85 series is too light.

If I choose the dark yellow/orange filter for my b&w work, how will that affect the skin tone of someone who may be in the picture?

I have a friend who is fair skinned, and I was wondering if that would have an adverse affect (effect? I can never remember which is which)

Also, this may sound dumb, but hey, I'm an ameteur...when looking through the viewfinder of such a deep color, is focusing an issue?

Thanks everyone for the help.

[frank.schifano]

TMax 100 film will show more of a response to contrast filters in the yellow/orange/red range than something like Plus-X. If you refer to the filter correction charts in the Kodak tech pubs for both films, you'll notice that TMax 100 requires less exposure correction in daylight with #8 yellow, #11 yellowish green, and #15 deep yellow filters than Plus-X. In the same documents, you can also refer to the spectral sensitivity charts. These are a little hard to read because both films have response curves that drop off sharply at around 630nm. The TMax films maintain a straighter line than Plus-X below that frequency. The document for Plus-X is here: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4018/f4018.pdf. For TMax films, click here: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4016/f4016.pdf.

[SCL]

I've found that B&W filters, when used with a SLR make focusing a little difficult, which is why I prefer to use them on rangefinder or twin lens reflex cameras where one does not have to view the scene through the filter. OTOH I find the reverse true for polarizing filters.

[peter_fitzsimons]

What ever happened to focusing first and then putting the filter on?

[richam]

Craig, The polarizer works nicely for both B&W and color, but the hitch is that the light

source (probably sun in this case) needs to be at an angle to the direction you are shooting,

and the filter needs to be rotated for maximum effect. If you shoot with the sun directly

behind you, you won't get much effect. For portraits, yellow/orange/red filters tend to

soften blemishes and wrinkles for fair skinned people, which is often desired. On the other

hand, a blue filter emphasizes age spots and wrinkles for that "weatherbeaten" face look, if

that's what you are after.

[andre_reinders]

More info....

 

http://www.acecam.com/magazine/filters-faq.html

[ian green]

Richard Cochran saying 'Those 85, 85B, or 85C filters are very subtle, and won't have a very noticable effect in B&W.' reads like a very strange thing (not to mention bull droppings)

 

though i am not sure about 85A but have a look at least through 85B to get the idea of 'subtleness' ;)

[big toys are better]

Different films have different spectral sensitivities, with the Efke films being an excellent example a manufacturer having major differences in its "panchromatic" B&W films. You need to pay attention to these peculiarities when filtering your film.

 

Polarizers are universally useful (get the best you can afford-- it's especially worth it there because of its construction), but even the slight warming filters for color films can have what is arguably subtle but still useful effects on B&W films by essentially eliminating all UV and thus some of blueish atmospheric haze from the resulting image. Graduated filters like Cokin's are also very useful, whether colored or just gray in tone (but take really good care of them because they are plastic).