How do you put on /off your filters while focusing?

[dirk_dom1]

<p>Hi!<br /> I bought a Linhof technikardan 6x9 to do serious black and white with. If I enjoy the experience I may step to 5 by 4 or even 8 by 10. <br /> Using a red or orange filter makes the image very dark on the ground glass. So I guess it's logical to remove the filter while focusing.<br /> Now, what do you do with your filter?<br /> I see various options:<br /> - Leave it on<br /> - Hold it in front of the lens by hand while you shoot (You might get a large diameter filter like a 72mm or even a gel filter)<br /> - Screw it in every exposure<br /> - are there filter holders which make it easy to put on/off filters (not having to screw them in)?</p>

<p>Where do you leave your filter if you remove it? obviously it should remain perfectly clean!</p>

<p>Second question: I read in Ansel Adam's book "The camera" you need to refocus by 1/3rd of the thickness of the filter if you pop off/on the filter. This would mean about 0.2mm closer. Is this refocusing really necessary or of no practical concern? I shoot 3D objects and landscape with foreground. Right now I shoot a 150mm, I'll buy a 300mm and a 47mm in a few months.</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>Dirk.</p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>I doubt to be able to do the refocussing precisely enough to get a gain from it. - My Technika came with a Linhof lens hood and matching slide in filters. You could also look into Cokin's offerings. - At least no screwing needed before the exposure.</p>

[bob_salomon]

<p>Linhof makes a compendium system for the TK cameras which accepts a filter holder for 95mm filters. Thisholder can slide on and off the compendium and can be rotated on the compendium to keep it out of the way while focusing/composing.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Leave the filter off to compose and rough-in focus. Fine focus with filters in place. Might not make a big difference for a landscape but could be noticeable on closer work. I like screw-in glass filters for my B&W contrast and polarizing filters but the Cokin P system works very well for Grads. They have a unique holder and case for those. I put my glass filters in a folding filter "wallet" .</p>

<p>I don't like the idea of holding the filter although I'm sure you could get away with it sometimes. It's difficult to obtain plano-parallelism and can pick up flare or you could bump the lens during exposure.</p>

[drew bedo]

<p>I work with a Zone VI field camera for both color and black and white photography.</p>

<p>I focus without the filter on, then meter with the filter held in gront of the meter, then screw it into the lens and re-check the focus if possible. Sometimes I bracket the exposure and do not re-focus.</p>

<p>When I change the composition, this process is repeated. When handling the filter between shots it resides in a flat snap-lid box or round filter box in the breast pocket of my shirt. </p>

 

[bob_salomon]

<p>Why not meter with the filter in place through your ground glass? It works and saves time and steps and eliminates possible breakage or damage due to dropping the filter and fingerprints from mis-handling.</p>

[drew bedo]

<p>Does metering off the GG work without the filter?</p>

<p>Is metering off the GG effective?</p>

<p> </p>

[bob_salomon]

<p>Of course,<br>

Very</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

I did some metering off the ground glass using the Gossen fiber probe. When doing that you have to make sure there is no light reflecting off the glass to mess up the result. So position the sensor and throw the focussing cloth over it all to block out extraneous light.<br>And you need to run some tests first, to know how much to compensate for the ground glass.<br>I mostly use another metering method, the Sinar TTL select probe that inserts in front of the ground glass, in the film plane. Reflections off the ground glass are no problem then, but light coming through the glass is. So still a need for the cloth.<br><br>The bigger (real) problem is that with filters on and stopped down to working aperture, most of the time it is impossible to see the image (well enough). So when using TTL metering, filters will have to come off, aperture open, to be able to position the probe and know what you are metering. Then fix the probe in position, add filters, stop down and throw the dark cloth over the back before metering. Imagine multi spot metering done that way... Non-TTL metering is a lot easier and faster.<br>And having filters on is not just difficult when TTL metering: it's often difficult enough to see the image well enough to focus and all that. So framing and focusing is done without. Filters only go on before exposure.<br>It's true of course that adding a filter shifts focus a bit (also happens when stopping down some lenses). And when possible if is a good idea to check focus again after the filters have come on. But often it's just a guessing game then. Too dim to see anything well enough.<br><br>I use 100 mm filters that fit a filter holder, so removing the filters isn't too hard. The center filters on the wides however screw on, so it's a bit more work. But still: using LF is slow work, so i don't mind.