walkin around filter

[DaveP]

Hello,
Ive always shot with color film and have joined a local photo club which will be doing some black and white assignments. Ive read up on filters and wanted to get your opinion. For just a walkin around filter to shoot what ever you come across, which filter would you choose. Seems like, from what Ive read, an orange filter would be the ticket. Any preferences?

[captainslack]

I usually shoot with a #8 yellow for general B&W use.

[FrankS]

An orange filter may provide too strong an effect in your photos. It would definitely be evident in your prints. Today's films are not as insensitive to blue light as olden day films were and don't need too much filtering. A light yellow or green-yellow filter will give very pleasant natural-looking results.

[Todd.Hanz]

series 1 yellow and be there ;)

Todd

[richard_l]

It depends on what you're shooting, the weather and time of day, how you want it to look, and your lens and film speed (among other considerations). For shooting in low light it might be best to use no filter at all. If you are interested in shadow detail, then an orange filter might be too strong, so no filter or a yellow might be best. For a strong high contrast effect, you might use orange or even red. Red is also good for cutting through haze.

If the sun is shining, I normally use a yellow filter (or orange if I'm in a more daring mood). On overcast days, forget the filters unless it's hazy and you have a red filter. If the weather is uncertain, I leave the filters off.

[sf]

yup, for black and white, a light yellow filter is perfect if you feel the need for filtering . For color, I usually do the 81a.

[peter_n]

Yep, medium yellow for general use. You lose one stop.

[wlewisiii]

I'm in the yellow filter camp. Another issue is that different films have different reactions to filters. The newer chromagenics seem, to me at least, to react more strongly to filters than traditional silver films. A yellow filter on Kodak BW400CN gives, to my eyes, the same result as an orange filter on Tri-X. Just something to bear in mind.

William

[back alley]

i stopped using filters even though i always had a yellow on all my lenses before.

it seems to me that keeping a filter on my lenses is at odds with why i have some of the lenses i do.
i like the older lenses beacuse they have lower contrast while maintaining good sharpness. why put a filter on such a lens? if in the end result i want more contrast i can always dial it in with photoshop.

joe

[thmk]

I also do not use any filter. The only exception is my Hexar AF which i use with a ND filter if needed.

[mattg]

A #8 or number #12 yellow filter will work well. Only about 1 stop loss and a fairly subtle darkening of skies and shadow areas should work well. A yellow-green filter can also work really well, especially if you are shooting people.

[nwcanonman]

I use a #2 (or med.) Yellow mostly, especially people. For scenics, especially around moving water, I like a med. Red filter.
(like this shot)

[rover]

I keep a yellow on each lens as I haven't shot color in a while.