What filters?

[coops]

Going on vacation in Florida in a few weeks and will be taking my 4x5 with me. I will be shooting mostly b&w film, and thought it would be a good time to buy some filters and take with me. Hoping somebody could suggest essential filters and a good resource for me to read about their use.

Cheers

[Louie Powell]

The problem with filters is that they are an addiction - and like most addictions, they really don't contribute much of a positive nature.

That said, for B&W, the usual collection would include yellow, yellow-green, orange, red, green, one or two ND, a graduated ND, and maybe a polarizer.

I choose to use Cokin (or the Chinese equivalent, Tian Ya) because they are lighter in weight. I keep a collection in a CD case that fits into my backpack next to my film holders, and one filter holder fits both of my lenses.

[Walter Calahan]

Yellow, Orange & Red. Just use them. Much better than reading a bunch of words on a page.

[Brian Ellis]

Contrary to Louie's statement, filters are essential for b&w landscape photography if that's the kind of photography you have in mind. If you're thinking mainly of using them to darken blue skies, forget the yellow filter for Florida. The skies in Florida are more cyan than a deep blue and IMHO the yellow filter doesn't do enough to make it worth using. An orange or red filter works much better for that purpose (though I don't use red very often because it darkens green foliage too much and there's lots and lots of green foliage in Florida, in fact that's about the only color foliage there is).

However, the principal use of filters in b&w landscape photography isn't to darken skies, it's to create tonal separation between objects having a tonal value such that the colors would merge in b&w and the two objects wouldn't adequately stand out from each other. Filters are essential for that purpose and the usual combination is yellow, orange, red, and green (plus polarizer to reduce reflections).

[Daniel_Buck]

I'm with walter, I like Yellow, Orange and Red.

[C. D. Keth]

I like to have a yellow, orange, red, green, a mid blue, and a pola. This selection seems to be the filters I wish for without being too picky about exactly what grade of blue, etc, and having a hundred filters.

[Koge]

I prefer a system that uses one set of filters and adapter rings for the different lens of my 4x5 system. Filters are best for different types of scenes, and you need to consider what the predominant colors are in the part of the country you are visiting. What I would do if I were you, is buy the polyester filters ($20 apiece for 4x4 from Lee) and try different variations on the same scenes. When you decide which works best for you buy the resin or glass versions. I'd get Orange (21), Deep Yellow (15), Yellow Green (11) and Minus Yellow (blue or #47).

Jeff

[tgtaylor]

Although I have (and use) all the filters mentiond above, I find that I use the split ND's, UV, and polarizer the most. With me, a 1, 2, and 3 stop split ND in both the hard and soft version is essential in imaging vast landscapes as the sky is often to high. Want to capture the moon setting over the ocean with detail both in the water and moon? Then you gota knock the moon down.

Cokin filters are a good buy - probably the best on the planet - and all my color filters are Cokin Z's. But for ND's and polarizer I use Hi-Tech and Schneider.

My 2-cents.

Thomas

[Gem Singer]

For B&W film I found that a #15 (yellow-orange) or a #21 (orange) worked best in Florida for shots where sky and water appeared in the same scene.

A #11 (light green) filter will lighten the foilage and slightly darken the sky when there is no water in the scene.

A #25 (medium red) filter will give dramatic effects to the sky when there are nice puffy clouds in the scene.

A UV filter will protect your lens if you are on a beach with blowing sand.

I recommend glass screw-in filters. Easy to handle and resist scratches.

[Gem Singer]

Almost forgot-- Ansel Adams book, "The Negative", for B&W filters. Jack Dykinga's book, "Large Format Nature Photography", has an excellent discussion on the choice and use of filters for color photography.