Wide Lenses - Center ND for interior work?

[Sean Galbraith]

I pretty much shoot exclusively interior architectural shots in the fine art area, and am looking to get a wide angle lens (65-90mm). I've read that a center ND filter is recommended/required for this width. Does that apply to interior work where you don't have a subtle gradient "problem" like you do with landscape photography?

[Bob Salomon]

If you are shooting inside then you can overlight the edges to compensate for the falloff. Otherwise a center filter may be needed to even out the falloff.

[Sean Galbraith]

What do you mean by "overlight the edges"?

[Bob Salomon]

What do you mean by "overlight the edges"?

Put more light on the edges of the scene then the center of the scene to even out the falloff. It is much easier to just use a CF and, of course, you wouldn't have to carry extra lights and worry about adequate current on location.

[Sean Galbraith]

Gotcha.

I use all natural light, so that wouldn't work anyway.

[Chris Strobel]

Hey guys in a similar vein, I'm considering either a Sneider Super Symar XL in either 150mm or 210mm for my 8x10 for shooting landscapes, would I need the center filter?Especially with the 150mm I see these filters are VERY expensive!

Chris

[Sean Galbraith]

oops.. I just noticed that I put this in the wrong forum. :-)

[VictoriaPerelet]

oops.. I just noticed that I put this in the wrong forum. :-)

odd place for sure. Anyway

For mid range wides where there's less than 2 stops fall off (aka 210mm for 8x10 or 90 for 4x5) you can get away with gradient layer in PhotoShop , if you are not purist. Once it gets above 2 stops - there's no dynamic range in the scan to pull it up. In some cases you can downsize high res scan to much smaller resolution and gain more dynamic range, but it is tradeoff.

For anything shorter (aka <75mm for 4x5 and <150mm for 8x10) you will need CF. I did measured fall off on Nikkor 150mm (can try to locate notes, if I can find them) it is more than 2 stops for full circle. Also metering get's funny with no CF.

Overall, CF's are necessary part for LF wides. CF's make focusing harder, make using other filters difficult, forget about Ring Flash in the most cases and yes - pricy, but necessary. Somehow all that overhead makes me to appreciate SLR retrofocus wides - no fall off, no artifacts of extreme angles of hitting film/sensor:), but purists will complain about "quality" ...

[Kirk Gittings]

I've shot interiors for my personal work and commercially for some 32 odd years using lenses on 4x5 including 65, 75, 90, and 120. I have never owned a CF. I solved the problem either through how I saw the shot, how I lit the shot, how I printed the shot or how I tweaked the file.

[Mark Sampson]

Buy lens of the focal length you want, try it out for your own photographs, and see what you get. Your pictures will tell you if you need a CF or not.

[Drew Wiley]

Can't imagine working with a true wide-angle lens without owning a center filter, especially with color film, unless of course you deliberately want falloff toward the corners. If interiors are dark, focus without the filter in place, then add it for the shot. But just one more reason to acquire a fairly fast wide-angle if there is an option in max apertures. I see a lot of pretentious b&w "art" prints where exaggerated falloff is routinely used; but for commercial work I think one would want an evenly exposed a neg or chrome. And printing from an even original is generally easier, especially with chromes, which have little latitude forgiveness. Yet at times I myself like to use falloff rather judiciously, to create a subtle bit of center glow in the print. Anyway, it's fun to experiment with the whole idea.

[tgtaylor]

I've shot a lot with my 90mm Rodenstock f4.5 Grandagon without a CF and although I have examined the transparancies, negatives, and prints for fall-off, I have never found it to be the case. I also never found fall-off using a 75mm f4.5 Grandagon - although I don't use that lens as often as the 90mm.

[Drew Wiley]

Rodenstock can supply the spec sheets on the falloff of Grandagon lenses.