Using Rosco sheets in place of Wratten gel filters?

[Steve Goldstein]

Does anyone use Rosco filters in place of Kodak Wratten filters? The larger size, like 5x5 and 6x6 inch, Wrattens are hard to find in good condition and the few NOS ones that are available on eBay are quite pricey at over USD50. A 20x24 inch sheet of Rosco material is well under $20. I don't know how the Rosco material compares optically with a good-condition Wratten, has anyone tried substituting Rosco for Wratten?

[Pieter]

I don't think the Roscoes are of optical quality. Their intended use is for lighting.

[Greg]

Personal experience many years ago...
right behind the lens - didn't work - forgot why
right in front of the lens - better
About six inches in front of the lens - worked best but beware of reflections. I fabricated a box in front of the lens with a "lenshood" in front of the filter using black Foamcore. It was a bit bulky but did work. I also was only enlarging 4x5 Chromes to 11x14s. I bought a small pile of filters from a State surplus store. They were unmarked so I had no idea at the time if they were Rosco brand. I'd say it would be well worth $20 to try one out.

[nolindan]

I use Rosco filters when I want something 'odd' - say Cyan. Optically they are very good, certainly overkill for lighting. I use them in a (don't quite know what to call it - fold down?) 3x3" gel filter holder.

Rosco sells 3x6" swatchbooks - a couple of hundred filters for $50 along with the spectral curve for each filter https://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Roscolu...s%2C115&sr=8-4

[BrianShaw]

I’ve done it. It works. They scratch and fingerprint easily, but no more so than a Kodak gel. And they get crimp marks easily too. I mounted the Rosco material in cardboard filter holders. Since they are for lighting there probably is quality difference in a photo filter situation. The color quality is high so if a budget alternative is desired Rosco gels may be the best solution.

[Steve Goldstein]

Thanks guys, this is encouraging. I’ve added a sheet of R10 to my B+H shopping cart, that looks to be very close to a Wratten 8 and will test it against a glass filter.

[jnantz]

Does anyone use Rosco filters in place of Kodak Wratten filters? The larger size, like 5x5 and 6x6 inch, Wrattens are hard to find in good condition and the few NOS ones that are available on eBay are quite pricey at over USD50. A 20x24 inch sheet of Rosco material is well under $20. I don't know how the Rosco material compares optically with a good-condition Wratten, has anyone tried substituting Rosco for Wratten?

Hi Steve

I got a bunch of Rosco gels from a lighting house IDK 10 years ago. I use them for making Tri Chromes the filters I needed were impossible to find the sizes I needed. they work great!

John

[Eric Woodbury]

I use the big lighting gels, too. Cut them to whatever size is needed. Put them in a cardboard holder. Some I've had a very long time. They work well and a stack of them weigh nothing.

-ew-

[Neal Chaves]

I use Rosco yellow and magenta gels cut to 11.75"X11.75" to adjust contrast of VC papers in my 8X10 Beseler cold light enlarger with W45 tube. 15 Yellow is my normal. I place the filter on top of the diffusion sheet below the tube. Have used this successfully since 2010.

[Drew Wiley]

Those are heat-resistant lighting gels which are not really suitable as lens filters. You'll have some loss of sharpness. Just depends how fussy you need to be, and how much the image is enlarged. The same could be said for cheap pseudo-gels cut from polyester sheeting rather than true gelatin or dyed acrylic resin. I keep an inexpensive set of Lee poly "gels" on hand for testing purposes only. Of course, coated glass filters are the best. For non-image-forming applications, lighting gels can sometimes be an economical alternative. But it wouldn't make much difference if the commercial 4X5 shot involved gets actually reduced in size for sake of advertising use, which has happened to me, and many others too.

Another distinction with true Wrattens made from actual gelatin is the very specific spectrogram information and fade properties to each of them available in the Wratten handbook. Just because a particular lighting gel looks similar in color doesn't mean the dyes are truly equivalent in performance. But true gels have gotten quite expensive, and there's no guarantee that old ones haven't faded to some extent already. Some are no longer even made.