I need some assistance re: filters: (1) What are your most frequently used filters, and in what situations do you use them? (2) What manufacturer would you recommend for the highest quality filters, price not considered. My lenses are: 21mm f/2.8 ELMARIT-M ASPH; 35 mm f/2 SUMMICRON-M ASPH; 50 mm f/1.4 SUMMILUX-M; 90 mm f/2 SUMMICRON. I always appreciate the advice and suggestions of forum members. Thank you.

-- Max Wall (mtwall@earthlink.net), July 30, 2001

Answers

The highest quality filters are made in Germany (Leica, B+W and Heliopan).

Note that Japanese filter such as Hoya are made of aluminum rather than the brass mounts used by the Germans. The brass mounts will not bind/stick and are more insensitive to temperature variations.

I only use polarizers since I only shoot color reversal film.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), July 30, 2001.

I use skylight filters with slide film when not shooting in direct sunlight, to offset the blue cast of reflected skylight and warm up color when shooting in the shade. UVa filters are of less use unless shooting at high altitude. For black and white, I use filters mainly for darkening the sky to increase cloud contrast. A strong yellow or an orange filter is good for this. Hoya actually makes a good orange filter, though I don't have one for the Leica lenses. I've actually had excellent results with Hoya filters. I think they can be considered as an alternative when the desired filter isn't available in a B+W, etc.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), July 30, 2001.

Max:

All the following is IMO: B+W filters offer the best quality/price option. For color slides an 81A (not a UV) is useful for warming skin- tones in shade and an 81B is good for eliminating the blue cast in normal light when you're above 3000' in elevation. (For elevations over 6000', I use an 81C; over 9000' and 81EF.) For B&W film, I find I use an orange(B+W #41, 2-stops) more often than a yellow(22; 1- stop) or a red(91; 3-stops), however as you gain experience with B&W film you'll want all three plus a green(60). For both color and B&W films, a polarizer can also be useful -- however I no longer use them personally due to the "exaggerated" or effect they often impart to the sky and the overall "sterile" effect on the image due to elimination of normal reflections in the image. (I suggest that if you use one, you do not turn it "full-on" to eliminate all reflections, just partially "on" to eliminate some of the reflections; that way the image will appear more natural.) Lastly I use a Zeiss "softar #2" for an exquisite soft-focus effect when shooting people. This filter is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive, so as a less expensive option, you can stretch a layer or two of panty-hose netting over the lens for a similar effect, then spend the $$$ for the filter if you find you'll use it a lot.

PS: I want to know how your 21 asph is working out!

Cheers,

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), July 30, 2001.

Black panty hose: softens the image with minimal contrast reduction.

White panty hose: softens the image and reduces contrast by diffusing some light into shadow areas.

Note: to obtain white panty hose, date a nurse.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), July 30, 2001.

John Shaw says you should never use a filter unless you can clearly articulate a reason for using it. I have UV filters on all my lenses: "to protect them from tiny specks of grit which I either fail to see or blow off before wiping and which have in the past made fine scratches in the coatings and significantly lowered the resale value of my Leica lenses." (If I ever find a Leica user who disdains UV filters and will give me a written contract agreeing to buy my wipe- marked lenses at full retail value, I might consider taking the UV's off...then again, since Leica has seen fit to discontinue many of my favorite R lenses, I might keep the UV's on those anyway). My brand of choice is the B+W MRC "Multi Resistant Coating", as these have antireflection multicoating of such a high quality that it is very difficult to see that there is actually glass in the mount; furthermore, while I've scratched several Leica lenses while trying to wipe as carefully as possible, I have never gotten a scratch on a B+W MRC. Unlike the multi-coated Nikon filters, these wipe clean without smearing. Other than UV's, I usually carry two other types of filter (five if shooting transparencies). They are: polarizer, which I use only for reducing reflections (I prefer a saturated film like Velvia for making blue skies bluer, as the polarizers rob too much light and waste my time putting them on and taking them off); graduated ND filters (4 Singh-Rays in 2 and 3-stop hard and soft- edged)for taming contrast in landscapes; with transparency film I also carry an 80B and FLD for color-correction, and an 81B for warming up shots in the shade. I haven't shot black-and-white in a long time, but when I did I carried medium yellow, orange and green filters. Nowadays I shoot color neg and turn the saturation all the way down in the computer if I want a b&w print.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), July 30, 2001.

You asked, so here's my filter collection:I use a Heliopan polarizer, which has numbers around the rim to make it easier to use on a rangefinder. I think they make the best polarizers around. I also use an 81B for open shade portraits, and skylights to cut a tad of the blue tint and as optical lens caps, and use B&W multicoated and hoya multicoated filters, along with Heliopan ones. Can't say I have noticed a big difference between the those 3 brands. I like the way the brass mounts on the Heliopan and B+W filters feel, however. Had a few Tiffen filters go bad on me (fogged internally) but I still use a soft efx 3 on my 90 Elmarit for tight portraits of adults. As I mentioned recently, I saw a post I found interesting from lens tester Erwin Putts where he stated that a good quality filter has an degradation effect of only about 2% on image quality, whereas even a lousy filter can have a 10% effect. he also mentioned that even a slight defocus created a 30 to 80% loss of sharpness, and handholding below 1/125 could result in a 50% loss of resolution. For some reason the filter question repeats itself in intervals here, and you can probably locate more opinions than you will want to know in the archives on this subject.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), July 31, 2001.

Bob: Flesh-colored panty-hose can also slightly warm the image, among other things :-)

Jay: Re graduated filters: For other reader's bennefit, let's qualify we're refering to the rectangular versions that you can slide up and down and rotate in a Cokin or similar holder, not the silly screw-in ones mounted in a conventional rotating filter ring. I find these filters tough to use on a range-finder -- to the point where they are virtually useless. A lot of guess work, and very little precision in their placement, unless you want the demarkation line to run through the center of the image. Obviously the soft-edged versions give more consistent results, but still are often disappointing. Do you have any tricks that help in regards to their (precise) placement?

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), July 31, 2001.

The highest quality filters are made by B+W or Heliopan. Though I also have some Tiffen filters that are not available from either B+W or Heliopan. Occasionally, I like to use Tiffen Warm Soft FX-3 with my 90mm Elmarit-R for portraits. I also like to use Tiffen warming polarizer (812 with polarizer) with fall colors or landscape with too much blue cast. These two Tiffen filters are cheap to have and they manage to find their way to my M or R bag depends on the occasion.

-- Gerald (hsus@netzero.net), July 31, 2001.

I have the same filters for all of my camera systems .They are B+W :- KR1.5 ,KR3,yellow/green and a medium orange..The yellow/green will darken the sky and lighten folage.The orange will give nice skin tones. The best soft filters are the Blad softar 1 and the cokin difuser 1.Hoya i find are hard to clean.They seem to be squeeky dry and mark easy. All of my lenses have a uv on them.I agree that polarizers are best at intermediate settings. Tim

-- Tim (timphoto@ihug.com.au), July 31, 2001.

I have a Leitz Skylight (SL) filter in 39mm. Is this the equivalent of a KR1.5? It's one of the so-called NY Leitz Kodachrome filters.

I also wonder if Leitz/Leica always made their own filters. There was a time when Leica in NJ was importing B+W.

Finally, I wouldn't omit Leica filters from the list of the best.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), July 31, 2001.

B+W, Heliopan, Leitz, and Hasselblad, Yellow, medium orange (15) and red (25) multicoated filters; occasionally a green filter for b&w portraits of men under tungsten light. I tend to only use any of the b&w filters under contrasty lighting situations--ie, never under flat lighting situations. My favorite, all-time favorite filter for portraits and fashion shots of women is the medium orange filter---it smooths out skin tones remarkably. I never use UV or skylight filters on any lenses for protection--I only use those filters when I want to cut down on haze. For color, I generally use an 81A or 81B from one of the same manufacturers plus a Tiffen 812 and very, very rarely one of their blacknet diffusion filters or black tulle stretched across the front of the lens held in place by a lenshood.

-- Cosmo Genovese (cosmo@rome.com), July 31, 2001.

Jack: Yes, my ND grads are the rectangular type. Sometimes I don't bother with a holder, just hold them by the edge. I modified a Cokin holder so it only holds one filter, and doesn't vignette wiwth wider lenses. Naturally these filters are useful only with SLR's or view cameras. Positioning them is not that difficult, as most of the time I'm shooting at smaller apertures (for DOF) and if you slide the filter up and down the gradation becomes apparent. Note that the gradation falls at different points depending on the aperture, with each lens. This is the way you control the positioning with the circular screw-in type on a rangefinder (which I do use, BTW). Make a series of test-shots on transparency film against a uniform background, like a wall, at various apertures with each lens. Put a note on the wall with the lens and f-stop in large lettering so it appears along the bottom of the shot and would be readable in the slide without a loupe. Put the mounted slides in a slide page and keep it with you. By looking through the slide at the scene you're trying to photograph you can pick which aperture will position the gradation where you want it. Yes, you can get into a problem with DOF if you need too wide an aperture; yes it's a little slow, and no it isn't perfect...but it does work. Probably a better solution for those into Photoshop is to simply take 2 shots at different exposures (foreground and sky) and composite them...in any case ND grads are really only 100% effective where you've got a fairly straight sky/foreground demarcation, not for example when shooting twin mountain peaks with a "V" of bright sky between them.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), July 31, 2001.

Max: IMO you have obtained solid advise regarding filter brands so far. Regarding which type of filter to use in which situation I'd suggest to buy the extremely cost efficient Kodak little pocket book on Photography. This is no joke and no second thought is intended. Only that the little book could be very helpful when one has this kind of doubts/questions, it is very inexpensive, it is readily available in photo stores and could easily be added to what you carry in your bag without noticeable weight increase. It has helped me a lot. And it has a whole section regarding filters worth reading since (IMO) there is no general advise really useful for everybody in every situation. Even using UV filters for lens protection is questioned for some people while others wouldn't go anywhere without them. Read the little book, try the filters you think more useful for your photo style (most possibly they wouldn't be that many . . .), make your own decisions, be patient (filters in RF cameras are something else, keep the little book at hand) and have fun. In time you will reconsider the whole subject again. -Iván

-- Ivan Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), July 31, 2001.

Thanks, everyone. You are always helpful. Best regards, Max

-- Max Wall (mtwall@earthlink.net), July 31, 2001.