Best Red Filter for Sky/Cloud?

[Keith (M)]

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Using b&w film for landscapes etc, which red filter is best at producing sky/cloud detail? Is #23A too weak, #25 just right and #29 too strong (to paraphrase Goldilocks) ? Do b&w users as a rule always have a medium yellow filter on their lens for landscapes anyway?

 

I have yet to try any of the above, aside from a Rollei Bay 1 medium yellow on my 'new' toy - a Rolleicord Vb.

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[tobey bilek]

I always used a 25 medium red. I get a 18% grey sky with clouds that pop. Combine with a pola, and the blue sky ends up in Zone 11 or 111. To make this work, there must be a true blue sky to start. A hazy pale blue will not get you what you want no matter what filter is employed. Every film has a different response to red so testing is in order. The 25 red is 3 stops compensation, less will increase its effect, one stop max and you lose detail in the foreground.

 

For general landscape work, a dark yellow, seems a generally good filter. A vey dark yellow, actually yellow orange was also good. If there is a lot of green foliage, yellow/green is good.

[stunsworth]

You might want to expose a little more than the filter factor would indicate. Even modern films seem less sensitive at the red end.

 

Personally I used a yellow filter 90% of the time when shooting b&w.

[Xmas]

Hi

 

If the sky has some blue and white yes I use a yellow 0,1 or 2, with mono, today was the first day this year!

 

Noel

[Broadside]

My favorite b&w filter, especially for landscapes, is light green.

Puts some tone into light skys and lightens grass and foliage a tad.

Makes things easier to print!

[RobSkeoch]

I use three filters for landscape. I tend to shoot my landscapes on an 8x10 camera instead of the rangefinder.

These are all B+W brand filters and have there own range of numbers.

 

040 - they call it dark yellow, but it looks orange to me. I use this one the most. Almost every shot that has the sky in it.

 

022 - this one looks yellow, I keep this on the rangefinder lenses, even when shooting people in the marketplace, just so the sky has some tone to it. When doing just landscapes I hardly use this one in favour of the 040.

 

090 - this one is dark red. It makes the sky black, the affect is too much and it leaves the shadow's (which are lit by the open, blue sky) kind of hollow looking, which I don't like. Overall I hardly use this one because it makes the sky just too dark.

 

-rob

[macos]

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At the end it is imho a matter of personal taste and style. I prefer orange (yellow tone, B&W #040) on BW landscape. Yellow does not create enough effect for me. In some rare cases I use real red (B&W #90), but then the shadow areas will be mostly gone. With orange there are some chances to preserve most of the shadow details.

 

Another alternative, if the effect on the ground area should be limited or even if color material is used, are grey gradient filters (25% or 50% grey).

[pico]

IMHO, red is over the top. Orange is better, although I use it mainly for telephoto work to reduce haze. Red produces a much higher contrast negative than I like (IOW, the dynamic range is quite short). And for resolution freaks, red is the worst frequency to capture great detail.

[MX5Bob]

I like the results from the B&W 041 orange filter.

 

Shooting my first roll of SFX200 and using the B&W 092. We'll see.

[StS]

I use different levels -

 

The UV/IR from the M8 is the minimum filter, since classic black-and-white films are very UV sensitive. Otherwise the sky would be just white.

The 1.5x yellow for a moderate effect

The 4x orange-yellow (the "light eater") for a strong effect. It can be a bit over the top, unless one looks for a very dramatic effect.

 

2x yellow-green gives pleasant results for portraits.

 

Stefan