Filters' impact on exposure

[philipus]

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I have a few filters for my LTM Summitar 5cm f2 and 9cm Elmar. They're depicted in the first photo in this post.

 

I'm curious about the impact of these filters on exposure. I've googled about and found that Dante Stella lists Kodak's recommendations.

 

I'm not sure which entries in his table my filters correspond to. For instance I have of varying density three yellow filters for the Elmar and two red filters for the Summitar.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Philip

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[spydrxx]

The differing sensitivities of various films to different wavelengths of light can occasionally affect the exposure compensation. But honestly, the latitude of current films is such that unless you are measuring with a densitometer, you probably won't be able to discern the differences. My clumsy (but generally effective technique) if there is no manufacturer suggested compensation, is to merely take measurements of the subject with and without the filter held in front of my with my hand held light meter and for the first roll (until I've developed and inspected the results), bracket my exposures. Once I've established a base, I put it into a database of photo trivia which accompanies me when I'm out shooting.

[giordano]

If they are authentic Leitz filters they should have numbers or codes on them. For instance there were

 

• Yellow 0 - pale yellow, factor of 1/2 to 2/3 stop (when I shot B&W I used these instead of UV filters, i.e. just about everywhere in daylight that I wasn't using a Yellow 1)
  
• Yellow 1 - normal yellow, factor about 1 stop
  
• Yellow 2 - strong yellow, factor 1 to 1.5 stops
  
• Green - factor about 1.5 stops
  
• Red I - moderate red, about 3 stops
  
• Red II - strong red, 5-6 stops.
  

(factors approximate, for panchromatic film in daylight).

[Double Negative]

Check out the article Using Filters in B&W Photography - covers quite a bit about the exposure, their uses, etc.

[tobey bilek]

The above values for Leitz filters are correct. No need to test

 

Absent real Leitz filters, you must photograph a grey card w/o filters and then with the filter at a bracket of increasing exposure. Pick the one with same grey density. I used an enlarging meter. A digital camera may also work and the displayed histogram could be the meter, but I have never done it that way.

 

Metering the scene thru as suggested does not work because different colors reflect amounts of light. It will work better, but not perfectly, with yellow, far less so with reds.

 

 

The compensation you establish will be good for sun and flash and you need to repeat for tungsten or other light sources as there percentage of blue varies.

 

Different film react differently. T Max will be slightly different than Tri X because it is more red sensitive.

 

When getting into deeper colors like orange & reds, make the exposure reading, then add the filter to the camera second.

[pico]

When getting into deeper colors like orange & reds, make the exposure reading, then add the filter to the camera second.

 

What other way in the world is there then to do exactly that? How strange to state the most obvious.

[tobey bilek]

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It is not obvious to many. Trust me.