Color filters

[FrankA]

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I have read in a few places about Heliopan “digital” color filters for B&W photography. I have searched the internet and cannot seem to find any. Am I missing something? Leica makes color filters but only in two sizes that I can tell. What is best brand and what ones should I get? There seems to be more than one shade of a color. Yellow, green, red, orange??? I have the M 246. Lenses are 28, 50, and 75 apo. Thanks for the help.

[Kwesi]

I use a heliopan 5 yellow with my 246.

It works really well with mid tones and adds more depth to skies. I was never crazy about the results with the 75 apo when using the 5 yellow. Especially when shooting portraits. It works great on the 28/2 v2 and 50/1.4 asph.

B&H usually has them in stock.

[mich]

I have read in a few places about Heliopan “digital” color filters for B&W photography. I have searched the internet and cannot seem to find any. Am I missing something? Leica makes color filters but only in two sizes that I can tell. What is best brand and what ones should I get? There seems to be more than one shade of a color. Yellow, green, red, orange??? I have the M 246. Lenses are 28, 50, and 75 apo. Thanks for the help.

Hi

 

I'm not sure what a "digital" Heliopan color filter is supposed to be. If you want to take B&W pictures with a "normal" digital camera, the camera sensor still captures the full color information in the raw data. The conversion to B&W is done in post production where you can use a full spectrum of frequencies to work with. A physical filter would reduce the information your sensor gets, which of course reduces your options in PP.

 

The Monochrome sensor works like a B&W film and only captures luminance information. A physical color filter has way more influence on the outcome of your picture, similar to B&W negative film.

 

You can find a good read here:

 

https://lavidaleica.com/content/using-filters-bw-photography

 

As for certain brands, there are quite a few companies out there that produce excellent color filters, you may start a forum search as this is not a new topic.

I usually go with B+W Schneider filters which are excellent.

 

Hope I could help!

 

mich

Edited December 27, 2017 by mich