Filters

[WinnowingFan]

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I’m doing two photo workshops this spring: one in Charleston SC and one in Hoorn, NL. I’m encouraged to bring 3 stop filters among other equipment. I do have Leica filters for my TL and TL 2 lenses to protect them but I’ve never used more elaborate filters. I tend to make adjustments in post processing. Does anyone have experience? What adapters do you use to attach square or rectangular filters to TL lenses?

 

 

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[dnease]

Thorsten Overgaard states pretty strongly that Leica glass is much stronger than most of us realize and not in need of protection from a filter.

 

Personally, I've found a polarizing filter to be useful when photographing on the water or waterside. I just use a Hoya 52mm for that, which fits nicely.

 

Enjoy Charleston, we lived there for 3 years in the '80s.

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[LocalHero1953]

Thorsten Overgaard states pretty strongly that Leica glass is much stronger than most of us realize and not in need of protection from a filter.

 

Personally, I've found a polarizing filter to be useful when photographing on the water or waterside. I just use a Hoya 52mm for that, which fits nicely.

 

Enjoy Charleston, we lived there for 3 years in the '80s.

I'm not so sure. I carelessly got my Apo-Summicron-M 90 too close to a rock and scratched it - not enough to affect the image, but enough to take a couple of hundred pounds off the price when I sold it. In that case I should have had the hood extended but If you don't use a hood, then a filter would have protected it. Even Leicas can be scratched!

[Mark Pope]

I tend not to have filters on my lenses for protection.  I do however have a LEE Se5en 75mm filter system (formerly known as RF75).  It takes 75mm wide filters.  I've had the system for a while and used it with success on my Leica digital rangefinder.  I now have the circular polariser and 52mm adaptor for my 18-56mm TL lens.  Unfortunately, they arrived a few hours too late for today's trip to the Painswick Rococco gardens :-(  I am looking forward to using the system with my CL in the near future.

[Starwolfy]

Wow...starting to go into filters can become very expensive

If you want to invest in filters and filters holder I suggest Lee system.

With my T I use the Lee 100mm filters system. I have made this choice because it works also with my 11-23mm lens at the widest setting without vigneting and do not mind the large size.

Moreover, with this 100mm system I can use it on SL lenses too which have 82mm filters size (so just this system for all my lenses/cameras).

If you only have a TL system maybe the smaller 75mm Lee system is better suited as it is smaller and lighter but I have no idea if there is vignetting on wider TL lenses.

 

As a start...I would go for the holder + adapter ring + 0.9 soft grad nd (or hard grad if you plan to do a lot of seascapes) + a Lee little stopper (6 stops).

 

If you only want to try filters without breaking the bank...3 stops nd filters from B+W or Hoya may do the trick at a much smaller price but at the cost of lens control. They also do variable ND's. The one from Hoya is great and is about 80-100 euros in Amazon. This goes from 2 stops to 8 stops in just a single filters.

 

Don't go too cheap on filters. Many sub par brands are really crap !

[WinnowingFan]

Thank you. This is very helpful. I had seen the Lee system and its does make sense.

 

 

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[WinnowingFan]

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Thank you. This is very helpful. I had seen the Lee system and its does make sense. In Charleston we will be in gardens and on the beach and harbor. I’ll be studying with Tony Sweet who is superb at long exposure. I hope to learn. Thanks again.

 

 

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[Belle123]

Lee filter systems works fine for my Hasselblad but mostly use with tripod and can be a bit cumbersome. Be sure to get the right system for the size lens filter rings you will be using. Not sure, but don’t think they have an adapter ring for my larger filter system that would also fit my 39mm filter rings on my main M lenses. They have a smaller system, Seven5 (?) , for smaller lenses. Something to research should you decide to go that way.

[WinnowingFan]

Thanks Belle,

 

I only have the TL and TL2 and only those lenses from 52mm to 67mm, so the Lee Seven5 system looks perfect. I imagine using them with a tripod mounted camera for some long exposure work for artistic effect. My goal for the Charleston workshop is to learn how to do that. I took a big breath and the plunge ordering today. Thanks for chiming in. 

[Belle123]

Thanks Belle,

 

I only have the TL and TL2 and only those lenses from 52mm to 67mm, so the Lee Seven5 system looks perfect. I imagine using them with a tripod mounted camera for some long exposure work for artistic effect. My goal for the Charleston workshop is to learn how to do that. I took a big breath and the plunge ordering today. Thanks for chiming in.

 

Great! After I wrote, I looked again at the Seven5 and decided to buy the kit. Will work on all my cameras and lenses unless I go super wide. Will be more convenient than the larger version. The Lee Filters website has some great demos. Check it out.