Seeking Info Re Filters, HOO.. Series

[Fogmeister]

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While cleaning out a bureau, I discovered that I still have five NOS Leitz-Wetzlar Filters. I hope that someone can give me information about them.

 

The filters are all from the HOO.. series. The color listed beside the Model designation is the color on the ends of the box:

 

HOOIV White

HOOAR Yellow

HOOBE Yellow/Orange

HOOGU Orange

HOOFG Green

 

The boxes all list the following lenses:

Sumaron 3,5 cm

Summaron-MW 3.4 cm

Elmar 5 cm 1:2,8

Elmar-M 5 cm + 9 cm

Summicron 5 cm

Summicron-M 5 cm

Hektor-M 13,5 cm

 

42 mm.

 

I'd like to know approximately when these filters were being produced and for what each filter should be used.

 

Thanks in advance for any info.

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[luigi bertolotti]

They are all screw-on filters to fit lenses with 39mm thread filter mount, so a lot of Leitz lenses from '50s to today (for instance the first Summicron 50 of 1954 and the present Summicron 35 Asph) . HOOIV is a UV filter, so it looks apparently "un-colored" ... I have them all and also another HOOCS brother (red). They are often, as you write, described as "42 mm" filters, which is the outer ring diameter : today, they are generally referred to as "E39" from the screw mount diameter. As I said, they still can fit many modern lenses... indeed, Leica still produces some of them, with different codes.

 

To answer your questions : they probably date back to '50s - first '60s (Leitz abandoned the "five letters codes" around 1961); their use is for contrast balancing in Black & White photo, apart the UV, that can be used also with color film, to block the UV rays that in sun-intensive environments (typically, high altitudes) can slightly impress the film on a different focus plane, causing a visible unsharpness.

Edited September 18, 2009 by luigi bertolotti

[Fogmeister]

luigi,

 

Thanks so much for replying.

 

I think that I understand when to use the UV, green, and orange flters, but I'm confused about the yellow and yellow/orange. By any chance do you know how these two filters should be used?

[gyoung]

luigi,

 

Thanks so much for replying.

 

I think that I understand when to use the UV, green, and orange flters, but I'm confused about the yellow and yellow/orange. By any chance do you know how these two filters should be used?

 

 

Yellow is traditional filter to darken rendering of blue on Panchromatic B&W films,, to make clouds stand out more in the sky for instance

Orange was/is mainly used to increase contrast in B&W work so a combination with yellow would do both, just as a yellow/green woiuld both lighten green foliage and make clouds stand ou.

 

Thats a rummage around the old memory cells, I haven't used them for years! (all colour these days)

 

Gerry

[luigi bertolotti]

To be precise, the HOOBE you have was listed by Leitz as "Yellow n°1" whilst HOOAR was "Yellow n°0" , to say, same hue in different gradations, to have a stronger effect about, typically, skies as Gerry wrote. In general the principle of color filters is that they block their COMPLEMENTARY colors : the most evident case is with the RED : complementary to BLUE, a clear deep blue sky becomes BLACK with a red filter: blue rays does not reach the film and it is unimpressed by them: I have some old pics made in high mountains with red filter : a dramatic effect that can be sometimes fine. On the contrary the colors equal to the filter become more luminous, i.e. "whiter" : typical usage is green (or yellow/green) filter in pics when there are many trees/foliage that, for exposure reason, can look too dark and lose details: the filter makes them clearer. Blue is a hue seldom used in B&W... no surprise it's not present in your set... but a specific bluish filter is made for color film to be used in interiors with standard home lighting: the standard color film is made to give correct color rendering with sun light ("white" - "5600 ° K") , while std. home lamps give a "yellow" (ca. "3400 ° K") light and the pic would have a yellowish toning : a proper blue filter reasseses correct color balancing.

To end this someway "old time" explanation... filter anyway attenuate the global light that reaches the film, so you need a longer exposure or wider aperture in respect to the "correct" exposure given by an external exposure meter, and one has to take into account this (TTL meters, with filter mounted on, of course take this in account by themselves) : usually, the factor to multiply the time is engraved on the filter ring : it can be 1,5x for a light yellow... 2x for a darker yellow... red filters can be 4x or even 8x and so... UV typically does not attenuate visible light and is marked "1x" - no compensation.

Edited September 18, 2009 by luigi bertolotti

[Fogmeister]

Gerry and Luigi,

 

Thanks for all the info. I think that I understand now. BTW I learned from another source that the HOO.. series was introduced c.1933!

 

The box for the UV filter still has the price tag from Brooks Camera in San Franciscio: $5.50. By some crazy coincidence I bought my first camera - a used IIIf Red Dot with a collapsible Summicron, I think - from Brooks in '68. Took it to Europe. Started to photograph Notre Dame at night. Realized it was hopeless;-) Put the camera into the back pack and left it there for four and a half months while I went back and forth from Instanbul to London. After returning to San Francisco I used it for some portrait shots. Sensational lense for black and white.

[qqphot]

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I wonder if anyone has measured the diameter of the glass flat in the HOOxx series filters. I would love to replace the old glass with the glass from a modern coated and damage-resistant B&W filter for example.

[luigi bertolotti]

Should be 35 mm... no idea on tolerancing... I think it would be better to simply use a new filter, paying attention to the mount... years ago ("M8 times") , I took a  B+W "PRO" UV-IR 43mm for my Summilux 50... and soon realized that could not mount the hood with the filter on...

 

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by luigi bertolotti

[qqphot]

My only complaint using new filters is that I've not yet found one where the outside diameter allows a secure fit of the original lens cap. I like the B&W low profile filters but they're slightly too narrow for the Leica friction fit caps to have a good grip, and slightly too shallow threaded to securely hold a snap-in lens cap.

[latobonga]

On 9/18/2009 at 1:15 PM, luigi bertolotti said:

To be precise, the HOOBE you have was listed by Leitz as "Yellow n°1" whilst HOOAR was "Yellow n°0" , to say, same hue in different gradations, to have a stronger effect about, typically, skies as Gerry wrote. In general the principle of color filters is that they block their COMPLEMENTARY colors : the most evident case is with the RED : complementary to BLUE, a clear deep blue sky becomes BLACK with a red filter: blue rays does not reach the film and it is unimpressed by them: I have some old pics made in high mountains with red filter : a dramatic effect that can be sometimes fine. On the contrary the colors equal to the filter become more luminous, i.e. "whiter" : typical usage is green (or yellow/green) filter in pics when there are many trees/foliage that, for exposure reason, can look too dark and lose details: the filter makes them clearer. Blue is a hue seldom used in B&W... no surprise it's not present in your set... but a specific bluish filter is made for color film to be used in interiors with standard home lighting: the standard color film is made to give correct color rendering with sun light ("white" - "5600 ° K") , while std. home lamps give a "yellow" (ca. "3400 ° K") light and the pic would have a yellowish toning : a proper blue filter reasseses correct color balancing.

To end this someway "old time" explanation...

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filter anyway attenuate the global light that reaches the film, so you need a longer exposure or wider aperture in respect to the "correct" exposure given by an external exposure meter, and one has to take into account this (TTL meters, with filter mounted on, of course take this in account by themselves) : usually, the factor to multiply the time is engraved on the filter ring : it can be 1,5x for a light yellow... 2x for a darker yellow... red filters can be 4x or even 8x and so... UV typically does not attenuate visible light and is marked "1x" - no compensation.

Really informative for me... thanks