Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/05/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:23 PM 5/31/2007, John Biava wrote: >Starting sometime during or shortly after WWII, >E. Leitz NY subcontracted Tiffen to make filters >for them to sell under their ( E. Leitz NY ) >trademark. Naturally they were sold at a >premium. But Tiffen filters of that era ( and >some special ones later ), were gellatin filters >sandwiched between two very thin glass plates. > >The organic dyes used can be made very >accurately but they also fade over time. You >can see this easily with some of the filters >made to balance light for daylight and tungsten >color films. Most of these are faded badly by >now. I have seen some photo swapmeet dealers >tell the unsuspecting that these old filters are >"graduated" filters predating the Cokins ! > >Perhaps Marc can add something to this discussion. I have nothing much to add but would point out that you are conflating two issues, sandwiched filters and organic dyes. Organic dyes do have a use-by date and will fade if exposed to light, albeit I have a number of Zeiss Ikon filters from the 1930's and Leitz filters from the 1940's which have not faded as they have always been stored in darkness save when in use. The situation with Pola-Screens is even worse: I have a couple of CZJ Herotars, the predecessor to the Bernotar, dating from before the litigation, which look like a Ronchi screen. Someday, I shall replace their defective surfaces with a modern polarizing screen so that I can use them. These are still younger than another camera I regularly use, a Voigtl?nder Bessa from 1931. Dyed-in-the-mass filters came out in the late 1950's and are now the norm for high-end filters, though Harrison and Harrison continues to use sandwiched filters. I almost never use filters but have never seen much difference in use between B+W or Helipan dyed-in-the-mass filters and the sandwiched ones from H&H. For really critical use, I would go for the dyed-in-the-mass filter but, again, I RARELY use filters save for CC. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!