[Leica] B&W filters with digital

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

>  
> In a message dated 8/4/2007 10:16:01 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> lug-request@leica-users.org writes:
> 
> My  question is - are people still using filters for colour balance?  Or
> simply doing colour correction in  photoshop?
> 
> Thanks
> Gareth
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> I have a general rule: Use PS only for cropping. Avoid the  ersatz as much 
> as
> possible.
> Traditional filters work with B&W digital if you can set  your camera to 
> B&W
> at exposure, as I do when using the Oly 5050. However,  the Nikon D70 
> permits
> B&W only through PS and other post processing  software. I don't know 
> enough
> about the M8 to say whether it can be switched to  B&W at exposure. If 
> not, it
> should be. 
>  
> As for color, most system digitals can be corrected in camera.  They have
> excellent white balance and other controls. I never had occasion to  warm 
> up
> or 
> cool down an image in digital color. A number of my friends regularly  do 
> that
> in PS so the viewer hardly notices it. You can miss a lot of good shots
> taking time to change filters. And they don't do a fine lens any good. The
> only  
> filter I use on any lens is the UV -- mostly to protect the front element 
> from
> crud and scratches. I order a first rate UV filter whenever I buy a new  
> lens.
>  
>  
> I have a great set of B&W Leitz filters for my Elmars. The  yellow and 
> green
> are my favorites. When I want to get arty, I use a red filter.  But you 
> gotta
> factor them in when using a film M. Rule of thumb is that they  lighten 
> their
> own color and tend to darken the others. I haven't used  filters for a long
> while, so I may be fuzzy on the info. Kodak used to publish  small guides 
> that
> actually incorporated miniature plastic filters so you could  preview their
> effects visually.
>  
> Best,
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
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Well I looked up "ersatz". I never knew what it meant and it sounded like
something from an old superman comic. Or a Bazooka Joe bubblegum wrapper.
ersatz
imitating or presented as a substitute for something of superior quality
(disapproving)

You could say the same thing about an Omega head on a D3 with a Nikkor lens
on it being fed into a Kreonite processor; all a bunch of phony baloney just
shoot a chrome and look at it. Make sure you filter it right ahead of time.
Then leave it as it may.

Fact is even printing from chromes you need to dial in a filter pack not the
default to get rid of a cast which really just should not be there half the
time. To clarify the image. Craft it.
Its called printing its called photography.

Photoshop is just another way to craft images.
A digital darkroom instead of an enlarger with head and processor.
But hey! Bah Humbug lets not learn a new trick after the age of 50.

Kids don't go on recess any more. They don't play ball. They don't play
video games. After lunch and after school they sit in rooms filled with Macs
all doing Photoshop.
And we're the ones supposedly interested in photography
(us non kids)

We few, we happy few, we band of Leica shooters.


Mark William Rabiner
Harlem, NY

rabinergroup.com