Using Coloured Filters for Black and White Photography

Akademie Instructor Nick Rains explains how coloured filters can modify images from the Leica M-Monochrom range of cameras.

[dude]

I like to use color filters, then set a custom white balance to offset the filter. You can do this to make certain colors pop more or less in the image. Also I find digital sensors to be more on the green side, and this can leave some images a little cold, normally adjusting the white balance to set a warmer color balance can make skintones a tiny bit on the pink side. But if you use an orange filter I find you can set the WB nice and warm without making everyone pink.

[jacovanlith]

The correct and safest way to mount a filter on a lens:
turn the lens upwards to keep it horizontal
lay down the filter into the (screw)mount of the lens
turn the filter anti-clockwise, so it will find the start of the thread
turn clockwise to mount the filter.
tight, but not too tight.
The example in the vlog is riscfull, because the filter can slide
along the frontelement of the lens while mounting it.

[jacovanlith]

The first needed colour filter for B&W photography is the (medium) yellow filter.
The blue colour of the sky is seen by a B&W film as very light grey, so white sails
of a boat or the steam of a locomotive can hardly be made visible by any B&W film.
The yellow filter makes the blue sky darker; so the white sails and clouds visible.
Yellow and also orange filters must be used when making reproductions of old
photos and old newspapers. The stains will disappear by using a filter.
The orange and the red filters too make the reckles, veins and facial stains less visible.
A red coloured London buss will be much brighter by using a red filter.
A dark red filter makes a photo look like it was made at night by moonight

[jacovanlith]

A panchromatic film plus a blue filter makes the red lips much darker.
Also the freckles, the facial veins, the red hair and bruisings will be made
darker (more visible) by a panchromatic filter plus a blue filter.
A green filter makes the green leaves brighter and a red London bus darker

[myrt]

I find the focus shifts when using a color filter on my MM246. I can’t use the range finder to nail focus.

[DefiningDave]

I'm confused. Were all of these examples color photos that were converted to b&w and then processed to look like different filters were applied? If so, what's the point of using the filter if you can do it with a preset in post?

[markgurley]

Thanks for all the posts lately! I have enjoyed them all. I was looking for an e46 Leica red to finish the 46mm line, but obviously now I learn there isn’t one. Any idea why no red?

[maze]

What about using a filter post vs. on lens? Using an m8 for example, with the end result being B&W. You would gain shutter speed by adding the filtration in post but is there something lost by not shooting with the filter?

[dummatube]

Why can't Leica code the image processor to change the spectral response of the sensor to emulate a selection of multi-strength Y, O, R and G 'virtual filters' and provide a free firmware upgrade? That is what Fuji would do!

[chakwong]

Why Leica Q2 and Q2 Monochrome don’t have built-in digital colour filters? Other manufacturers, such as Panasonic, have. Real filters are much more work, and force the photographer to compose through a colour haze. Digital filters shows the effect of the filters before the picture is take. WYSIWYG!d