"B. Christopher Mielke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I have always put a B&W skylight filter on the end of all my lenses. As
I
> was looking through some web sites recently I noticed that Moose puts a
> Nikon warming filter on the end of all of his. He then shows some
pictures
> that show why he does such a thing. Although Moose's name I a little
beat
> around on this list I'm still wondering if I should change to a warming
> filter instead of the skylight that I currently use. Is this a good
choice
> and how do B&W filters compare to Nikon?
Nikon's A2 is roughly equal to an 81A (or is it 81B?), in terms of color
shift to warmer light. But only roughly. Looking at an A2 filter, it has a
brownish color, whereas the 81A is yellowish. After going to a seminar with
Moose last summer, and after reading one of the white papers from Really
Right Stuff, I decided to evaluate for myself. I had B+W KR3, Nikon A2,
Heliopan KR3, Hoya 81A, B+W 81A. Of these filters, the Nikon A2 and the
Heliopan KR3 gave the most natural warming. Both the Hoya and B+W 81A gave a
yellowish tone, and the B+W KR3 had an orange property that I did not like.
This is all subjective, of course, but several photographers agree on that
the Nikon A2 gives more natural tones. I encourage you to make similar tests
(slide film!).
So why always use a warming filter? My reason is to make my photos look the
way I saw the subject. Our eyes easily adapt to bluish light (high altitude,
shadows on a sunny day, overcast weather) but film does not adjust. An A2
filter corrects for some of this bluish light, while not having too much of
a warming effect in sunlit scenes. I am quite pleased with the results from
my recent South America trip, where I always kept the A2 on except for
indoors (See below). Even when using a polarizer did I keep the A2 on.
Indoors: Light from incandescent bulbs, fire, and candles is very orange.
This light needs to be cooled. So for ambient light I use a Nikon B2 light
blue filter. This does not correct all the way, a B12 or similar would have
been necessary for that, but it only takes 1/3 stop of light and gets rid of
the worst of the redness while keeping the warmth of the scene the way I
remembered it.
An interesting property of the Nikon A2/B2 filters is that if you stack them
you end up with a filter that looks gray. (Not necessarily neutral density.)
Åke Vinberg
