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lens filters (basic questions)


Rudy Velez Jr

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Can someone please give me a breakdown on the various lens filters: their usage and effect

 

I have some super 8 and 16mm cameras and I would like to know what certain filters can do:

I am referring to screw type lens filters, that ones that can attach to front of a lens, given the correct thread size.

 

I have seen the full color spectrum represented in filters, so what I am basically asking is how does each colored lens alter/enhance/distort/ the shot? i.e the red filter is supposed to increase contrast in black and white film. What effect would it have if one used it with color film? A breakdown of each color filtered and filter type and how these lenses alter/enhance/distort a shot, both with regard to black and white and color film

 

P.S What are the other types of filters and are they different from filters that screw on the the front of a lens?

Edited by Rudy Velez Jr
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Besides screw-in (threaded) round filters, there are round filters without threads, they go into a round filter holder, and there are square and rectangular filters that go into filter trays, usually as part of a matte box.

 

A red filter on color film will make the image look very red. A yellow filter will make the image yellow, a green filter makes the image green, etc.

 

On b&w film, since a color filter cuts some wavelengths of color while letting the same color pass through, it can affect contrast by how it makes colored objects look lighter or darker. So a red filter makes blue skies look darker (by canceling blue wavelengths and thus underexposing the blue information), and shadows look darker because they have more blue in them than the sunlit areas, and red lips will look lighter, etc.

 

Now in terms of color filters on color film, I am assuming the base color temperature has been corrected for, i.e. you are using daylight film in daylight or tungsten film in tungsten. So if you were using tungsten film in daylight without the orange 85 correction filter, the image would look blue-ish, and if you then used a yellow filter, you'd be shifting a blue-ish image towards yellow.

 

There are books and online sites that list all of the colored filters out there, there's no reason to reproduce a chapter's worth of information in an internet post.

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I am reading a book called 'Cinematography: 3rd Edition' by Kris Malkiewicz & M. David Mullen. It's perfect for a novice like me and has a very good section on lights, filters and colour temperatures. There are many types of SFX filters and various colours, but I think as a novice it may be best to begin with understanding blue and orange filters, ND filters and polarizing filters. These, I think, are the basic filters that will get you very far.

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