B&W what's better: Sepia toner or Sepia filter?

[Treymac]

Hey guys. I just realized that I have a sepia filter lying around and I've never used it. I've always wanted to take some shots with the sepia look, but I've never really been into using toner on my prints. So what is better, to use a filter or to tone them?

If I use a filter, how close will it actually look to a sepia toned print?

Thanks.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

You can't use a filter to get sepia toned black and white images. The filter would require that the image be taken on color film to show the color of the filter. Remember, everything that you photograph on black and white film is converted from color to black and white, and this includes the filters on the front of the lens.

Sepia is very easy to do in the printing process, I use at least a small amount of sepia on a large percentage of my prints. I say go for it in the darkroom.

If you are having lab prints made from c41 film, they can apply a tone in the process, but it will not look terribly good.

Paul

 

[Treymac]

ok, thanks. I guess applying the toner is the best option, maybe I'll give that a shot and stop being lazy.

 

[2F/2F]

Whatever the "sepia filter" is, it must be designed for color film. There is no way in hell that using a filter over your lens will change the color of monochrome film or prints. How could it? The color of monochrome photo materials is determined by manufacturing and processing, not by filters. Colored filters on black and white only affect how color relationships are rendered as tonal relationships in monochrome.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

A sepia filter on color film doesn't look the same as a sepia toned BW print. The filter imparts a color cast to everything, while toner only affects he image silver, leaving the white paper base white.

 

[CBG]

For a quick sense of the potential of toning, try almost anyone's selenium toner and Agfa's Viradon. Both are easy to use and dramatic in effect.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I think a black and white print toned in sepia looks better. When you shoot color film with a "sepia" filter, the colors can vary widely because it's a color image. So for consistency, have toned BW prints.

 

[MattKing]

It might be interesting to experiment with a Sepia filter and black and white film. You will end up with a negative with an adjusted tonal relationship that favours the warmer colours, at the expense of cooler colours.

You would have to sepia tone the resulting prints though, to achieve the necessary image colour.