filters for Schneider 47mmXL

I do a lot of landscape photography in 4x5 B&W and use a Red 25 or darker filter. I am having trouble finding a filter that will work with the Schneider 47mm XL. I understand there are super thin filters for this sort of thing but I cannot find them in RED - only polarizing and color. There are 67mm threads on the front element only. The rear element does not have threads and a filter there would need to be push on. Using a normal filter always vinaigrettes the image. Have any of you found a suitable filter?

I keep a thin Heliopan UV filter on the front of my 47XL which dosen't vignette. I don't know if they produce a 25A red in slim fit.

Have you considered using a step-up ring to allow a larger filter, say 77mm, which should avoid the vignetting problem.

my 77mm step up ring vignettes the 47mm XL with its 120 angle view. I have not seen a Heliopan in Red.

This is a very unorthodox suggestion. But it is what I do.

Edmund Sci has an optical plastic that comes in various sizes. I usually get the 4x5. They are of very fine quality, and the plastic is extremely hard (don't try to score and snap it; must be sawn). I use the infrared version, and it works just great. It comes in the big three, also (RGB). I have been unable to detect any degradation of the image. A few years ago, the price of a 4x5 sheet of the stuff was about $13.00.

Just found the link, so here you go: Dead Link Removed

About hardness, read "Easily Drilled with High Speed Carbide Bits for Mounting" -- High Speed Carbide? Now, that's hard!

I made a slip over attachment out of that nice hardwood modelmaker's plywood that they have at the hardware store, blackened with waterproof ink. A filter cut to the right size just slides into the slot.

I take it you must be using the 6x9 format on your xl? Otherwise I doubt you'd have a problem with it. Or are you one of those lucky possessors of the 4x5 back? Then it would vignette w/o the filter.

Well - yes it is the 4x5 version - I have another wide lens with a 67mm front so I ordered some B&W wide angle MC filters to try. If they do not work on the 47XL, I can still use them on the other lens (which I had been using a step up to my 77mm filter in the past) So I will report back if these work - If not I will try the gel - Maybe the filter can slip on the back of the lens - not sure which would work better - either way there is a 2 stop fall off to begin with and with a filter - super thin will help keep if from becoming a 5 stop fall off. Maybe in the end, a film and holder will be the answer - Thanks

Even so, it's a pretty nice lens, don't you think? A bit hard to change the settings, maybe.

Get a 77 or 82 mm filter of your color choice.
Go to the hardware store - pick up a roll of blue tape - the kind used for masking. Its got good tack but leaves no residue when pulled off.
Now make some tabs (L's) off the front barrel.
Put the filter on the front, and push down the blue tabs onto the filter glass.
Easy to do, easy to remove.
No vignetting of a filter ring.

Works fine, just make certain the tape is attached to both lens and filter.

Not to worry about 77 or 82mm filters being too heavy....
I used this technique for about a month on the Schneider 1100mm XXL fine art lens with 135mm filters. Works fine. Just use the blue masking tape -- don't use scotch or regular masking tape.

I abandoned this after having S K Grimes cut a stepdown ring.

For my 47mm XL I sometimes just use a gel filter behind the lens with either generic clap on filter holder (like a Lee Snap Filter Holder) or a filter frame on the back side of the lens board. Depends on what camera you are shooting with but for a lens like this I only use my Sinar. The front standard is so large that there is plenty of room for a filter frame on the back of the lens board. Mine is a Xenophon filter holder and the height is adjustable so it can clear a lens without running into the ground glass. I didn’t get mine from Calumet but you can see it here http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/XB6560/ .

With a setup like this I have yet to have it vignette anything with the 47mm XL.

When in doubt, I try the Lee Gel Snap. If that doesn't work, I just hold a square filter in front of the lens. Several of my pictures were taken with a filter standing somewhere on the front standard/rail/front bed, and leaning against the top of the lens rim.

I haven't tried this with the 47mm SA XL yet, but I'm sure that I will try it this summer.