Leica lenses and filter stacking

ericdan · May 28, 2018

I sometimes shoot TMax P3200 or Delta 3200 in bright daylight. With a red or orange filter I get nice results but I am pretty much limited to f/16 and 1/1000 sec.
I am planning on stacking a 3 stop ND filter on the orange filter to give me more room to play.
I am not sure if that will cause any vignetting on my summicron 35mm.
I'll report back after developing the next roll.

Sirius Glass · May 28, 2018

Generally it is not a good idea to stack filters. For one thing, stacked filters can vignette some wide angles lenses.

John Koehrer · May 28, 2018

You could use a step up ring with larger filters.

ericdan · May 28, 2018

Is 35mm considered a wide-angle lens?
It would be nice to have an orange/red filter with ND filter integrated.
I assume lens flare also increases with filter stacking

Poisson Du Jour · May 28, 2018

ericdan said:
I assume lens flare also increases with filter stacking

Very much so. Ghosting, lens flare, chroma and, given the quality of all Leica lenses, I would think image quality overall will suffer.

awty · May 28, 2018

Not sure why you wouldnt just use slower film or pull the 3200 back a couple of stops? Im sure you may have a good reason, just seems odd.
Look forwards to seeing the results.

ericdan · May 29, 2018

awty said:
Not sure why you wouldnt just use slower film or pull the 3200 back a couple of stops? Im sure you may have a good reason, just seems odd.
Look forwards to seeing the results.

when I am mid-roll or have just a few frames to finish the roll.
Since it's a roll film I can't pull the roll partially.

kmg1974 · May 29, 2018

if you only stack two filters, and they are coated, your image likely would not suffer too much.
as for vignetting, it would depend if you are really planning to print out to the outer edge of the negative... usually you would be cropping in one or the other direction, right?

guangong · May 29, 2018

Since your habit seems to be loading camera with asa 3200 film the simplest solution is to get another Leica camera body for slower film. You may even prefer a different 35 mm camera, an slr or a camera of different brand. A lot of perfectly functional cameras can be purchased for the cost of lunch in a dinner. Try KEH or APUG sellers.
I only stack my Leica 39mm filters for storage when I don’t have a storage case.

John Koehrer · May 29, 2018

ericdan said:
Is 35mm considered a wide-angle lens?
It would be nice to have an orange/red filter with ND filter integrated.
I assume lens flare also increases with filter stacking

Yup it is. The trade is built on the assumption that 50mm is normal.
The red/orange with built-in ND sounds familiar. You might check some older Tiffen or B+W propaganda

ericdan · May 29, 2018

kmg1974 said:
if you only stack two filters, and they are coated, your image likely would not suffer too much.
as for vignetting, it would depend if you are really planning to print out to the outer edge of the negative... usually you would be cropping in one or the other direction, right?

I usually print the full frame, no cropping.

ericdan · May 31, 2018

Also it would be nice to be able to shoot grainy film in bright sunlight. Just to try something different.

darkroommike · May 31, 2018

Interesting that you are willing to pay a premium for Leica glass and then degrade your image quality with stacked filters. Why not just buy a second camera body and load it with a 400 speed film?

Sirius Glass · May 31, 2018

darkroommike said:
Interesting that you are willing to pay a premium for Leica glass and then degrade your image quality with stacked filters. Why not just buy a second camera body and load it with a 400 speed film?

+1

ericdan · May 31, 2018

darkroommike said:
Interesting that you are willing to pay a premium for Leica glass and then degrade your image quality with stacked filters. Why not just buy a second camera body and load it with a 400 speed film?

Didn’t pay a premium for my Leica lens.
My used summarit cost as much as a Zeiss Biogon, which is actually the better lens in my opinion. I stuck with leica because I don’t want two sets of filters.

btaylor · May 31, 2018

Filter stacking is not that big a deal. Cinema people do it all the time in front of glass that costs as much as a house to get the look they need. Don't freak out about it, do what needs to be done and evaluate your results.

ericdan · May 31, 2018

btaylor said:
Filter stacking is not that big a deal. Cinema people do it all the time in front of glass that costs as much as a house to get the look they need. Don't freak out about it, do what needs to be done and evaluate your results.

I'll just give it a try with my next roll. Probably going to upset the experts busy shooting test charts.

darkroommike · May 31, 2018

btaylor said:
Filter stacking is not that big a deal. Cinema people do it all the time in front of glass that costs as much as a house to get the look they need. Don't freak out about it, do what needs to be done and evaluate your results.

Cinema projection is 24 fps so not the same at all.

btaylor · Jun 1, 2018

darkroommike said:
Cinema projection is 24 fps so not the same at all.

You’re right. It’s not the same. It’s a smaller than full frame 35mm image blown up to a 50 foot enlargement. Cinema image capture quality Is extremely important to the final product, and they stack filters all the time, any matte box has a minimum of 2 filter slots.

ericdan · Jun 1, 2018

would probably be better if both the color and ND filter are good multi coated filters.

locutus · Jun 1, 2018

I stack filters all the time on both 35mm Leica and large format optics, ....and it works just fine... Magical Leica lenses dont behave any other way then the rest....

How else am i going to get PL+Grad+Yellow?

ericdan · Jun 24, 2018

Empirically tested and it works just fine.
Stacked a 3-stop ND + orange filter onto my 35mm M-mount
Worked just fine. No vignetting, no flare or any other obvious downsides.
I shot TMax P3200 on beach in Okinawa in bright sunlight.

Leica lenses and filter stacking

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency