Orange vs yellow/green filters

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

What are your opinions or preferences concerning these filter types when looking for good but neutral contrast beyond what a yellow filter will give you.

I am looking to shoot a Arista EDU/Foma 100 and Ultrafine Extreme 100 with my neutral rendering Nikkor 50mm F2.

BSP · Dec 4, 2020

I always found yellow to weak an effect to bother.
Orange gives me the bump in contrast I like to have in the darkroom.

JPD · Dec 4, 2020

There are dark-yellow (#15), and yellow-orange (#16) that will bump contrast and add distance sharpness without making the results look unnatural. Too much red in the orange filter and people will look too pale. But it's fine for landscapes.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 4, 2020

BSP said:
I always found yellow to weak an effect to bother.
Orange gives me the bump in contrast I like to have in the darkroom.

+1

Ian Grant · Dec 4, 2020

The only filter I use regularly is a Green one, it's very useful for bringing out the detail in foliage etc.

Ian

Helge · Dec 4, 2020

Yellow definitely has a place, and it is also dependent on the film.
And of course yellow only eats about one to half a stop.
Look through the filter to get a reasonable idea of how it will affect the scene.

I find that yellow often has a surprisingly big effect.
The complementary colour to deep sky blue is not red or orange, but rather deep yellow.

Yellow makes the blue sky just that more distinct from the clouds in a contrasty exposure, that it's useable, without gymnastics and too much grain.
It also makes skin look more dainty, without bleaching out red lips, or attenuating rosy cheeks, or in the case of dark skinned persons, making them look lighter than natural (red can do that).

R/O can also definitely be too much on landscape stuff and where you want to retain shadow detail (shadows are mostly blueish).
R/O also rarely gives the much vaunted dramatic dark sky effect.
You have to be lucky with moisture levels and also probably use a polariser on top.
The best way to get dark skyes is to use IR film.

Green/yellow can be a nice compromise to not blacken out the foliage too much.

One often overlooked option is the nice brown urine sample coloured filter (not merely warming).
On B&W it has some deep yellow effect plus some green pass.

StepheKoontz · Dec 4, 2020

I always use at least a light yellow filter, this gives B&W film a "normal" look. As Helge said even a deep yellow filter will kill some shadow detail, a R/O even more so. I have found if I want any shadow detail using a R/O filter I need to go one stop more exposure than the filter factor would suggest. I've also found films differ in their red sensitivity, so these filter factors are just a guideline.

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

I have found yellow-green filters, but not yellow-orange.

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

Anyone have a list of recommended filter brands, or those to avoid?

I am finding a lot of Hoyas and Vivitars. Any good? Petri? Toshiba?

markjwyatt · Dec 4, 2020

I minimally use medium yellow, but often use deep yellow (some deep yellow moves into orange). I find that green-yellow (e.g., X0) do not help much with the sky. Medium yellow works well with foliage too.

Pieter12 · Dec 4, 2020

George Mann said:
I have found yellow-green filters, but not yellow-orange.

B+W lists a Dark Yellow, Yellow-Orange and Red-Orange. It varies by manufacturer and filters for black and white photography are becoming a bit harder to find.

images39 · Dec 4, 2020

Pieter12 said:
B+W lists a Dark Yellow, Yellow-Orange and Red-Orange. It varies by manufacturer and filters for black and white photography are becoming a bit harder to find.

I noticed this recently when I bought a yellow filter from B&H. For black and white filters, they only offer a small fraction of what they used to carry.

Dale

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

I guess I should just stick with a medium yellow, even though most of todays b&w film have high blue sensitivity.

I found filters made by a company called Rolev, that are suppose to be Zeiss-Schott. They sell for $15.

Anyone know about these?

R.Gould · Dec 4, 2020

I use orange for 90% of my photography, it is the only colour I carry

destroya · Dec 4, 2020

hoya G or a B+W orange are my most used filters. they are dark yellow. much more than a standard yellow and yet does not squash greens/foliage like a dark orange or red filter does. just enough but not too much

john

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

R.Gould said:
I use orange for 90% of my photography, it is the only colour I carry

One thing that I noticed about orange filters is that they tend make dark green too dark, robbing it of detail.

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

destroya said:
hoya G or a B+W orange are my most used filters. they are dark yellow. much more than a standard yellow and yet does not squash greens/foliage like a dark orange or red filter does. just enough but not too much

john

I have found a few orange looking yellow filters on ebay.

destroya · Dec 4, 2020

George Mann said:
I have found a few orange looking yellow filters on ebay.

dont cheap out on a filter. spend the money to get a good quality one. keep it clean and it will last a long time. $25 for a filter is not bad and well worth it. dont buy a $5 cheap Chinese filter, you will wind up buying a better later on so do it right the first time. 2 years ago i found some NOS hoya G filters. a 52mm and a 72 for $20. keep looking there are out there

markjwyatt · Dec 4, 2020

90% of my B&W is in this range or no filter. G4-5X is a Zeiss Deep yellow filter. I believe G3-4X is also considered deep yellow. B50Y is medium yellow. (Zeiss Icarex Bayonet, not Hasselblad B50) It is hard to differentiate the yellows in this shot.

JPD · Dec 4, 2020

Heliopan still make makes Gelb-Mittel Dunkel (#12) and Gelb Dunkel (#15).

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

destroya said:
dont cheap out on a filter. spend the money to get a good quality one. keep it clean and it will last a long time. $25 for a filter is not bad and well worth it. dont buy a $5 cheap Chinese filter, you will wind up buying a better later on so do it right the first time. 2 years ago i found some NOS hoya G filters. a 52mm and a 72 for $20. keep looking there are out there

I am looking for quality used filters at affordable prices. But which of these filter brands are good?

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

JPD said:
Heliopan still make makes Gelb-Mittel Dunkel (#12) and Gelb Dunkel (#15).

And mighty expensive!

Pieter12 · Dec 4, 2020

Assuming it has a good lens, why would you put a cheap filter on your camera?

George Mann · Dec 4, 2020

Pieter12 said:
Assuming it has a good lens, why would you put a cheap filter on your camera?

Not cheap as in poor quality, cheap as in fair used price for decent quality filter.

R.Gould · Dec 4, 2020

George Mann said:
One thing that I noticed about orange filters is that they tend make dark green too dark, robbing it of detail.

It's not often I photograph grass/landscape,living where I do, on a small island with stunning coasts and cliffs I tend to photograph much more seascapes than anything, and I find the orange tends to help with sand sea, when I take landscapes, the odd 9% I don't bother with any filter, I find with Fomapan I don't need one

Orange vs yellow/green filters

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