Use of filters on an Olympus OM2N

Brian Stater · Jul 29, 2024

Hello everyone

I'd appreciate some advice....I have used a lovely old OM2N for several years, shooting B&W. I'd now like to experiment with filters, principally yellow and orange.

What I'd like to know is: Will I have to adjust the shutter speed? I read somewhere that filters require a longer exposure.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Best wishes

Brian

Rick A · Jul 29, 2024

The light meter on the OM-2 will automatically adjust for the filter, up to about two extra stops. A red 25 filter usually needs three stops extra exposure and may require you manually add one stop for it.

Dali · Jul 29, 2024

It is a TTL metered camera so the filter is taken into account by the lightmeter whatever the mode (AUTO or MANUAL).

MattKing · Jul 29, 2024

Yellow and orange filters reduce the amount of light that reaches the film.
The change in exposure is referred to as the filter factor. To incorporate that when you are using a separate hand meter you either:
1) divide the unfiltered shutter speed by the filter factor, to get the new shutter speed; or
2) work with logs or squares of the f/number and the filter factor - I'll leave the mechanics of that for now
Alternatively, if you use the camera's built in meter, you can get at least close by metering through the filter.

xkaes · Jul 29, 2024

As everyone has said, the filters cut out light and you need to increase the exposure one way or the other -- that is up to you. Your TTL meter will adjust for the light loss all of the time for you, and as Matt says, "if you use the camera's built in meter, you can get at least close by metering through the filter."

The only time the meter might get it wrong is if your subject is the same color as the filter (or the opposite color of the filter). Let's say you are taking a picture of a bunch of oranges. Without a filter, the oranges will come out a medium gray. If you want the oranges to be brighter and stand out more, you would use an orange filter -- which lets all the orange light through (lightening the oranges in the print), and darkening any other colors (blues, greens). If you meter with the orange filter in place, the meter reading will not change very much -- because the orange filter doesn't cut out orange light -- so the oranges will still show up as a medium gray. Normally, you should give the film 4X the exposure (2 f-stops or two shutter speeds).

So that's an example of why I tend to stick with the filter factor of the filter -- but it can be a nuisance to remove and re-attach filters.

Here's a good explanation:

https://www.freestylephoto.com/static/pdf/pages/bw-filters_01-28-2014.pdf

Brian Stater · Jul 30, 2024

Rick A said:
The light meter on the OM-2 will automatically adjust for the filter, up to about two extra stops. A red 25 filter usually needs three stops extra exposure and may require you manually add one stop for it.

Thanks, Rick, that's very helpful....and the issue isn't as complicated as I feared!

Brian Stater · Jul 30, 2024

Dali said:
It is a TTL metered camera so the filter is taken into account by the lightmeter whatever the mode (AUTO or MANUAL).

Thanks!

Brian Stater · Jul 30, 2024

MattKing said:
Yellow and orange filters reduce the amount of light that reaches the film.
The change in exposure is referred to as the filter factor. To incorporate that when you are using a separate hand meter you either:
1) divide the unfiltered shutter speed by the filter factor, to get the new shutter speed; or
2) work with logs or squares of the f/number and the filter factor - I'll leave the mechanics of that for now
Alternatively, if you use the camera's built in meter, you can get at least close by metering through the filter.

Good advice, thanks Matt....and I hadn't seen that quote from Ansel Adams before, brilliant.

Brian Stater · Jul 30, 2024

xkaes said:
As everyone has said, the filters cut out light and you need to increase the exposure one way or the other -- that is up to you. Your TTL meter will adjust for the light loss all of the time for you, and as Matt says, "if you use the camera's built in meter, you can get at least close by metering through the filter."

The only time the meter might get it wrong is if your subject is the same color as the filter (or the opposite color of the filter). Let's say you are taking a picture of a bunch of oranges. Without a filter, the oranges will come out a medium gray. If you want the oranges to be brighter and stand out more, you would use an orange filter -- which lets all the orange light through (lightening the oranges in the print), and darkening any other colors (blues, greens). If you meter with the orange filter in place, the meter reading will not change very much -- because the orange filter doesn't cut out orange light -- so the oranges will still show up as a medium gray. Normally, you should give the film 4X the exposure (2 f-stops or two shutter speeds).

So that's an example of why I tend to stick with the filter factor of the filter -- but it can be a nuisance to remove and re-attach filters.

Here's a good explanation:

https://www.freestylephoto.com/static/pdf/pages/bw-filters_01-28-2014.pdf

Brilliant! I'm so grateful for all the replies. I feel like I've learnt a lot in a very short space of time.

Use of filters on an Olympus OM2N

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