UV/Skylight lens filters and color negative film

[TonyD58]

Except to protect a lens from dust and scratches, do you find it necessary to use a UV/Skylight filter when shooting color negative film? I understand how it would be beneficial when shooting slide film, but I would think there is so much variation in printing of color negative film that it would negate any slight benefit the filter may offer? The reason I ask is that I prefer not to have any glass in front of the lens that may add flare or reduce sharpness. Your thoughts/experience would be much appreciated.

 

[George Mann]

No. Use a hood instead.

 

[AgX]

In theory any filtration done at exposure is better than filtration at the copy stage.
But the colour hue introduced without a UV filter would be low anyway.

A different situation would be a strong mismatch in colour temperature between light and spectral sensitization of the film. where a filter would be the better choice.
However if any filter introduces ghost images in the given situation, likely these are the more important issue.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use UV, Haze or Skylight filters with color negative film for two reasons:

• Haze reduction from the scattering of UV light, which by the way I cannot see therefore I do not want on my negatives.
• A warming filter to get more realistic skin tones.

 

[jim10219]

I don't find UV filters all that useful in most situations. Most modern films aren't that sensitive to UV light, and remember glass filters UV light by it's very nature, and most lenses put a lot of glass between the film and the subject. If you're using a meniscus or some other simple lens design and older style film, then it might be worth it. Otherwise, I'm betting you'll find more situations where it causes issues like flare than it solves issues like haze. Skylight and other similar filters are a little more useful, as they add a tint to the photograph.

I do own several UV filters though. And I do actually use them from time to time when I'm in situations where I think they may actually be useful. But most of the time, they just sit unused.

 

[AgX]

Concerning haze I find some example photos from filter manufacturers quite excessive. But I am not a landscape photographer thus lacking expertise.
Having UV-transmission data from some common lenses would also be helpful.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

A Skylight/1B filter is light pink in appearance (place it on a sheet of white paper) and in normal use can impart a slight pinkish tone. At higher elevations, this pinkish tone is effective in cutting through the blueness of haze, but generally it is not a wunderkind and won't be the right filter for all situations. With E6 films, some stronger versions of Skylight 1B, such as the filters made by B+W and Heliopan, are useful when shooting E6 film in bright sun in shaded areas, as a reasonable counterbalance to the strong blue cast typical of those films used in those specific conditions (including early morning in sun and evening approaching sundown). This isn't found with C41 films but the same principle of cutting through the blueness of haze applies, and thus the filter is equally useful.

A UV (0) filter is a very pale light brown and has no effect on eithe C41 or E6. It and clear "protection filters", are frequently left in place to afford some protection of the front element of the lens.

Any filter must be matched to the known optical quality of the lens you are using. That is to say, don't slap a $5 Chinese made filter on a $5,000 lens. Yes, a filter introduces some risk of flare and ghosting, but as for the perceived effect on sharpness -- not a chance, at all, with the quality of today's filter glass. Each and every one of my lenses wears a filter, and a few cost more than $600 a piece (the filter, not the lens).

 

[Daft Vader]

A skylight filter is recommended to reduce the blue cast normally associated with Fuji colour film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

A skylight filter is recommended to reduce the blue cast normally associated with Fuji colour film.

That blue cast is from ultraviolet light.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I have commented on this many times before. I have just filled my backpack with the "essentials" for a long trek in the high Sierra. And since my preferred color film for this kind of subject matter is currently Ektar, there are a trio of filters I consider essential : a pale pinkish or salmon sky filter for UV and mild blue cast control (2B), an 81A pale amber for bluish overcast, and an 81C deep amber for deep blue morning shade (common in the mtns). Good luck trying to correct this after the fact! Ektar won't forgive sloppiness like most color neg films; but the reward for conscientious exposure and color temp filtration can be high.

 

[Daft Vader]

Ektar + 81 + Skylight feels like heaven.