Photo question

[cwearing]

Can I use the same filters from a film camera on a digital camera assuming they fit?

 

[Vaughn]

As far as I know, yes. The filter still provides the same optical properties with either medium.

 

[Steve Worcester]

Yes you can. The ability to subtract or alter the colors are the same.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Maybe, but it depends ...

It depends on what type of filters you are talking about. If you re using a neutral density filter or graduated neutral density filter, the answer is yes. If you are talking about color filters, you can use them, but it means that you will need to compensate the exposure because of the loss of light. With digital, there is really no reason for color filters since that can be done during post processing. If you are talking about polarizing filters, the answer is likely to be "NO". The auto-focusing system in most digital SLR cameras may not focus precisely with regular polarizing filters. Additionally, the exposure metering system may not work properly with regular polarizing filters. It is advisable to use circular polarizing filters with digital cameras. Note that "circular" does not refer to the fact that the filter is round, but that it means that an optical quarter-wave plate is used with the polarizer so that the light waves that pass through it are circularly polarized.

Unfortunately, when it comes to reducing glare and reflections, circular polarized filters do not work nearly as well as the good old plain polarizing filters. This is because the quarter-wave plate means that it is tuned to the mid-point of the range of human vision (yellowish-green). The light waves become increasingly elliptically polarized towards the red and blue ends of the spectrum.

How can you tell if your polarizer is a regular filter or a circular polarized filter? You can do what I have dubbed the "Vampire Test":

Stand in front of a mirror and hold the filter in front of one of your eyes. Next, flip the filter over and repeat the test. If it is a circular polarized filter, in one case you will see a reflection of your eye and in the other case, it will be black. If you do not see a reflection in either case, it means that you are a vampire. 😀
​

 

[Nick_Hoffman]

Gimp

If you want to edit photos there is a free powerful editor much like Photoshop.


http://www.gimp.org/

 

[John Beaver]

Generally the answer is yes, but they don't always respond the same.

Let us know what type you have in mind and we can give you a more specific answer.

If it's any kind of color changing filter, make sure your white balance is set for a specific type of light and not automatic or else the camera will adjust for the filter and nullify it's effect.

 

[john lucas]

I don't use filters much anymore because the white balance takes care of a lot of it but I have used them. They work just fine. We have a wide variety of Flourescent lights all over campus and sometimes it's just easier to pull out the color meter put the correct filters on and shoot. Then I don't have to do any work in photo shop later. Saves time and headaches.
I use circular polarizers all the time to get rid of glare and reflections from my lighting when I'm shooting glossy things. They work just fine. I will also polarize the light source and then use the circular polarizers to stop all glare on certain pieces. This seems to work the same as it did when I used the older polarizers on film cameras.
I have not had a single focus problems with any of the filters on any of the Nikons that I've used. The only problems have been when using slow lenses. If you add too much density on top of the slow lens the camera just won't focus. That's about the same as shooting in the dark. The cameras that have back up focus lights for dark situations take care of this.
Back when we first started using digital cameras we had a couple of Nikon 900 series point and shoots. I was able to use filters on those and often had to because the white balance wasn't as sophisticated as the newer cameras. I use a jury rigged Tiffen filter holder to put the filters in front of the lens.

 

[john lucas]

I forgot to say. Shoot in Raw and then add the filtration you want afterwords. If you shoot with a filter on it's hard to change or delete that action later if you decide you don't like it. If you add the filtration in photoshop after the fact you can always go back and change or remove it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

John, fluorescent lighting can be the worst headache possible when it comes to white balance because some fixtures may use cool white while other may use daylight white, and other will have one of the newer type lamps with a higher CRI. Something that is much simpler than using a filter is to create an in-camera CWB (custom white balance). Typically, you just shoot a white balance card such as a Gretagmacbeth white balance card or just about as good, a sheet of plain white copier paper. This will usually suffice for a given location as long as there is not mixed lighting. If using flash in combination with the fluorescent lights, a green diffuser filter over the flash will often help.

 

[Joe Greiner]

No question, fluorescent lighting is a nightmare. It puts a green tinge on everything. I suspect it's why Federal Government offices had icky green interior paint, to give photographers a chance of making decent pictures.

On a documentary film, 'way back when, I was instructed to NOT use filters. Color corrections were made in post-production. I have a one-light (w/o correction) work print that looks horrible. The final print looks great.

 

[john lucas]

Bill I have custom white balance settings for the major buildings we shoot it, the Basketball gym, the art gallery, theater, main auditorium etc. It works pretty good but not always. I guess I grew up with the color meter and have about $500 in filters to use with it. I know it works so I tend to grab that. The downside of course, you have added filters and have to compensate for the loss of light. Usually not a problem with the Flourescent filters. For Theater work where they use Tungsten lights I do filter with the camera because you are already in low light. You sure don't want to add that ultra dense 80A on there.
Our buildings were all changed to the compact flourescents last year. Some are green, some are red, and some blue as hell. Sometimes you'll have both in one room depending on when they were changed over. What a mess. Without the custom white balance or my color meter we'd be in trouble.
On the other hand I suck at photoshop. My boss is the computer geek and did all the post production work for years. I'm now having to do it but I'm slow, push the wrong buttons and get lost and just generally have a hard time. I'm still a believer in getting the best photo you can before you resort to photoshop. I constantly hear, Oh just do that in photoshop and they take a mediocre photo. I still feel the less you have to manipulate it the better it's going to look in the end.

 

[DOCworks]

LightRoom

I use and like Photoshop; I also use LightRoom another Adobe product. It will not do the editing that Photoshop will do but I really like the light correcting features it has and the fact that it doesn't mess with the original photo. It's much easier to use and is wonderful at organizing and posting your work. Give the trial version a go and see what you think.
Bill

 

[john lucas]

Bill We use lightroom as our first step before any filing, downloading, or printing. It's faster and quite powerful. I'm still learning it. I have to keep the book handy on my desk. There's so much it will do. Most of the time my images are done when I leave lightroom. I can do a better job of retouching in photoshop so I use that for any serious work.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Our buildings were all changed to the compact flourescents last year. Some are green, some are red, and some blue as hell. Sometimes you'll have both in one room depending on when they were changed over. What a mess.

So far, I am not very satisfied with CFL's. Like you said, the colors are all different and each brand has a different color which changes over the life of the bulb. Fluorescent lights do not have a uniform spectral output -- their spectral output is full of spikes and gaps which means that metamerism is a really big problem with them -- the color of some things will look completely different under fluorescent lighting -- and to make it worse, will look different to a camera's sensor than it does to your eyes.

On the other hand I suck at photoshop. My boss is the computer geek and did all the post production work for years. I'm now having to do it but I'm slow, push the wrong buttons and get lost and just generally have a hard time.

The learning curve is steep, especially when you realize the powerful capabilities of the program. I first started using Photoshop around fifteen years ago and I am still learning new things to do with it. John, I have a great suggestion for getting a better feel for the program and getting into using more of its capabilities. There is a great tutorial book titled, Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop", by Scott Kelby. It consists of about 21 lessons that take about an hour each. His teaching method is a bit unorthodox, but it help you to learn by discovering and developing an intuitive feel for what you are doing. My only criticism is that I wish that he would spend some time explaining the details, but many people are not interested in that and would probably be lost before they got started.

I'm still a believer in getting the best photo you can before you resort to photoshop. I constantly hear, Oh just do that in photoshop and they take a mediocre photo. I still feel the less you have to manipulate it the better it's going to look in the end.

Amen to that. Getting it right in the camera is just as important as it is with film. A bad photo is just a bad photo and trying to repair it in Photoshop will still look like lipstick on a pig.

 

[john lucas]

Bill I like Scott Kelby's teaching. The Lightroom book I working with right now is his. Well I'm off to shoot another room with 3 different kinds of lighting. Wish me luck. I may be able turn the overheads off and use my own light that I can filter so I may get it down to 2 light sources.

 

[john lucas]

Typical photo shoot for me. The only instructions were they wanted students in the foreground to be dark and the show the trading board. The professor is late and the room is locked so no early preparation. I chat with the students while we wait. They finally get there but of course I find out that students all have to leave in 20 minutes or so.
shove chairs out of the way, move 2 tables. pose students and take some quick test shots to get exposure of the trading board. There is a huge window on the left letting flourescent light in from the other room. Can't turn those off so I close the blinds which at least lessens the color shift but leaves the wall an ugly yellow green.
The board fortunately photographs as daylight so I shoot some quick shots silhouetting the students. I think that's too dark so I bounce an on camera flash off the wall behind me to give a hint of detail in the students. Much better. Lower the camera a little to get some reflection in the table to add a little color and help kill the blank area.
I grab my studio flash and set it up to add some three dimensionality to the photo. It seems no matter where you put it it shows a reflection off the trading board. I didn't have a grid and barn doors with me so I folded some dark color correcting filters in half and clipped them to the reflector.
I shot some that weren't silhouettes because I know they will use this photo for other things if I put detail in the students.
Moved the students and shot 2 more angles on this and another trading board. I was just starting to see what I really wanted to capture when they all had to leave.
It's not the greatest shot in the world by a long stretch but not bad for as fast as I'm forced to work and not knowing what your actually shooting until you walk in the room.
When I know it's for a brochure I try to take more gear but this was for news release photo. I only carried the extra light because I've run into this many times.

 

[Robert Manning]

Nice work, John. I think the shot looks great, especially under the circumstances. What school is this?

 

[john lucas]

Robert I am one of two photographers for Tennessee Technological University and also The Appalachian Center for Craft which is also part of our school. I do most of the art photography and specialize in lighting and macro work. My boss is the computer expert and does more of the portraits. We both go on most of the serious shoots and take turns being the photographer and gaffer.
The Craft center is how I got so deep in woodturning. I also teach turning workshops there once or twice a year.
www.tntech.edu
www.tntech.edu/craftcenter

 

[Bill Boehme]

Good work, John. The board almost looks like the control panel in Lightroom including thumbnail image and luminosity histogram. 😀

Your typical work scenario sounds a lot like my experiences when I used to run the sound board and occasionally one of the TV cameras for special programs at our church. I usually arrived at least a couple hours early to set up microphones, monitors, etc. The choir or musical group was normally supposed to be there about an hour early for a sound check and rehearsal. The way that things actually went would often be that everybody arrived too late for a sound check, wanted microphones moved around all over the place, and then maybe quickly rehearse for a minute as people are already filing into the sanctuary. While I am rushing up to the soundboard in the balcony, somebody moves mikes around again so that what I have labeled on the board is not what is actually where things are. Sometimes a mike also got unplugged just to make things more interesting. Then I get a phone call from the TV control room asking if I would mind running camera #2 since it is next to the sound board and the camera operator is busy running the soundboard in the TV control room. The panic usually subsided after about five minutes into the program when I finally got things sorted and figured out what was and wasn't working and where all of the mikes actually were.

 

[john lucas]

Bill I went to visit my sisters church in Atlanta and it's like that, 10 foot screens on each side of the pulpit. The choir has a shell that comes down from the ceiling when they sing and right in the center of the congregation is the control booth for all that. I thought I was attending the Grand ole Opry.
I'm much happier in my church in Cookeville. 180 people attend, the choir has no mikes and the only TV is the one we go home to watch the game after the service.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Bill I went to visit my sisters church in Atlanta and it's like that, 10 foot screens on each side of the pulpit. The choir has a shell that comes down from the ceiling when they sing and right in the center of the congregation is the control booth for all that. I thought I was attending the Grand ole Opry.
I'm much happier in my church in Cookeville. 180 people attend, the choir has no mikes and the only TV is the one we go home to watch the game after the service.

Our church can't even come close to that, but we do have the new Cowboy Stadium here in Arlington that is in the same league. 😀