Colour filters with DSLRs?

Hi All,


after reading "The Negative", and looking at some of my b/w landscape photos, I was wondering whether the combination of a colour filter (in particular yellow or orange) with a DSLR is something that is "accepted practice", or whether it just doesn't work properly, given that a DSLR's pixels are each "coloured"...


…however I am really interested in having greater control over the colour-to-b/w conversion that is, in some way, required to obtain a b/w image. The first step of control is to choose the exact mix of rgb data from which the b/w image is made, but it's clear that a filter on the lens that works on the continuous spectrum, rather than the three quantised colour channels, can never be fully simulated in software.


Any experiences? Is it worth a filter when it doesn't (mostly) coincide with the colour of one of the colour triplets?


Thanks & Regards, Colin

Color filters are of little use for DSLRs in B&W photography for precisely the reason you guessed: the Bayer color filter array. The only effect of a color filter is to change the relative signal level between color channels to decrease noise and increase dynamic range -- but that applies to color photography as well as B&W.

I received a huge array of coloured filters with Photoshop CS4 [:P]


I'd suggest the best way to adjust the way your B&W images look would be during post processing with curves and colour channels.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel Browning

Color filters are of little use for DSLRs in B&W photography […]

---

Right, then I'll rather get a CPL filter and play with that, rather than a yellow filter for B&W landscapes with a DSLR.


Colin

In my opinion, the greater effect is gained from the use of a polarising filter. Any direct effect of colour 'subtraction' through a filter can be achieved through photoshop or any other manipulation system which codes to grey scale. Says me who has at least an 81B on most times...

Agreed. You cannot replicate the effect of a polarising filter.