Filters and Haze on film...

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jamesb84

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Right, I've had a good search through here and tried to decipher the saleshype on various filter manufacturers sites...

What I'd like to know is...what's the best way of eliminating haze on film shots...

I've seen various votes for UV and Polariser, but which is likely to offer the better results.

I'm also aware that I'm going to have to spring for some Grad NDs for landscapes, especially with mountains that seem to fade into smokiness.

Any help guys!?

I'm looking at the best results from Velvia 50 and Velvia 100 for landscape sort of stuff, including travel sort of shots... Tibet is on the agenda hopefully!
 
To be honest, I'd probably say both the UV and Polariser. Most of the time a Polariser will do the trick, but if you're shooting wide angle, theres always the chance that the Pola. will leave the sky banded - where the field of view of the lens is so wide that the polarising effect varies across the sky, and you get one side of the sky much darker than the other. You can minimise this by reducing the polariser's effect a little, but it's hard to avoid completely. This is where a good UV Haze filter such as the Tiffen haze 1 (or 2a if you're going for high-mountain stuff!) comes in. On my trips to the alps, my FD24 wide lens practically had a Haze 2A and lens hood welded to it, where the 50mm spent most of it's time behind a Polariser.
 
TheBigYin said:
To be honest, I'd probably say both the UV and Polariser. Most of the time a Polariser will do the trick, but if you're shooting wide angle, theres always the chance that the Pola. will leave the sky banded - where the field of view of the lens is so wide that the polarising effect varies across the sky, and you get one side of the sky much darker than the other. You can minimise this by reducing the polariser's effect a little, but it's hard to avoid completely. This is where a good UV Haze filter such as the Tiffen haze 1 (or 2a if you're going for high-mountain stuff!) comes in. On my trips to the alps, my FD24 wide lens practically had a Haze 2A and lens hood welded to it, where the 50mm spent most of it's time behind a Polariser.
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Top stuff big man...I realised after I'd posted that I might have needed something different for high-altitude. What's the reasoning for Haze 1 v Haze 2A? I'm guessing it's to do with different levels of haze? Over-caffienated this morning (girlfriend bought a massive Mr Messy mug, and i may have filled it) and can't work it out myself.

Having looked, Lhasa in Tibet is 16,000ft AMSL which is definitely Haze 2A and Viagra territory.
 
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Just watch for vignetting with some polarisers on some wide lenses... especially if you habitually leave your UV on and stack on top of it... DOH :(
 
jamesb84 said:
Top stuff big man...I realised after I'd posted that I might have needed something different for high-altitude. What's the reasoning for Haze 1 v Haze 2A? I'm guessing it's to do with different levels of haze? Over-caffienated this morning (girlfriend bought a massive Mr Messy mug, and i may have filled it) and can't work it out myself.

Having looked, Lhasa in Tibet is 16,000ft AMSL which is definitely Haze 2A and Viagra territory.
Click to expand...

It's pretty much down to the altitude - the thinner the air, the more UV gets through, the more UV, the more haze filtering you need - the 2A is pretty much a UV mirror, while still relatively Neutral in colour, whereas the 1 blocks something like 3/4 of the UV.

I'd post a few shots to illustrate, that I took when I did Anapurna Base Camp trek, but all the slides were lost in a tragic "Mental Ex-Girlfriend/Failure to Change the Locks when I threw her out/Photoalbum+LP Collection Bonfire" incident. :(

I'd not realised that Viagra was being used for Altitude sickness - it's got to be better than Diamox - or at least a better set of side-affects, at least as long as you're not on a route that involves rock-climbing :shrug:
 
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UV filter or clarity tool in Capture One does an excellent job if you are not 100% purist.
 
you might like to read "Bob Atkins" (c) UV filter..."link"

it took me months to find a 52mm Tiffen HAZE-1 [and then a 55mm] on eBay

plenty listed USA - where it's from..........
DO NOT buy Tiffen other than USA
DO NOT get a Tiffen UV protector = rubbish

he tested the Hoya UV... I suspect the HMC version is better - and the Pro-1 is best [£££]

if you read the Lenstip Lab report - the Hoya HMC did very well....". link"

I use this on all my film lenses....always UV (O) never (N) or (C)

have a good trip........................:wave:
 
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