[MossyRocks]

So I have owned and used the 17mm SMC fisheye takumar f/4 for a few years now and still for the life of me can't figure out what the benefit of the built in orange filter is. I got this lens because I wanted wider and on full frame never used it much but really like the more constrained wideness on APS-C so I have been using it more and getting results I like. The yellow filter I understand and have figured out how to use that, but the orange one I have no idea on.

So far the best picture I took with it was one of a sunset but there I got very little contrast in the clouds but a nice orange sky. I have a feeling this is not how it was meant to be used but would love to get pointed in the right direction.

[photoptimist]

With the exception of color filters for matching tungsten or daylight scenes to daylight or tungsten film, color filters are mostly used for black-and-white photography.

An orange filter with B&W film will make blue skies dramatically darker relative to the clouds.

[leekil]

The yellow-orange-red filters are for adding more contrast to your photos, when using black & white film. The increasingly dark ones make the photos more contrasty.

[Nass]

Surely for black and white, Takumar was a black and white lens.

[Nass]

snap

[monochrome]

O2 is a step more intense than Y2, as posted above. Personally, I used and still like YG for landscape.

180

[Wheatfield]

So I have owned and used the 17mm SMC fisheye takumar f/4 for a few years now and still for the life of me can't figure out what the benefit of the built in orange filter is. I got this lens because I wanted wider and on full frame never used it much but really like the more constrained wideness on APS-C so I have been using it more and getting results I like. The yellow filter I understand and have figured out how to use that, but the orange one I have no idea on.

So far the best picture I took with it was one of a sunset but there I got very little contrast in the clouds but a nice orange sky. I have a feeling this is not how it was meant to be used but would love to get pointed in the right direction.

Start shooting B&W film, you will quickly see the advantage of the O2 filter. It's important when you are buying lenses to remember what era they come from. The Tak 17mm fisheye comes from an era when B&W film was still king.

[pschlute]

How Black-White Camera Filters Work | Black & White Photography

[MossyRocks]

O2 is a step more intense than Y2, as posted above. Personally, I used and still like YG for landscape.

Start shooting B&W film, you will quickly see the advantage of the O2 filter. It's important when you are buying lenses to remember what era they come from. The Tak 17mm fisheye comes from an era when B&W film was still king.

I figured it had something to do with B&W film but just didn't know how to use it or the effect it gave. Thanks now I know how I should play with it and what to expect. I like the yellow and having used it have a good feel for how it behaves when used correctly now I just need to develop that with the orange.

---------- Post added 08-28-18 at 10:51 AM ----------

How Black-White Camera Filters Work | Black & White Photography

Thanks that was informative. I guess I should have waited another couple of minutes to get back to my desk and would have seen that sooner.

[jcdoss]

I've often wondered if it were possible to replace the built-in filters with something more useful... maybe ND filters of different strengths or something. Probably not a project anyone would want to undertake, but the filters that are included are pretty useless in my opinion unless shooting for B/W.