Why do some lenses have a drop-in gelatine-filter holder ?
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The camera works just fine, it's the idiot staring through the viewfinder that need's help! -
Re: Drop-in Gelatine-Filter Holder
It's a relic of the film days where fine colour correction could be carried out by gelatine filters. There was only daylight and tungsten film and slides especially could do with a bit of correction, depending on the time of day, or the effect you wanted.
There was also a vogue at one time of using Flash Colour Correction. Putting a colour gel over the flash and the opposite colour over the subject. Say you were taking a shot of a model, with a scene as a background. Put a green gel over the flash and a red gel over the lens. Where the flashlight hits the model the green and the red cancel each other out, so you get normal skin tones. Where the flash doesn't light, you get a strong red caste to the backgound. You could use any opposite colour gels, such as yellow/blue, magenta cyan etc. Using inexpensive coloured gels was easier and less expensive than full screw-in filters at the front of the lens.
We now have digital and can correct white balance in camera, or with post processing programs, but it could still be useful for those who are determined to get it right in camera if they wanted to use the Flash Colour Correction technique.
ColinColin -
Re: Drop-in Gelatine-Filter Holder
Thank you Colin, interesting. Odd though that a modern lens built primarily for a digital camera has that functionality retained?The camera works just fine, it's the idiot staring through the viewfinder that need's help!Comment
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