Customer Reviews

KODAK Photographic Filters Handbook (Kodak Publication)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is designed for professional photographers, photo lab technicians and scientists who use filters. The book contains infomation on applications, physical, optical and transmission characteristics. This book is not suitable for amateur photographers wanting to learn about the use of filters to improve their photography. Contains no pictures, its all numbers and graphs.

The title says what it is - handbook on Kodak filters. I got this book because I was interested in creating anaglyphs (the red/cyan 3D images that require the funky glasses to view) and was looking for the best filter combination. Not only did this book provide what I was looking for, but it proved to be an interesting read in itself, and it broadened by understanding of filters.

The primary limitation of the book is that it gives technical data only for Kodak-manufactured filters. It includes the colored filters, color correction filters, haze filters, UV filters, safelight filters and neutral density filters. The first part of the book is chapters on various types of filters, and 40+ pages in the back contain transmission vs. wavelength data, both in tabular and graphical form, for all of the Kodak filters. Other tables include spectral-transmittance bar charts, chromaticity diagrams and colorimetric data and a 4 page table to convert between density and percent transmittance.

I knew I was buying a book of tables, but was pleasantly surprised by the 90+ pages on filter descriptions, application and technical information. Although a book such as Kodak's USING FILTERS may be an easier and more in-depth read, one can learn quite a bit about filters reading this handbook. Some of the topics discussed are filter manufacturing, storage and handling, filter stability, and color temperature.

Although not for a beginning photographer, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to an advanced amateur who wants to know more about filters and how to get the most from them. Of course, pros, labs and scientists definitely should consider having this around. I also felt that it was reasonably priced.

If you work as a professional color laboratory tech or studio photographer, this book has definitive information about the characteristics of the multitude of available filters. The information is simply available no where else in this easy-to-reference format. Be cautioned that this book is not targeted at casual amateur photogs or those learning lab techniques.