8mm Forum: Colored Filters To The Rescue

This is topic Colored Filters To The Rescue in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on March 10, 2017, 12:44 PM:

I'm a proponent of using colored filters on faded or fading color prints. I'm not a fan of red movies and try to purchase films on low-fade stock...but I have bought a few movies that were much more faded than anticipated. In these cases the colored gels have made these prints watchable again.

Be aware however...there is no one specific colored gel that will work in all cases. So the trick is to have several gels to use alone or combined with other gels. There is also a trade-off to combining multiple gels. The more gels the darker the picture becomes. This is also why the gels work best with brighter lamps. You'll have to decide which is more acceptable to watch...more red but brighter picture OR...less red, but darker and less contrast. If I had to pick one gel...I would pick the darker blue gel that Gerald Santana sells.

http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002236

I use Gerald's dark blue gel the most. He also has a lighter blue now that also works very well with less faded prints or in combination with the darker blue. I recommend buying more than one set so you can combine filters if necessary.

If the gels you order do not come with a holder to fit over your lens...you can easily DIY one yourself using various caps you probably have around your house. Look in your medicine cabinet for old pill bottle caps. A really good size cap is on the Vicks Menthol Rub bottle ($1 at Dollar Tree [Smile]

). You just need to drill or cut with an exacto blade a hole in the cap.

A cap from a reel of plumbers tape fits perfect on a Elmo 16CL 50mm lens. If you add some adhesive backed velcro to the inside it will fit snuggly onto a smaller 8mm lens as pictured on my Elmo ST800.

I have created a small filter holder using Post-it notes sheets. I have all the filter colors numbered. I mark on the film boxes/reels which filter(s) work best so I don't have to guess at the next screening.

[ March 10, 2017, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: Janice Glesser ]

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on March 10, 2017, 01:41 PM:

Janice, you're so fantastic. You always make wonders.

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on March 10, 2017, 01:57 PM:

What an amazing improvement! Nice job Janice.
I bought these filters from Janice's advice and they have worked great for me as well.
Hey, i like the velcro inside idea!
Thanx for documenting this for us all.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on March 10, 2017, 01:57 PM:

Thanks for the advise Janice....I've been thinking about getting some gels and I think you may have convinced me to do so. I know it would benefit some films I have. [Smile]

Posted by Gerald Santana (Member # 2362) on March 10, 2017, 03:32 PM:

Hi Janice,

Thanks for the plug and really appreciate your invention, those bottle caps are a brilliant idea. I'm trying this immediately.

My recommendations are exactly like yours, and have been greatly benefiting from the combination of the new light blue and green gels together.

My thought is the same, try other filters out there and see what works best for you and keep them in an envelope and avoid touching the center, it will leave finger prints, and my blur the image. Although you can clean them...gently with a little white vinegar.

It's really nice to see some of these faded films without the harsh brightness of the fade, and a return to a decent color skin tone.

Thanks again to those who ordered already, I have a few left if anyone needs them. Bill, I'll send you a set.
[Smile]

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on March 10, 2017, 05:39 PM:

Thanks Gerald that is very kind of you! [Smile]

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on March 11, 2017, 11:38 AM:

Thanks for the comments guys...I am happy to share my experiences and glad to hear that some of my postings are helpful.

Here's another suggestion as an alternative to Velcro to pad the filter holder. Try small adhesive-backed felt pads. There are several varieties and sizes and much thinner than Velcro.

Example:
Instead of a 50mm lens that won't enlarge the picture to fill my screen...I use a 25mm lens on my permanent Elmo 16mm setup. The cap was a bit too big so I used these little Surface Guard pads. It's a perfect fit now. It's not too tight or too loose and easily slides off to replace or add filters.

[ March 11, 2017, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Janice Glesser ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 11, 2017, 12:03 PM:

Great review of you're process Janice!

I bought some of those filters from Gerald (thanks Gerald!), and I foubnd that taking the darker of the two Cyan filters, cutting it in half and combining it, along with the lighter cyan, even the slightly more faded prints look absloutely fantastic. I'll see if i can take some before/after screenshots of my optical sound print of "The Man Who Would Be king", just to show how GOOD a filter can make a print look!!!

Posted by Rich Malmsten (Member # 5787) on March 11, 2017, 01:00 PM:

Janice - you're so handy when it comes to improvising simple but clever ways to do things! Seeing your method of making DIY caps for the Gerald Santana's filters encouraged me to order a set of my own filters this morning. In the past I've always been skeptical that they improve the color enough to make it worth the while, but based on your and others recommendations, I'm going to try it.

I really dislike red films, too, and try to avoid Eastman stock unless the title is one I simply can't resist. Still, I've acquired more than a few faded prints over the years that I haven't traded up yet for one with better color.

This will be a fun project and hopefully my results will as good as everyone else's.

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on March 13, 2017, 03:38 PM:

Our Janice is the Martha Stewart of Film Collecting!
Look for her upcoming book:
"Women Can Handle 8mm & 16mm Better!"
[Smile]

She demonstrates yet again why she has the Title of Film Goddess!

Posted by Luigi Castellitto (Member # 3759) on March 15, 2017, 03:42 PM:

Great idea the velcro for put filter in a lens!
I use the Gerarld filters, and I will try.
Thanks, Janice!

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on March 15, 2017, 04:33 PM:

quote:
"Women Can Handle 8mm & 16mm Better!"

What about 9.5mm Joe? [Smile]

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on March 15, 2017, 05:52 PM:

I don't think Janice has any 9.5mm films -- yet!
[Smile]

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on March 15, 2017, 06:43 PM:

Paul is actually correct Joe...

I have a nice little collection of 9.5 films for my Pathe Baby. [Smile]

[ March 03, 2019, 11:10 AM: Message edited by: Janice Glesser ]

Posted by Douglas Warren (Member # 1047) on March 17, 2017, 09:21 AM:

Thanks for a great thread Janice. I too have some of Gerald's filters and they work very well. I use them on my 16mm (and very soon) on my Super-8 machines as well.

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on March 17, 2017, 12:23 PM:

I'm so pleased to hear that so many of you are trying out the filters and my suggestions for a holder. It's such a small investment of time and money to potentially bring back more enjoyment to watching your fading films.

Posted by Rich Malmsten (Member # 5787) on March 20, 2017, 08:40 PM:

I used my new filters for the first time tonight and I have to say that I am extremely pleased with the results. On my slightly faded print of "The Pit and the Pendulum" the colors with the filter are truly impressive. I wouldn't have thought it could take the red out and leave such good colors.

On the more badly faded films there was still a significant improvement, though if the colors are mostly gone to begin with, there just isn't enough left for the filters to work with. Still, it knocks down the red and makes a marked improvement.

I found what others had said to be true, too - different filters seem to work better on different films, it wasn't a one-filter-fits-all situation. So check all the filters and combinations to see which works best with any particular film.

With regards to a holder for the filter, I tried a different approach than what Janice did. Later I'll upload some pictures, but basically I sandwiched a filter between two pieces of thin cardboard with circular holes cut in them the diameter of the projector lens. With a little trial and error I got the right height cardboard so that when I slipped it between the projector body and the leader trimmer (on my Elmos ST1200 & 600), it stayed wedged in place with the hole directly in front of the lens. Just that easy!

Posted by Terry Lagler (Member # 1110) on March 21, 2017, 07:44 AM:

That's great Janice. I think this is my next project.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on January 28, 2018, 08:29 PM:

Are there filters to enrich B&W films that lack contrast and have a flat gray, and pasty appearance? Should I consider a filter or invest in a slower f stop lens: f/1.9?

Years ago, there were photo stores that sold dyes in bottles as Tints and Tones, and available in a variety of colors.

I believe the Tints were used for the highlights, and Tones were for the dark neutral area of film, and were applied to the processed film.

Posted by Alan Gouger (Member # 31) on January 28, 2018, 09:24 PM:

quote:
Our Janice is the Martha Stewart of Film Collecting

Indeed Joe.

I just ordered my filters, thanks a bunch “Janice”
I too cannot tolerate faded prints there is something about that red that bothers my eyes.
It’s contribution’s like this that makes the hobby special. Thank you as well Gerald!

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on February 08, 2018, 12:06 PM:

I thought the idea of using gels to try to restore some colour to faded films was a relatively new idea, until i heard from ex forum member Hugh Scott, who came across an advert he placed in Film For the Collector magazine, more than 20 years ago. On it's own, blue has a cold look. You need the other colours mentioned in his note to me to get natural looking skin tones.
“Hi Robert, while browsing through back Issues of FFTC, came across an old ad I’d placed years ago regarding coloured gels, I had enlightened my mate, the late Harry Nadler on them long before, as he used to host ‘The Manchester Fantastic Film Festival’, he swore by the ‘pale blue’, but I advised he use it in conjunction with the ‘medium yellow’ or gaslight green’, as it gave colour to foliage and flesh tone, of course it depends on how faded a print is, but it removes the ‘fire’ from pink prints and restores a lot of colour that would ordinarily be lost. The gels I sent out were ROSCO SUPERGEL, the sheets were expensive, but worth it, the colours I used to send out were, Gaslight Green, Medium Yellow, Pale Blue & Leaf Green in 6” squares enough to make filters to ‘double up’ if need be, post paid, of course to my ‘filmic friends’ they were gratis, but at least the readers of FFTC had no reason to watch faded prints.”

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on February 10, 2018, 01:46 AM:

what a great thread, love those medicine bottle caps, such a simple idea, Robert i have that edition of fftc yet i could never recall that item, thank you to Hugh, (who kindly sent me some filters a couple years ago and turns my Death wish feature to near perfect),an excellent thread. [Wink]

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on February 10, 2018, 04:44 AM:

Hi Tom; if you have that issue, then the ad is on page 38 under Classifieds.

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on February 13, 2018, 05:21 PM:

Some sweets (candy) are wrapped in coloured Cellophane eg Quality Street in the UK. Buy a box for your better half and experiment with using the wrappers as filters. I've a print of a train travelling through the countryside with red grass and sky. A blue and green wrapper held in front of the lens made it watchable again. Now I know which filters to look for. Oh, and the sweets were nice too!

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