By: Chuck Miller
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Using filters on my black-and-white “efke” shots

Last week I went up to Saratoga Springs with my Nikkormat FTn camera, it had a load of KB50 black-and-white “efke” film inside.  I also had several colored filters for my lens – an orange Tiffen 85B filter; a red Bower filter, and a fluorescent Zeikos filter.  Yeah, I don’t know why I would need a fluorescent filter for black and white photography, but it fit the lens and I wanted to experiment, so…

The plan was to take photos of certain buildings and icons in the Saratoga Springs area, and use one filter per shot – but take each shot four times.  Once with the orange, once with the red, once with the fluorescent, and once with no filter at all.

So here’s what I came up with.  All shots were taken with the Nikkormat’s f/1.4 52mm non-AI’d lens (this camera was manufactured before automatic indexing, or “AI” – so if you have a camera lens that has one of those little tuning yokes on the barrel, it’s manufactured for this type of camera).  The Nikkormat has a light meter inside, so I exposed for same.

Delaware and Hudson railroad caboose, on display off Route 9N in Greenfield Center. Filter used: Zeikos FLD fluorescent. Photo by Chuck Miller.
Turf and Spa Motor Lodge, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. No filter used. Photo by Chuck Miller.
Lincoln Baths, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Photographed with red Bower filter. Photo by Chuck Miller.
Delaware and Hudson bridge, Corinth, N.Y. Photographed with red Bower filter. Photo by Chuck Miller.

As you can see, I chose to have these developed not by CVS, but by McGreevey Photo Lab in downtown Albany.  They did a great job, I think.

Oh, and I can’t knock CVS any more.  Because they made things right with me.  Yesterday I received a package from B&H Photo – three rolls of KB50 black and white efke film.  Compliments of CVS.

Let me say this.  CVS’ customer service did the right thing, and for that they deserve as much respect as possible for taking a bad situation and making things work.