There are times when you’re out shooting, maybe capturing a misty morning or a vibrant autumn landscape, and you just can’t quite get the mood or the specific colour separation you envision straight out of the camera. I know I’ve been there. You want that extra punch, that unique look that separates your images from the standard fare. Relying solely on post-processing can feel like a workaround sometimes, and achieving certain effects, especially with atmospheric conditions or specific colour contrasts, is just much harder digitally than doing it in-camera.
Stepping into the world of creative filters requires some thought. This category of photographic tools isn’t just about protecting your lens; it’s about fundamentally altering the light that hits your sensor or film to achieve specific artistic outcomes. You’d seek a filter like this if you’re a photographer who wants to exert more creative control *during* the shooting process, perhaps to create dramatic contrast, manipulate atmospheric effects like haze or fog, or experiment with unusual colour shifts, especially in black and white or full-spectrum photography. The ideal customer is someone with a specific vision that can be enhanced or realized by strong colour filtration, often working with landscapes, architectural scenes, or experimental work.
Who should maybe steer clear? If you primarily shoot portraits and need accurate skin tones, a strong colour filter like this isn’t your friend – it will drastically alter complexions. Casual photographers who prefer to do all their adjustments in software might also find this type of filter overly restrictive or unnecessary. If you need neutral density, polarization, or basic UV protection, you should be looking at filters designed specifically for those purposes instead.
Before buying any creative filter, you need to think about the specific effect you’re trying to achieve, whether a filter is the best tool for it compared to lighting or post-processing, the quality of the optical glass and coatings (which affect sharpness and flare), and crucially, the filter thread size of your lenses to ensure compatibility (or if you’ll need step-up/down rings).
- Dark-blue filter
- Accentuates haze and fog
- Used for dye transfer and contrast effect
Introducing the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter
The Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue) is essentially a dark blue piece of optical glass designed to thread onto the front of your lens. Its main purpose is to block specific wavelengths of light, primarily allowing blue and violet light through while absorbing reds, oranges, and yellows. Tiffen promises this filter will help accentuate haze and fog and is useful for achieving dramatic contrast effects, particularly relevant for black and white photography or certain colour processes like dye transfer. When you purchase the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue), you typically get the filter itself, constructed from optical glass with multi-coating, and usually a protective case.
Compared to market leaders like B+W or Hoya, Tiffen often positions itself as a more affordable, yet still reputable, option, known for being made in the USA. While other brands offer similar strong colour filters, Tiffen’s accessibility is a key factor for many photographers. This specific #47 blue filter is for the photographer who wants a very strong, distinct effect that dramatically alters the scene’s colours and tones, rather than subtle adjustments. It’s not for general-purpose shooting or colour-accurate work.
Here’s a quick rundown:
Pros:
* Effectively creates strong blue/violet filtration.
* Enhances haze and fog dramatically.
* Useful for specific contrast effects in monochrome.
* Optical glass construction with multi-coating.
* Affordable compared to some premium brands.
Cons:
* Strong effect makes it unsuitable for general use or portraits.
* Can require increased exposure due to light reduction (2x filter factor).
* Potential for quality control issues (dust, smudges on arrival) based on user feedback.
* The protective case might not be the most durable.
- Includes #6, #13, & #25 Contrast Filters
- 【58mm Color Filter Kit】 This kit includes 9 pieces 58mm color filters (red, orange, blue, yellow, green, brown, purple, pink, and gray filter), 2 filter pouches, and a cleaning cloth
Unpacking the Features and What They Do for You
Having spent a good amount of time shooting with the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue), I can delve into the specifics of what it does and the practical benefits I’ve experienced. This isn’t a filter you leave on your lens all the time; it’s a specialist tool for specific creative goals.
Specific Wavelength Filtration and Its Impact
At its heart, the Tiffen #47 blue filter is a highly selective tool. The “#47” designation refers to a specific spectral curve, meaning it’s designed to transmit primarily blue and violet light while absorbing light from the green, yellow, orange, and red parts of the spectrum. On standard colour film or digital sensors, this means the blues in your scene will be significantly brighter, while warm colours will be muted or even drastically darkened. The benefit here is immense creative control. If you have a scene with strong warm and cool elements, like a sunset over blue water, this filter can amplify the cool tones and suppress the warm ones in ways that are difficult or impossible to replicate convincingly with just white balance adjustments or standard editing sliders. It imposes its distinct colour cast directly onto the capture.
Accentuating Haze and Fog
One of the standout benefits of this particular filter is its ability to work with atmospheric conditions. Haze and fog are essentially tiny water droplets or particles suspended in the air. These particles tend to scatter blue light more than other wavelengths, which is why distant objects often appear bluish (atmospheric perspective). By using a strong blue filter, you’re essentially filtering out the non-blue light, making the existing blue light from the scattered atmosphere *relatively* more prominent in the capture. My experience confirms that this effect can be quite dramatic. Instead of haze simply washing out details, the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue) can make the misty layers in a landscape appear thicker, more distinct, and visually separate elements within the atmospheric diffusion. This adds a sense of depth and mood that a clear shot wouldn’t have. It’s a powerful tool for photographers who actively seek out foggy or hazy conditions for their work.
Dramatic Black and White Contrast
While it’s a colour filter, the #47 blue filter is also a classic tool for black and white photography. In monochrome conversion, colours are translated into shades of grey. How a colour filter affects the original colours determines how they are translated into tones. A blue filter darkens colours opposite it on the colour wheel (red, orange, yellow) and lightens colours similar to it (blue, green-blue). The benefit for B&W is significant contrast control. Imagine a landscape with a bright blue sky and yellow or red foliage. Without a filter, the sky might convert to a medium grey, and the foliage to a similar tone, resulting in a flat image. With the Tiffen filter, the blue sky becomes much lighter (potentially white), while the yellow/red foliage becomes much darker (ranging from dark grey to black). This separation creates dramatic contrast between the sky and the land, making clouds pop against a bright sky or emphasizing the dark texture of trees against lighter atmospheric elements. It’s an indispensable filter for traditional black and white landscape photographers aiming for specific tonal renditions.
Unique Effects in Digital and Full Spectrum Photography
On modern digital sensors, especially cameras modified for full-spectrum photography, the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue) can produce some truly unique and striking colour effects. Because digital sensors are sensitive to wavelengths beyond visible light (like infrared), the way the filter interacts with this broader spectrum can lead to unexpected results. I’ve seen, and experienced myself, how this filter can render green foliage as a vibrant gold or yellow while simultaneously making the sky an incredibly saturated, almost artificial blue. This happens because the filter blocks visible light except blue, but might still allow some near-infrared light through, which foliage strongly reflects. The sensor then interprets this combination in a peculiar, yet often visually stunning, way. The benefit here is the ability to create highly stylized, surreal images directly in camera. It opens up a realm of creative possibilities beyond standard visible light photography, turning familiar scenes into alien landscapes of gold and intense blue.
Optical Glass and Multi-Coating Quality
The physical construction of any filter is paramount, as a poorly made filter can degrade image quality, introducing softness, flare, or colour casts you *don’t* want. The use of optical glass in the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue) is a key feature. Optical glass is manufactured to high standards of purity and clarity, ensuring that the filter itself doesn’t inherently soften the image or introduce distortions. The multi-coating is also crucial. Lens coatings reduce reflections and maximize light transmission. On a filter that blocks a significant amount of light, like the #47 blue, maintaining good light transmission for the wavelengths it *does* pass is important. Multi-coating on both surfaces helps to minimize internal reflections between the filter and the front element of your lens, reducing the likelihood of ghosting and flare, especially when shooting towards bright light sources or in scenes with high contrast. The benefit is that while the filter dramatically changes the scene’s colour/tone, it doesn’t compromise the technical image quality in terms of sharpness or unwanted artifacts, assuming the filter itself is clean.
Compatibility with 52mm Lenses
The 52mm thread size is a standard size used on many lenses, particularly kit lenses for APS-C cameras, prime lenses, and some older film camera lenses. This makes the Tiffen 52mm filter directly compatible with a wide range of optics. Even if your primary lenses have a different thread size, 52mm is a common enough size that inexpensive step-up or step-down rings are readily available. This means you aren’t necessarily limited to using this filter on just 52mm lenses; you can adapt it for use on lenses with larger or smaller filter threads (with potential vignetting issues if stepping down significantly). The benefit is versatility; you can use this creative tool across different lenses in your kit without needing to buy a separate filter for every single lens, provided you manage compatibility with adapter rings.
Applications Beyond Standard Stills
While primarily discussed for still photography, the mention of its use for dye transfer is interesting. Dye transfer is a historical, complex colour printing process where colour separations are made using filters like this. While niche today, it highlights that the filter’s effect is based on fundamental light physics, making it relevant for various light-based creative processes. Even for videographers, a strong blue filter can create unique in-camera colour grades or dramatic shifts, useful for specific artistic projects. The benefit is its potential utility across different photographic or cinematic applications where strong, specific colour filtration is required at the capture stage.
Hearing from Others Who’ve Used It
I’ve poked around online to see what other photographers think of the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue), and the feedback generally aligns with my own experiences and observations. Many users are quite happy with the filter’s ability to produce the intended creative effects, particularly the vibrant blue skies and unique rendering of foliage in certain conditions, confirming its utility for landscape and experimental full-spectrum photography. However, a common point raised by some users relates to the condition upon arrival, occasionally noting dust, smudges, or less-than-perfect packaging, suggesting Tiffen’s quality control or handling during shipping could sometimes be improved. Despite these minor initial presentation issues, the consensus seems to be that the filter performs its intended optical function well once cleaned, delivering the strong colour and contrast effects it’s designed for, though users acknowledge it’s not a filter for general portraiture due to how it affects skin tones.
Final Thoughts on This Filter
If you’re a photographer who wants to move beyond standard captures and achieve distinctive in-camera effects, particularly concerning atmospheric haze, monochrome contrast, or unique colour palettes in landscape and experimental work, the Tiffen 52mm 47 Filter (Blue) is a compelling tool. The complications of not having such a filter mean you miss out on the ability to dramatically shape light at the point of capture, forcing you to rely solely on digital manipulation, which can sometimes fall short of the organic, in-camera effect. This filter is a great fit because it delivers a very specific, powerful blue filtration effect, is built with quality optical glass and coatings, and offers an affordable entry into creative filter photography. To add this unique creative capability to your kit, Click here to check the product out.
Last update on 2025-07-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API