Didymium Color Enhancers, Fall color & digital ??

I Converted to digital October last year (Nikon D100).

My last years fall color pictures are not up to the ones using Velvia [Fred Miranda's "Digital Velvia Actions" do help when mildly administerred but somehow the result is not feeling right].

I was wondering whether a Didymium color enhancer would do me any good.

I understand Bob Singh has done some research into this and has come up with a version of this filter that does enhance the reds/yellows but does not "mudden" the greens.

As they are a bit pricy for an occasional try (160 $ + shipping to Europe + 6-8 % customs duty + 19 % VAT): any real life experiences out there using this filter in combination with digital camera's?

How "natural" do the results look?

How bad is the infamous "magenta" cast in the whites with the Singh-Ray version of this fiter ?

"Singh-Ray Color Intensifier adds "a touch" of natural-looking color http://www.singh-ray.com/colorintens.html "

Thanks for your feed back.

I have a long history of filter experience with Didymium filters having used all the major brands... (Tiffen, Hoya, Harrison and Harrison, and Singh-Ray). I used to shoot everything both with and without the filter and then let the light box decide which version (filtered or unfiltered) I liked best. All of the filters have the dreaded magenta cast and it is especially noticable on emulsions like Velvia. Some films (Agfachrome in particular)show the magenta cast less. Singh-Rays colour enhancer is in my opinion the best of the lot. It enhances colours but more realistically and with less magenta than the others. In the bad old days of film only, I ended up sticking with the Singh-Ray. Half the time I liked the enhanced version better than the unfiltered version.

I have been scanning my slides since 1996 and almost invariably I find myself correcting the colour cast the Didymium filter has imparted. I no longer use any colour enhancing or colour correcting filters either when shooting film or digital, because it is much easier and more precise to make colour corrections in the digital darkroom. The only filters I use that can't easily be replicated in the darkroom is the polarizer (regular and blue-gold) and grad filters (I find I get better results in the field using grads than I would get trying to replicate the effect using software).

So the short answer is: Personally think you would be wasting money buying a didymium especially if you are digital. You can get more controlled and realistic looking color correction and enhancement in Photoshop. If you were still shooting film and never scanned the slides but wanted a 'finished' end product, then yes a didymium can really punch up the colours and make things look more vivid but at a cost of a colour cast, most apparent in neutral areas and white. Some folks do love the brilliant colours and magenta tones of didymium, it is a matter of taste. For me I have long soured of the didymium look. And digital allows me to add any colour and level of saturation I desire.

Darwin wrote:So the short answer is: Personally think you would be wasting money buying a didymium especially if you are digital....
For me I have long soured of the didymium look. And digital allows me to add any colour and level of saturation I desire.

Darwin,

Thanks for sharing, I will have to "enhance" my photoshop skills I guess.

That would be my suggestion too - Photoshop can enhance colors like no filter can, giving you fine and accurate control over everything.
Using off-the-shelf actions in Photoshop is like using your camera in auto mode. Start playing with the controls manually and you'll find a world of possibilites at your fingertips.

Guy