In article <48rtf9$2t7@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, sbtony@aol.com says...
>What are the best fiters to use for black and white film and please
>describe the end result of using them.

Is this an essay question? :<)
If you want to get your feet wet with B & W filters, I would suggest
buying an orange filter if that is to be your one-and-only filter.
If not, a DARK yellow (medium or light yellow is a waste of money),
an orange, and a red filter will provide a range of effects (mostly
on clear days with blue sky in the photo - other subjects will not
show much change with filters, and you will just lose effective film speed using filters). Other filters (light and dark green, blue,
and the lighter yellows) will not do much for you except under unusual
conditions. Before using filters with an SLR with built in meter,
read a grey subject under a reliably constant daylight-balanced light.
Put each filter on that you have, and adjust the camera controls to
what they should be, given the filter-factor for the particular filter.
Adjust the ASA setting on the camera (or compensation dial) until the exposure of the grey through the filter is what it should be with that filter. Apply the ASA change or compensation ring change when using that
filter. REMEMBER to remove the compensation when you remove the filter!
(Since most dark yellow filters require 1 stop, orange filters 2 stops, and red filters 3 stops extra exposure when used [since they absorb
some colors - that's how they work!], placing them on the camera should [if there were no color error in SLR meters] result in changes in indicated exposure compared with no filter of 1, 2, or 3 stops.
Many meters will show the losses as 1/2, 1, and 1 1/2 stops. Using the
meter uncompensated will result in underexposure of most subjects.)
Hope this helps.