F55: A diffusion filter test… actually done right

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Thought I'd share this video comparing various diffusion filters by Tiffen including:

Pro Mist, Soft Fx, Pearlecent, HDTV FX, Satin, Black diffusion FX, Black Satin, Net, Black Pro Mist, Smogue, Soft FX with Ultra Con, Bronze Glimmer glass, Gold Diffusion, Warm black pro mist, Warm pro mist, Digital diffusion, Glimmer glass, Soft FX with Black Pro Mist. And lastly some IR tests.

What I feel is done right about it is they keep the same f-stop on the lens no matter what light loss is exhibited by the filter itself. This allows a much better comparison when comparing filters and on top of that they use two camera's and split the frame so you always see a version of the unfiltered image.

Great video.

https://vimeo.com/96143464

https://vimeo.com/92660033
 
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This is a really great video - I saw this a while ago. Anyone here in the UK wishing to test for themselves should let me know - Tiffen UK are very friendly and handily located at Pinewood, with Sony's DMPCE very close. So I was able to test many filters for myself as the two companies are very good to deal with.
 
Yeah - this is the video.

I just downloaded it a while back to keep as a reference.
Sho' was nice of them to make this one.
 
Myself I am quite drawn to the Pearlescent and glimmer glass filters. Back in the day I was a big fan of pro-mists but I just can't get away with them much anymore.
 
I always liked Black Pro Mist but also very fond of the Glimmer Glass and Black Satin filters. Some of the other ones go a bit too far, but useful if you need a certain look for your footage.
 
Its a well done test but really neither of these models needs any diffusion at all so you don't find out a helluvalot. They'd probably look great with an overhead fluorescent for that matter.
They should do the whole thing again with someone in their 80's. Or turn the cameras around and shoot the crew - then you'd see what these pieces of glass could do.
 
It certainly was somewhere, although I can't find where. The test is quite hard to find even if you know what to look for.
 
I just added the 4K test version to the first post. But it's in 1080p??


For me personally I like black pro mist, pearlecent, and satin. I think 1/8 to 1/4 strength max before it really starts looking overbearing.

What I wonder is if anyone here has tried the Digital Tiffen FX filter plugin, either in-place of in-front lens filters or just as a post filter process? I played around with it and the results are really good. Obviously to do it in post you're talking rendering times…
 
Post-filters scare me, the only time I tend to allow that kind of filtration is if I have done a VFX heavy project and putting a filter on set would have simply made post's life difficult - that was the case with "Soldiers of the Damned"
 
I'm a fan of the Glimmerglass line and I also use Classic Softs. Did some tests a while back and found a few of the newer ones create blotchiness or lines in out-of-focus highlights which is not good (and a shame that wasn't represented in this test). Unfortunately I've forgotten which ones those were--possibly Digital Diffusion and maybe Satin.
 
They definitely redesigned some of their filters, as some effects rely on micro-lenslets to work and I think they had issues with these becoming in-focus. Schneider certainly redesigned some of theirs for these reasons - when 2/3" HD cameras were in vogue, this was a big issue
 
Thanks for posting this Dennis, this is so much better than Tiffen's website for trying to choose filters.

So which one is the Sony to Arri Look filter? Ahem.

As the FS7 is not able to have a 2K OLPF fitted I'm wondering which of these filters may be the closest matchup? The digital diffusion 1 looks like it could be. It would be nice to kill a bit of aliasing in slowmo.

I've noticed UK adverts seem to be shunning sharpness and going for a very soft dreamy look and very often much softer than the main programme. Anyone know if this is post work or lens filters? Anyone shooting big brand commercials here in the UK?
 
No problem, I'm mostly impressed that someone does a test keeping the aperture set the same throughout. What a concept.

I think for a 'Sony to ARRI' look you need black pro mist, or an ultra con, but subtle. Like 1/8, just enough to add a slight bloom to highlights but not raise blacks too much as to lower the overall contrast of the frame. The bette route is just to shoot with an ARRI.

On the FS7 some might find a 'hollywood black magic' does enough to remove the slight aliasing when shooting over 60p.
 
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Lenilenapi said:
Its a well done test but really neither of these models needs any diffusion at all so you don't find out a helluvalot. They'd probably look great with an overhead fluorescent for that matter. They should do the whole thing again with someone in their 80's. Or turn the cameras around and shoot the crew - then you'd see what these pieces of glass could do.
Click to expand...
Which reminds me of an old line from "Tootsie" where "Dorothy Michael" gets into the shot for the first time on her soap opera debut, with Dabney Coleman playing the soap director talking to a cameraman.

- How far can you pull back?

- How about Cleveland?
 
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