Black Pro Mist vs Black Frost

[Fader8]

Hello

I want to get a diffusion filter for my experimental (≠everything must be bloomy) film and photography art. I can't find good comparisons between the Black Promist (1/4) and the Black Frost (1/2). Has anybody tested both or could provide test results? I just want to get a singular 4x4 filter.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers

 

[Greg_E]

Put finger prints on the rear element of your lens, great big smears should make a soft and bloomy effect. The price is right.

 

[ahalpert]

Here are some

My general feeling is that black frost is very classy and BPM is very moody. Informative descriptions, I know

 

[Run&Gun]

After seeing this thread and the OP's post on another forum, I finally broke down and ordered a modern diffusion filter a few hours ago: 1/8 Hollywood Black Magic. The video from Schneider looks like it just takes the edge slightly off without affecting(blooming) the highlights too much or killing the contrast.

 

[combatentropy]

When perusing video samples, it might help to grab a frame and make sure it is graded how you like.

I was having the hardest time making up my mind until I did that, and it cemented that I prefer Pro Mist over Black Pro Mist.

Ever since the move from film to video, most stuff looks milky to me. I prefer a steeper S curve. Also, they always seem to have too much red. After I regraded, what first appeared to be too much haze or bloom mostly disappeared.

 

[Run&Gun]

When perusing video samples, it might help to grab a frame and make sure it is graded how you like.

I was having the hardest time making up my mind until I did that, and it cemented that I prefer Pro Mist over Black Pro Mist.

Ever since the move from film to video, most stuff looks milky to me. I prefer a steeper S curve. Also, they always seem to have too much red. After I regraded, what first appeared to be too much haze or bloom mostly disappeared.

That's one of the things that has kept me away from diffusion type filters for so long. So many people over do them(using a heavy grade of filter and heavily blooming/veiling highlights) and then do a, what I would deem, poor job grading the image and leaving it too "log-y" or otherwise robbing it of contrast and washing out/lifting the blacks and shadows. What do people have against contrast and color, today?

 

[cpreston]

You might also want to look at some of the newer filters like the Tiffen Satin and Black Satin. I'm not sure what Schneider has that is comparable. The Black Diffusion FX is comparable to the Hollywood Black Magic. It's a cross between a low grade Soft fX and black pro mist filters. The satin filters are really hard to describe. I hate to use the word "filmic", but it is the best work that I've got. They show the "right" amount of halation on light sources, a general blending of some color tones without a loss in saturation, and almost no loss in perceived sharpness. I keep meaning to do some tests comparing the black satin to the black pro mist. I have been shooting with the black satin on the majority of my shoots recently.

 

[ahalpert]

I agree. I havent used satin but I have several strengths of black satin. I think its subtle enough to get away with on doc. It doesn't scream filtration. But you have more of an effect than black diffusion and some of the filters that are so subtle as to hardly be worth the trouble

But for the OP, I imagine that all these super-subtle filters would be insufficient for delivering a "look"

 

[combatentropy]

Yeah, the Satins maintain the same amount of halation across strengths. Only the softness of details increases.

Reminder: The density numbers are relative only to each other within a kind of filter. For example, Black Satin 2 is nowhere near as strong as Black Pro Mist 2. Tiffen makes no attempt at uniformity across their different lines --- maybe because the older, Pro Mist lines get so strong so fast that nobody really uses anything above 1/2. So a reset was in order.

 

[Grug]

If you want “bloomy”, skip the Black Promists, and go for the straight Promists. The “black” dots they use in the BPMs specifically reduce blooming (compared to regular Promists, which use white dots)