diffusion 4x4 filter?

M

matthewd5

Veteran
has anyone played around with diffusion filters?

there is a set of lee 4x4 polyester ones, level 1 through 5 really cheap and i thought it might be fun to pick them up and play around with them.

so i thought i would double check if anyone had used any diffusion filters for anything real?

matthew
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Polyester? To shoot thru? I've heard of diffusion for lights, but never a polyester filter to shoot through. Tiffen & Schnieder make 4x4 filters for smoke and fog effects but these are glass.
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Lee makes a series of filters that say they're polyester. They're the cheaper set, they also make some much higher quality resin filters.
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Schneider makes a filter called "Classic Soft" and it totally blew me away when I used it (I used the 1/2 model). It does some amazing things with light but make sure you don't have any lens flare, it performs strangely under those circumstances. Otherwise, I'd highly recommend it.
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

i thought that the really cheap ones would be good to play with and then buy some good glass or resin ones if i like them.

i just bought a set of for corals and set of fog so i'm looking to cheap out a lot on these until i'm sure i like them.

the coral was easy because i had seen them on jared's dvd.

matthew
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Classi soft really does break up the light nicely. The filters are pocked up. Sort of sand blasted( thus the flare issues). Pro mist, both black and white do some nice things. BPM (Black) does a nice job of softening faces, but not in a highlightes airbrush way. Nets work great for video. Infortunately they work best behind the lens (not really an option here), but the few I have done infront of the DVX has turned out nice.
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Just a note from a manufacturer (Schneider)

Diffusion filters typically rely on particles or patterns to "break-up" the light (diffuse it) to achieve their effect. Many different materials and manufacturing techniques are used. The Schneider Classic Soft uses small "lenslets" in a pattern.

The short focal length of the video camera lenses (due to the small CCD size) results in tremendous depth of field at wider angles and it is possible to image the particles. I am sure this has been discussed elsewhere. The Classic Softs are intended primarily for faces and should be used at longer focal lengths and with ND filters if necessary to keep the depth of field shallow enough to avoid seeing the lenslets.

And as I said , this problem is true in varying degrees for most in front of the lens diffusion filters and techniques.

Bill Turner
Century Division
Schneider Optics
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Bill speaks the truth (as always). In Jarred's filter DVD, there are some instances where you can actually see the pattern of the filter in the image.

Using 4x4 filters may exacerbate the problem because the filter will be physically mounted a little further away from the lens, bringing it sharper into focus.

So, use 'em, but be careful, and try to stay zoomed in/open iris whenever using a diffusion filter.
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

how zoomed in?

for a lot of wide shots i love the zoom at z10 and of course iris 2.8

matthew
 
Re: diffusion 4x4 filter?

Tried the cokin blacknet, whitenet and plain diffusion as a cheap trial to see if I will get a proper one for my mattebox. Can't really say I''m terribly impressed. The nets are really hard to keep out of focus, have to zoom in quite alot like z40.

I tried two different strengths for each. Initially it was too strong, way too much flare to my taste. So I returned it( shop were NOT impressed, downright abusive actually- did I tell how hard it is to even try anything here in Australia) and ended up with something so weak I cant tell what it does! You know thats why these boards are so useful. If I could try it out before I buy it would be so much better.

I'm going to rent a set of digicon filters to see if they are worth the outlay.
 
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