Diffusion filter on camera or in post?

pmark23

pmark23

Veteran
What are the pros and cons of diffusion filtering on camera versus in post?

There's an upcoming project that would look great shot in an early Chris Doyle handheld/heavily diffused style.

On a previous project I used diffusion from the Magic Bullet plugin, and was surprised at how with a bit of tweaking you could get a very nice look.

I like the idea of shooting a clean image to have more options in post, but getting the appropriate image to begin with is the most important part.

I don't have access to a set of Pro-Mist filters -- are they worth picking up or is doing it in post the better way these days?

Finally, will using more diffuse diffuser for the Brevis work as well?
 
I would recommend withholding the diffusion of your image until post, mainly because of what you said, control. If you ever change your mind later and do not want that look, you can always remove the effect.

However, if this is something you know 1000% is a part of the visual style, and will not change, you will get a better reaction from the highlights and bokeh if you use glass. This does bring up extra questions though, will you have a compatible mattebox available that works with your camera system? Can you afford to rent Pro-Mist or Black Diffusion, etc. filters?
 
You can get close enough with post for almost anyone. In fact, you could probably fool me most of the time. The thing that's hard to fake about netting or other filters is the latitude change caused by reduced contrast. If you're lighting in a controlled way then you should be able to work only in post.

The nice thing about putting filters on the camera is the knowledge of what you're getting. You can see instantly just how bad that talent's skin really looks. ;) If your talent is experienced, they may feel more confident when they see diffusion or netting on the lens. And if you aren't the person handling post, then you can look at diffusion as insurance.

Some of Tiffen's pro mist series is available in round filters if you don't want to spring for a mattebox. I had a few that I used on my Canon GL-2.
 
Actually, some actors sorry I won't give names), by contract, can not be shot without any softening filters... I don't think that using a diffuse filter on camera offers any advantages, doing it in post will give you an incredible flexibility.
 
I have a two-stage mattebox, so will use 4x4 filters. There's no place to rent here, so will have to purchase a set -- at $200 a pop!
 
I bet you could rent through the mail. If you were in the midwest, I'd let you try mine out.
I have a black pro mist 2 and and HDTV/FX 1, and I use them all the time.
 
well it really depends on the look your are going for, like someone posted previoulsy if you are sure that the filter is the look that you are going to use then throw it on ,i sometimes use both techniques depending if i already planned the color pallete for my film or not ,if i did, i would use the filter on the camera if i didnt i would play around with my filters in post, but remember, any type of color correction slighly degrades the image quality so the best bet is to try to get the best possible image while shooting, that's onc benifit of using filters but if your scenes are shot and lit correctly then using filters in post should not be a problem and the degredation should not be that noticable hope this helps.
 
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