Digicon Filter

A

Andreas

Well-known member
Digicon Filter from Schneider Optics (Century division)
They suppose to lower highlights and raise the black levels. Has anyone used them ? Are they any examples available ?

http://www.cinematography.net/digicon-test.htm

Other then this I couldn't find anything reliable, only a chart shootout and lots of speculations. There are some old threads here when they first came up but no one seems to have tried them.

216$ each
1, 2, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8

http://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogSubCategoryDisplay.aspx?CID=431

Probably something like Tiffen's Ultra Contrast.

Andreas
 
Yep, that's exactly what I am talking about ! The luck of opinions and enthusiasm about those filters are strange. Or maybe the price tag is somehow high for just a test drive and few have actually bought them. If they really do what's promised I personally wouldn't mind spending double that money for digicon 1. A solution for reducing the highlights in a non controlled environment is priceless.

Andreas
 
Yes, that's the chart shootout that I was referring to. Useless since the images are very small for us to see. (is there a link to the actual images ?)

Better say, there not suppose to be like ultra contrast ! The above grayscale test suppose to show no increase in shadows while contrast is balanced evenly and highlights are reduced. Pretty much what Tiffen's filter is doing.

Andreas
 
I 1st AC'd a feature on the Varicam where we used the digicon filters. Typically we stuck with the Digi-1 as we were shooting exterior day-for-night. In doing tests with a 27" HD monitor and looking at both charts, and more importantly people, I was impressed with the Digicon filters. The image was sharp and when looking at the waveform monitor you could see a definite lowering of contrast when the filter went in. I have not seen a full 35mm blowup so could not give you my impressions of that. Keep in mind that many DP's soften the image anyway with promist's or fx filters. If you are using the digicon's a softening filter probably wouldn't be necessary. Overall a great filter when faced with contrasty situations. You can always increase sharpness in post but you can't recover blown highlights. If you are shooting video without the ability to control light via gripology then the digicon is a filter worth looking at.
 
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