screw-on ND filters for red primes

[John Bishop]

I have a couple of questions about screw-on filters for red primes. First, does Tiffen make such an animal? and two, what is the filter size of the Primes? We are trying to make our Red One's as light weight as possible and would like to do away with the matte box for our hand held applications.

[Mark Toia]

I'm very keen to hear the answer to this question as well. They are such a big heavy lenses (disclaimer: Amazing quality lens) ... I'd love to be able to just screw on couple of ND's without the aid of a heavy matt box.

[Mark Phelan]

Mark, which filters are you using with the 300mm? Have you found a pola/pola holder that works? I'd like something like the Nikon C-PL3L setup with a geared holder. Wonder if it would fit?

http://tinyurl.com/3snx328

[Mark Toia]

We run Series 9 round Tiffens on our MKIII super speeds with a adapter ring collar that clamps to the barrel of the lens. Nice simple thing. Not sure if they make different sized filters that will fit the large face of a RED PRIME.
It's easy to make a collar to adapt round filters, but finding the filter dimension itself is the problem.
Makes me keep thinking about making my own from loads of 6x6's I own. Find a glass cutter that can cut circles. Cannot be that hard to do....

The 300 we use drop ins.

[Daniel Doherty]

I have an ND 1.2 made by Tiffen (105mm) that I use on my RPP 85 and 18. Not sure if it will fit all the primes as these are the only two I own.

[Claus Mueller]

I have a KSM B+W Circ-Pol 105 and Rodenstock ND 0.6 E 105, fit on all primes (without 300mm)

[Jeff Kilgroe]

All the RPP's, except the 300mm, take 105mm screw-ons.

The 300mm would take 112mm, however the front "threads" are a manufacturing remnant and not actual threads for filters, so you would need to make some sort of adapter to fit the non-standard threads. That said, at 300mm, you don't want filters on the front of it. That's why it has a drop-in tray. 43mm low profile filters typically work just fine.

[Michael Brennan]

In respect to EFP shooting, I see the use of screw in filters to be a noteworthy potential compromise in image quality or speed of operation.
Clip-on matt boxes offer a way to control flare, particularly through the use of a french flag for landscapes. It is slightly faster to throw in a 4x4 filter (pre-prepared in its own tray) than screw in a filter and always nice to have the ability to use grads.
In respect to it getting in the way, obviously sometimes it does but other times it is a great help as one can smack the mattbox into a subject without fear of damaging the lens. One can also rest the weight of the camera on the mattbox instead of the lens.


I've noticed that some run of the mill still lenses exhibit more flare than cine lenses.
Thats not to say I wouldn't use a screw in filter if I was going to be shooting outdoors for a considerable period.

From my perspective lack of an in-camera ND is a real shame particularly given the sensitivity of the sensor and the drop off in resolution of most lenses if not using the f stop sweet stop. It so sooo fast and cool to be able to, in a second, change/control the DoF by using a filter wheel. Particularly handy in docs where we don't have control of subject or lighting.

Maybe we'll see in-lens NDs!



Mike Brennan

[Steve Gibby]

Thats not to say I wouldn't use a screw in filter if I was going to be shooting outdoors for a considerable period.

From my perspective lack of an in-camera ND is a real shame particularly given the sensitivity of the sensor and the drop off in resolution of most lenses if not using the f stop sweet stop. It so sooo fast and cool to be able to, in a second, change/control the DoF by using a filter wheel. Particularly handy in docs where we don't have control of subject or lighting.

Those of us using screw on filters with Red One and Epic, are using 35mm still lenses not cine lenses, and we do very mobile work where the bulk and high public profile of even a clip-on MB is a liability. The majority of the work is outdoors. We effectively control flaring by use of lens hoods in tandem with screw on filters - exactly the setup that 35mm still lenses were designed for in their use on DSLR cameras. With practice the changing of screw on filters goes quite fast. Used correctly we see no degradation of images from the use of good quality screw on filters and lens hoods.

There is an in-camera ND wheel in the Scarlet Fixed. That, along with the compact lens and an array of other EFP-friendly should make the use of Scarlet Fixed widespread in the EFP industry, particularly for mobile EFP work. For the 8x fixed zoom add in a good bayonet 2x extender and wide converter, short shotgun on a small L arm which also holds a dual wireless receiver on the side, a Micro light on top, side handle with Red Volt battery, SSD card - and the mobile EFP setup is complete.

Epic will also be used for mobile EFP work with a similar setup as above, but lenses will be Canon, Nikon, or Red Electronic, accessorized with screw on filters and lens hood. For more stationary non-hardlined EFP work some EFP crews may opt for a clip on matte box in lieu of the screw ins and shade.

Fun times ahead for EFP using these new DSMC cameras from Red :)