Soft Filters...? Thoughts...

[sbrookens]

Hey All,

Shooting a feature in the great state of Michigan. Its been going well- thanks to all that have given advice as we prepped.

While shooting, the camera department has been discussing soft filters and using them with the Red to combat some of the (dare I say it...?) "video" look/feel that comes along with shooting digital. We were just curious if anyone out there had some insight they would like to share. Is anyone using soft filters? If so, what kinds/brands/strengths? How do you like the results you get when using them?

For us, we aren't going for the soft focus effect, but more just trying to find something that will take the digital edge off while shooting the entire movie...

any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Scott

 

[hunterrichards]

A light strength black pro mist works very well- takes some of the edge off and helps roll the extreme highlights more smoothly.

 

[sbrookens]

Thanks Hunter - we appreciate your input!

Anyone else have luck with other tools? We're just trying to get a broad look at what others are using...

 

[Dylan Macleod CSC]

I like a SFX1.

 

[Andrew Ceperley]

Glimmerglass.

 

[Evin Grant]

Schneider Classic Softs, I use the entire set, 1/8 or 1/4 for wides 1/2 for most everything else and #1 for leading ladies. They are very good at decreasing fine-line detail without affecting the sharpness per-se.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Honestly, I don't think diffusion is an absolute must for shooting close-ups on the Red camera -- it does not produce an overly edgy, crispy, harsh image. And there are ways of softening close-ups in post these days when necessary.

But assuming you want to get the look nailed in-camera and make sure that the lead actress looks stunning on the set monitor and in dailies, there are so many diffusion filters on the market these days.

I break down diffusion into visible and invisible diffusion. Diffusion involves throwing an out-of-focus image over a sharp image, not merely making an image go soft -- otherwise, the image merely looks out of focus.

Invisible diffusion merely softens the fine details without telltale artifacts like loss of contrast and halation around lights. I think the best filter for that is the Tiffen Black Diffusion-FX. It has no "look" at all, it just softens gently, no halos, no flares, etc. However, some of those artifacts are why we think of diffused images as "pretty", those kicks and glints.

So looking at the rest of the filters out there, you basically have the ones based around "mist" particles that cause bright areas to flare into dark areas, creating halation effects while softening detail. Those filters are the ProMists, GlimmerGlass, SupraFrost, White Frost, Fogs, etc.

Then you have the versions of those filters with black specs or dot patterns added to cancel some of the contrast loss and halation, though not all -- like the Black ProMist, Black Frost, etc.

Then you have filters with a pattern of "lenslets" in the glass to refract and blur in spots while leaving clear areas for sharp detail to pass through. Some of these filters use round lenslets (Classic Soft), some use kidney-shaped lenslets (Soft-FX, Diffusion-FX), some use trapezoid-shapes (Mitchell diffusion.) The round shape of the Classic Soft lenslets, plus their large size and regular pattern, can sometimes cause a bubble or ring effect around lights, and if there is too much depth of field, you can see this pattern. For this reason, Schneider makes a version with smaller patterns called "HD Classic Softs", really meant for smaller sensor cameras but they can be used on 35mm sensor cameras if you want to avoid some of those artifacts.

Schneider also makes a version coupled with a 1/8 Black Frost called "Classic Black Soft". And the HD version is called "Hollywood Black Magic".

And finally there are nets, which also soften because the threads in the pattern cause diffraction, yet the gaps in the net allow sharp detail to pass through. To some degree, nets behave slightly differently on different focal lengths, especially when used in front. When you use a Classic Soft on a long lens, you are enlarging the size of the lenslet, whereas with a net, you are more enlarging the size of the gaps between the threads. But the trouble with nets is that you can't get them in precise degrees of strength up from 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, etc. It takes a lot of testing to figure out how to use nets properly and the finest, lightest net still is like a medium diffusion filter.

You can see some examples here. Just remember that a diffusion filter in a small photo has to be a lot heavier to see the effect than for a large screen image or on a large HD monitor, so always use a lighter strength than the one you think you want...

http://www.camerafilters.co.uk/

Some other things worth reading:
http://provideocoalition.com/index....glass_and_hollywood_black_magic_filter_tests/
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/filter_facts/
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/tiffen_dfx_2_digital_filters/