Best ND solutions for the RED Scarlet that don't require a matte-box...

[Dave Draper]

Just as the title says. What are the best ND solutions for the RED Scarlet (and Epic) that don't require a matte-box? Something like a large fader ND with step-down rings would be ideal (unless this type of setup would cause any issues?), but I'm not really up-to-date on whose NDs produce the most faithful images, have the least IR contamination, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

DD.

 

[Mark Toia]

80mm Series 9 IR ND's with a slip on collar from Schnider... is the smallest and easiest.
Filters
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
Adapter
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...er_68248009_80SSLR_Series_9_Adapter_Ring.html


All VND's give you IR issues past 6 stops and you get an ugly pola look with lenses under 25mm..


Not that I let it worry me to much. I use Tiffen VND's for almost everything these days.

Shot using VND
http://www.zoomfilmtv.com.au/ftp/Toia_latest/Natural_Gas_1280_4000.mov
and
http://www.zoomfilmtv.com.au/ftp/Toia_latest/GOLD_COAST_TQ_1280.mov

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Hello Mark,

How are the VND with IR? Are you happy with it?

Do you use any T1 or IR Cut?

Thanks



Pat

 

[Owen Rennie]

I use Hoya screw ins on all my canon glass when not using matte box. They look pretty nice to me and quite cheap

 

[Dave Draper]

80mm Series 9 IR ND's with a slip on collar from Schnider... is the smallest and easiest.
Filters
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
Adapter
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...er_68248009_80SSLR_Series_9_Adapter_Ring.html


All VND's give you IR issues past 6 stops and you get an ugly pola look with lenses under 25mm..


Not that I let it worry me to much. I use Tiffen VND's for almost everything these days.

Shot using VND
http://www.zoomfilmtv.com.au/ftp/Toia_latest/Natural_Gas_1280_4000.mov
and
http://www.zoomfilmtv.com.au/ftp/Toia_latest/GOLD_COAST_TQ_1280.mov

For optimal image quality, would you recommend fixed NDs, or variable NDs?

I'm interested to know if fixed NDs are plagued by the same issues as variable NDs, such as vignetting, the "x" shape, colour shifting, etc.

DD.

 

[Bob Gundu]

For fun I recently tried my Singhray VND and to my surprise if was very nice! Very little color shift. I need to do more tests to make sure.

 

[Ryan De Franco]

B&W NDs, despite the high cost, introduce a muddy green color cast.

Hoya NDs look fantastic. Only trouble is the range-- ND .3, .6, .9, 2.2! I add in a UV/IR Cut filter and stack to achieve the in-between lengths. Looks great, even with very old soft 16mm Switar lenses.

 

[Patrick Grossien]

Another nice solution is using a filterholder like the cokin z pro and drop in 4x4 or 4x5.6 filters
Then you can always use the same filters for a mattebox another time.

http://www.cokin.co.uk/pages/cokinZ.htm

Formatt offers basically the same thing, too :

http://www.formatt.co.uk/stills-filters/hardware-85mm/products.aspx

 

[Patrick Grossien]

Oh, and I forgot to mention these magnetic adapters for screw in filters, although I haven't tried them out yet.

http://www.xumeadapters.com

 

[Patrick Grossien]

80mm Series 9 IR ND's with a slip on collar from Schnider... is the smallest and easiest.
Filters
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
Adapter
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...er_68248009_80SSLR_Series_9_Adapter_Ring.html

Mark, so you have one slip on adapter per filter I take it?

 

[Dave Draper]

Many thanks for the help, guys.

We've gone with the Tiffen Variable ND, due to it being the sharpest out of all of the Variable NDs we checked out.

DD.