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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

First Filter Choice

A

Arnold F.

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I've finally been able to get a mattebox (O'Box) and now I need filters! Because of their cost I expect this to be a gradual process. What should my first filter be? I was thinking a 2 or 3 stop IRND.
 
Hi....I would not make that your first filter... That assumes you will be shooting very hot subject matter that has absorbed heat.. Great for city streets in summer, although we have never had a problem with IR color shifts.. I would stick with good old ND filters.. Are we gonna see you on the Casualties music video? Lewis said you may be joining us..hope so! If not, we still should get together at Bemelmans soon.
 
I feel like a hot mirror might not be the best first filter but an IRND might be.

Spies all around me! Yes, I hope to be there for both Casualties and Bemelmen's.
 
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Hot mirror and IRND kind of due the same thing. I think both are used to filter IR (heat) they just do it differently... there was a post on reduser about them a few weeks back
 
There's a lot of factors involved in this decision... What lenses do you own/use the most? How fast are they? What stop do you usually use? Are you usually inside or outside for your work?

If I could only get one filter, I would get a Formatt IRND 1.5 filter. That will put you at about f/4 on a bright sunny day shooting ISO 800. Since you can't put a scrim in front of the sun, it makes sense for your first filter to be the one you use the most outdoors. The Formatt filters seem to be the most neutral of all the filter brands based on this test: http://blog.abelcine.com/2012/12/10/abelcine-expo-highlight-filters-for-digital-cinema/. After that, I'd get normal ND .3, .6, and .9 in that order. Good luck with your first filter purchase! The O'box is a very nice piece of kit, so you are off to a good start :)
 
The first filter I bought was a 1.2 ND for outdoor work, cant shoot without now
 
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I second that on the Formatt IRND 1.5 filter :)
 
That AbelCine post was really eye opening for me, especially since we went to a seminar there a year ago, and, at that time, the clear winner was the Tiffens, then the Schneiders..I dont think they had the Formatts in that test, but really happy that they did that new test this year. But, yeah, to me, the Formatts are the most neutral..I do remember a Tiffen rep being in the crowd tho..so there's that..
 
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