Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

Hot Mirror/IRND/Mirror ND Filter Matrix [Parts 1-4]

We did not use any mattes. Don't have any, actually.

BUT, none of this changes my conclusion: I'd buy the Tiffens again, but not the Pancros. Regardless of how we used the Tiffens, we never had any issues with ghosting. No mattes, with the clear filters. . . it was all good.

Stephen
 
He Billy, i agree but i would remove the contrast part of your statement, as there are some pretty good contrast creating filters out there.
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
We did not use any mattes. Don't have any, actually.

BUT, none of this changes my conclusion: I'd buy the Tiffens again, but not the Pancros. Regardless of how we used the Tiffens, we never had any issues with ghosting. No mattes, with the clear filters. . . it was all good.

Stephen
Click to expand...

Fair enough.
I would not use Tiffens because colour shifts that are next to impossible to get rid of in post. For me it is much easier to get rid of stray light and use Pancro filters. I have not detected any colour shifts, or cast or off axis tint in Pancro - even using ND 2.0 (almost 7 stops). Evin's tests clearly show that Tiffens produce considerable colour shifts and this presents considerable problem for me.
 
I have a question that I'm not sure if it has been addressed before but couldnt find a clear answer.

I ordered the Pancros kit:
IR+ND 4 x 5.650 filter kit .9, 1.2 and 1.5

It seems that the .6 doesn't have IR. Do we need IR for .6 ND or it is not necessary. I was considering buying the Redrock filter kit with the ND .6 the ND GRAD .6 and the POLARIZER as it seems a pretty good value to add to my Pancro kit.

What do you guys recommend?
 
The Pancro's are very nicely made and if you only use 1 Pancro filter at a time everything is fine.... but if you need to also use a pola or another ND / any other filter and you're shooting into the sun or a hot reflection they do create a secondary reflection that will drive you crazy. I have a .9 and 1.5 Pancro ND IR and the other day shooting the sunset reflected on a lake I had this problem with the .9 and had to remove the other filters to shoot.

Seems like the Tiffen do not do this or maybe the new Formatt filters that just came out will be better after some tests are made. I would wait a week or two to decide.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16911&highlight=formatt
 
Enzo said:
The Pancro's are very nicely made and if you only use 1 Pancro filter ata time everything is fine.... but if you need to also use a pola or another ND /any other filter and you're shooting into the sun or a hot reflection they do create a secondary reflection that will drive you crazy. I have a .9 and 1.5 Pancro and the other day shooting the sunset reflected on a lake I had this problem with the .9 and had to remove the other filters to shoot.

Seems like the Tiffen do not do this or maybe the new Formatt filters that just came out will be better after some tests are made. I would wait a week or two to decide.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16911&highlight=formatt
Click to expand...

Pancro is saying 12 week delivery time and it looks like the Tiffen is readily available. We do quite a bit of high end resort work and can't imagine shooting anything in the month of August or even September for that matter however Oct. & Nov. are busy months for us and I'll need something by OCT. Anyone have any exterior experience with the Tiffens?
 
Sounds like you guys could use an:

ARF - Anti-Reflection Filter Holder

Not sure where you could get one other than Panavision.

How often are you stacking filters like this though?
 
Hey Evin, thanks for doing this. I ordered the Rosco TruColor based on this review!
 
Whoa, is it supposed to be perfectly clear except with a slight aqua tint to it?
 
Filter test update...

Filter test update...

Ryan Avery at Schneider optics has sent me a new formula of their Tru-Cut 750 Hot Mirror filter. Initial testing shows much less off axis color shifting, pretty much on par or better than the Tiffen or Rosco Hot Mirror. I still need to do IR filtering and combo testing but it looks promising. Formatt will also be sending me thier Hot Mirror. I also asked for and was provided Schneider's Sapphire Blue 1 & 2 filters. These filters are similar to 80d & 80c filters respectively. Some recent testing shows significant advantages using these filters with tungsten lighting. Especially the Sapphire 1 which only needs about 2/3 stop compensation but raises the effective color temp 1200 degrees and reducing chroma noise. Lastly, I have finally been bitten by the Pancro double reflection issue. I still feel the Pancros offer the best solution but caution should be exercised and combining them with other filters should be avoided whenever possible.

I'll try to get the more detailed new tests up as soon as possible but I do have a bunch of shoots coming up...
Stay tuned.
 
Did Schneider give an indication when they'd be shipping the 'new' Tru-Cut 750 Hot Mirror filter?
 
The 750 is a pretty good filter. It doesn't have a significant color shift [which is nice] and it cuts a lot of IR light. That said, I've found that it cuts less light than the Tiffen Hot Mirror. I've only run into trouble with the 750 once or twice [where I had enough ND in place that I could start to see IR bleeding through the 750], but the Tiffen saved the day.

This isn't a part of or result of Evin's test, simply a handful of observations from production.

Now if only Tiffen would cut me a stinkin' 6.6 x 6.6 Hot Mirror...
 
I am very interested in testing results for Formatt's new Hot Mirror. Hopefully someone can review it if Grant is busy. Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top