Shooting through Plexi

[Ryan Chernin]

Hey all,

I'm shooting a music video tomorrow, and the director added a shot with practical blood splatter effects. Unfortunately I was about an hour too late to pick up a clear filter from B&H, so I'm considering other options to protect the front of the lens. Is shooting through clean Plexi an option, or will it cause some funky light refractions?

 

[Christopher A. Bell]

It can work just fine. A few weeks ago, we were having athletes sign their signatures on a sheet of plexiglass suspended in front of the lens, to mimick signing the actual lens on the camera. As long as it’s clean(no scratches, etc.) and you’re not shooting back into lights and getting heavy flare you should be good.

 

[Ryan Sims]

Go with Lexan instead of just plexiglass. Lexan will stop objects flying at you better than Plexiglass. I've seen Plexi break when trying to protect a lens from debris. Some grades of Lexan are optically transparent. Twice the cost of Plexi, but worth it even it is just blood splatter to me. You just never know the things that might happen when you send items toward the lens. Most of the time you can get Lexan at the same supply store as Plexi.