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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 :)

Which OLPF did you choose ?

Which OLPF did you choose ?

  • Total voters
    28
  • Poll closed .
Adrian Weinbrecht

Adrian Weinbrecht

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Dear Fabulous Red Users

We have upgraded our cameras to Dragon sensors (2x Epics and 2x Scarletts)

Initially we had the LLO OLPF installed and then on a shoot last week (into the sun) ended up getting the Dreaded Red Orbs.

We then ordered the STH OLPF shot the same thing again and now 'voila' Red orbs are gone.

The question is this, what are most people keeping in their cameras as their 'Standard' OLPF ?

I'm thinking of keeping the STH as the standard and then using the LLO for any evening stuff.

The LLO looks great at 1600-2000ISO.

Whereas the STH I don't like to use above 800-1000ISO.

So which one are people using most of the time ?
 
There is no doubt that LLO OLPF truly shines at evening/night/low light conditions, It's not just the sensitivity, it's the tendency of STH to make the image pinkish that I really don't like at all. Not so noticeable in daylight/studio lighting conditions, but definitely present in low light/high iso situation.

You should check Shane Hurlbut's extensive Dragon ISO and sensor tests at Shane's Inner Circle. They did a pretty good job with demonstrating strengths and weaknesses of both OLPFs.

As a promo for that tests, here's a screengrab from low light/high iso test they did with both OLPFs. The LLO looks much more pleasant while STH is all pinkish. At least to my eye.

Anyway, the best option is to have both. For ~$200 a pop, they're not terribly expensive compared to some other stuff we're spending our money on in this industry.

omtrK9G.jpg
 
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Demetri Zuev said:
There is no doubt that LLO OLPF truly shines at evening/night/low light conditions, It's not just the sensitivity, it's the tendency of STH to make the image pinkish that I really don't like at all. Not so noticeable in daylight/studio lighting conditions, but definitely present in low light/high iso situation.

You should check Shane Hurlbut's extensive Dragon ISO and sensor tests at Shane's Inner Circle. They did a pretty good job with demonstrating strengths and weaknesses of both OLPFs.

As a promo for that tests, here's a screengrab from low light/high iso test they did with both OLPFs. The LLO looks much more pleasant while STH is all pinkish. At least to my eye.

Anyway, the best option is to have both. For ~$200 a pop, they're not terribly expensive compared to some other stuff we're spending our money on in this industry.

omtrK9G.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi Demetri

Thank you for the excellent response, I have both but it is a good 10-15min job to change over, so not the sort of thing you want to do more then once on a full production day.

That's great example you've posted, the LLO looks way better it seems so much smoother and with less noise. But this is to be expected.

Adrian
 
When changing, don't you need a dust free environment and somewhat special equipment (so that no dust comes between the sensor and OLPF glass)?
I have the STH, but will probably buy the LLO, but I'm not so keen on switching back and forth. Rather create a workflow based on one.
 
Christoffer Glans said:
When changing, don't you need a dust free environment and somewhat special equipment (so that no dust comes between the sensor and OLPF glass)?
I have the STH, but will probably buy the LLO, but I'm not so keen on switching back and forth. Rather create a workflow based on one.
Click to expand...

You need to be about as "clean" as changing lenses or lens mounts.
 
Phil Holland said:
You need to be about as "clean" as changing lenses or lens mounts.
Click to expand...

Not quite as dust so close to the sensor could be seen as a spot on the image when you shoot at T16. If the dust is on the sensor due to swapping OLPF it will produce a black spot.
If you have dust on the back of your lens you won't see it so much.

But well, in an ideal world, the best would be to change lens in a zero dust environement...

Pat
 
Hey Demetri,

I think this comment is a little misleading. Shane's tests did not really conclude that the STH olpf goes 'pink' in low light/ high iso environments, but rather that it renders colors quite accurately. Regardless of which color tint you prefer in these side by side images, the STH image is more accurately redering that mixed color temp night street. Sodium vapor lights are orange to the eye, and that's the way they appear with the STH olpf. Whereass the LLO olpf renders sodium vapor lights yellow, which is not how they look by eye.

Mike

Demetri Zuev said:
There is no doubt that LLO OLPF truly shines at evening/night/low light conditions, It's not just the sensitivity, it's the tendency of STH to make the image pinkish that I really don't like at all. Not so noticeable in daylight/studio lighting conditions, but definitely present in low light/high iso situation.

You should check Shane Hurlbut's extensive Dragon ISO and sensor tests at Shane's Inner Circle. They did a pretty good job with demonstrating strengths and weaknesses of both OLPFs.

As a promo for that tests, here's a screengrab from low light/high iso test they did with both OLPFs. The LLO looks much more pleasant while STH is all pinkish. At least to my eye.

Anyway, the best option is to have both. For ~$200 a pop, they're not terribly expensive compared to some other stuff we're spending our money on in this industry.

omtrK9G.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
MichaelJQuill said:
Hey Demetri,

I think this comment is a little misleading. Shane's tests did not really conclude that the STH olpf goes 'pink' in low light/ high iso environments, but rather that it renders colors quite accurately. Regardless of which color tint you prefer in these side by side images, the STH image is more accurate to that mixed color temp night street. The most clear example of that that I've found is sodium vapor lights. The STH renders these lights the way they appear by eye: orange. Whereass the LLO renders sodium vapor lights much yellower, and much less accurate to the eye.

Mike
Click to expand...

Hey, Mike!

I never said that Shane specifically concluded about the pink tint, it was my subjective interpretation of the images they made in this test. They actually embrace STH OLPF a lot and say that it is more accurate colorwise.

It's just I personally like the image that comes out of LLO OLPF in these conditions more. Shane's tests are very objective and again they did a really great job with outlining both OLPFs' behavior in different situations.
 
However from personal experience STH is better have the same idea of MichaelJQuill.
especially with tungsten light, preferably on the colors of the skin. True be a little more noisy, I like to have one stop in more in the highlights, with the same iso of LLO, and always shoot under 500 iso.
Although sometimes I preferred the LLO in daylight.
Experiment for yourself, watch the test is not always the best thing.
Always depends on your project and budget, but if you are in low light then the direction be LLO.
 
I do tend to agree, that looking at these images side by side, the blue/yellow color of the LLO image does have its appeal. Ultimately, though, I think I would prefer capturing a scene more accurately, color wise, with the STH olpf.

Demetri Zuev said:
Hey, Mike!

I never said that Shane specifically concluded about the pink tint, it was my subjective interpretation of the images they made in this test. They actually embrace STH OLPF a lot and say that it is more accurate colorwise.

It's just I personally like the image that comes out of LLO OLPF in these conditions more. Shane's tests are very objective and again they did a really great job with outlining both OLPFs' behavior in different situations.
Click to expand...
 
MichaelJQuill said:
I do tend to agree, that looking at these images side by side, the blue/yellow color of the LLO image does have its appeal. Ultimately, though, I think I would prefer capturing a scene more accurately, color wise, with the STH olpf.
Click to expand...

Have to say I'm with you on this. Trying to grade out yellow and green is a nightmare.
 
I think the STH is the way to go in daylight. It's just nice to know the highlights are so well protected.
Night shooting, indoors, I go with the LLO. That little orange safety mask that John sells is the bomb. That and a magnetized T6 screw driver and you're able to swap out the filter in 5 minutes.
And if you really want to try something crazy, buy the full spectrum zero low pass filter he sells. Feels like i'm in an old experimental photo class from when I was in college. crazy ass colors. gotta keep experimenting with that one.
 
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