Diffusion

[Justin Morgan]

Hi. I've been reading numerous posts in the past about filters to take the edginess off video. From my reading I seem to have come to the conclusion that the best filters to use are either a) 1/4 Black Pro-Mist or b) 1/2 Black Diffusion FX.

As what I have read talks about the XL1s, I was wondering if these were also the best filters for use on the XM2 and what the latest thinking on them was.

My requirements are mainly to lose the harsh edge from the video footage (ie more of a so called 'film-look') but I also want to shoot some sequences which have a more 'dream-like' quality to them (ie a bit more diffusion than just the standard 'film-look'.)

Will I get what I'm after with the two above mentioned filters? Or should I stick to one kind and get it in varying degrees?

Any advice is much appreciated.

[Don Donatello]

i own full sets of black pro mist , double fog, low contrast, diffusion, & ultra con ( used them for film) ... for my GL1 i prefer to just dial down the sharpness for a less "electronic enhancement edge"... i have tried all the filters on the GL but in the end always use - 2to3 notches on sharpness ....

for all other "looks " i use fx's in NLE ..sometimes that could be same clip on 2 video tracks ..1 with blur added ..then blend the 2 tracks 60% normal and 40% the blur track ... or use glow filters etc ...

[Ken Tanaka]

Justin,
What it really comes down to is the amount of time you have available for post-production experimentation. If you will only have time to shoot, cut and print then using lens-based diffusion and effects may be a viable (and maybe the only) choice you have to soften shots. But if you have more post time you should shoot your footage straight and turn to digital tools for image modifications such as softening.

Remember, you can't add-back sharpness (i.e. "image information") in post that you didn't originally capture. You can always remove some.

[Justin Morgan]

I think the 'in-camera' option would be best for me - to save on boring old render times.

But with regard to the post options, surely using gaussian blur will just make the whole image look out of focus rather than give it a diffused feel. I'm running FCE and I can't see any filters in there called 'glow' to which Don refers. :(

[Fredrik Forsell]

I'm just starting to learn dv and editing, but I know that there is an effect in Vegas 4.0 called glow. Perhaps that is what Don refers to?