Filters for HD100U
 

Can anyone recmmend any 4X4 filters for the HD100U and perhaps tell me a little about each one and what their experience has been.
I keep hearing about Black Pro Mist and how it makes it look more "filmlike."

Is that true and what other filters are basic and/or standard I need to get for various situations.

Thanks

Brian,

I have several Formatt filters. They are great. However, after several years of experience, I have come to the conclusion that it is better to shoot plain and add effects in post-production. That way you have more flexibility.

An example: I shot a short using the Black Super Mist. Great look, no doubt about it. However, later I wanted to give it a different look but I have the limitation it was shot with the filter.

There are so many great electronic filters that do the SAME in post (Magic Bullet, Digital Film Tools, etc.), again providing you with the flexibility to be more creative during post and make your footage looke the way you intended without permanently altering the original material.

Regards,

Luis Otero

However, I forgot to mention, that a polarizer and UV filters are needed no matter what...

There is a school of thought that follows along the lines of the idea that if you're shooting video trying getting a "film look", that you don't want to degrade the image by putting heavy diffusion in front of the lens.

I think most of the harsh characteristics of video that people are trying to soften with diffusion come from excessive edge enhancement ("detail") that a lot of video cameras come out of the box with. In other words, try backing off the detail setting on your camera a little to see if that helps you.

Also note that it's common film practice to shoot with an absolutely clean lens (meaning no filtration). Only once or twice in a 9 year assistant cameraman career was I instructed to keep some sort of diffusion in front of the lens for everything. Note that if we did, the strength of it was tweaked shot by shot, like a 1/4 for a wide shot, a 1 for closeup of female lead, etc.

Polas are ubiquitous for daylight exterior film work. UVs are unheard of.

Most people use UVs basically as a lens protection. For video work, that is. Put it on the lens and forget about it. If the quality of the shot is critical, as in dramatic (film-style) work or with strong back lights (sun, etc) it needs to come off because in the first case scenario it's not needed since assumingly enough care is taken not to cause any damage to the lens and in the second case the filter causes more flare than the coated lens elements.

It all makes sense to me.. =) Post it shall be..

Won't you still need ND's in a lot of heavy sunlit situations?

Remembering that due to the small size of the sensor that anything much over 5.6 and you risk getting doppler distortion.

I'v already found the built in ND's to be inadequate.

Well, NDs are class appart, and for me are a given only if the built-in are not adequate and the closing of the iris is not a solution, depending of your situation. If you need to maintain an adequate DOF and the iris must be kept open, and the light source is not handeled well with the built-in ones, agree, additional NDs are needed.

Luis

What filters are used for sunlight?

Agreed -- the HD100's ND filters are a bit mild. In daylight in southern California it was very tough to even hold an F/11, which is beyond how far you'd want to stop down. A two-stop or three-stop ND filter would be a good item for an HD100 owner to keep handy.

Neutral Density filters. They're essentially "sunglasses" for your camera.

I need them for my matte box Chrosziel 4X4. Any particular brand and model i should get? Tiffen?

Personally, if I had the choice, I would invest in a polarizer instead of an additional ND. On a bright sunny clear day the polarizer helps control the 'blueness' of the sky and increases colour saturation but also cuts the exposure by a couple of stops.

BTW Brian, if you are shopping for ND filters, a 1 stop ND filter is called "ND.3" a 2-stop is "ND.6" 3 stop is "ND.9" 4 stop is "ND1.2" and so on.

I recommend the .6 and the .9 ND filters and a polarizer. Be careful in the sun because the camera will resolve the filter pattern if you do not use a matte box.

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