Ultracons in the snow?

[Marco Leavitt]

I've read the previous posts on the Tiffen Ultracon filters, and I don't believe this has been answered specifically. We need to shoot a scene in the snow, which will obviously be tough for video. Would an Ultracon work here? Charles Papert has said repeatedly in the past that even ambient light will cause problems with this filter. With so much reflected light coming off the snow, I don't think even a mattebox is going to keep excessive ambient light off the filter. Has anyone used one of these things in the snow? How did it work out?

[Glenn Chan]

A polarizer might help cut down the contrast ratio between subject and snow? I know polarizers help for skies, provided they are in the proper orientation.

[Mark Sasahara]

If your subject is out in the snow already, the snow will be your fill light. Perhaps hard mattes on the front of the matte box would help, but I would think that the snow would cause the shadows to be washed out. I haven't used Ultra Cons, so I don't know for sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion that your blacks would be very dilute.

This could be an interesting effect, but may not be appropriate for the material at hand.

And the polarizer is good.

[Charles Papert]

Actually, I think that the Ultracons should work well in the snow. As far as ambient light being a problem, I think I was previously referring to direct sunlight hitting the filter--the filter actually works best when it is struck by truly ambient light. I think that judicial use of the Ultracon may net you up to 1.5 stops more latitude.

[Marco Leavitt]

Thanks everyone!