stocking diffusion filter
 

does anyone know of a good brand of stockings to make a home made diffusion filter? i've read that it's best to use a neutral color like beige or gray. does anyone have any recommendations?

mb4

I think that Control-Top pantyhose work best.

Just kidding. But I would advise that if you plan to use this with tungsten lights you should consider using different material. Most cheap leggings are made from synthetic fibers that will not hold-up to the heat of these lights.

not for the lights! i'm planning on placing it behind the lens of my works dvcam (dxc-d30). i need to soften the image on some of the promos i shoot with some of the female news anchors. unfortunately, there is no budget so i must make my own home made diffusion filters.

mb4

The different colors will effect the color of your highlights and edges. Colors I've used with satisfactory results are white, black, grey and nude. It will require some experimentation. The advantage of video over film is the immediate feedback. Look at your results with a monitor and you'll see the difference between the colors.

Something else to look at, if you're using Final Cut Pro. There's a free plug-in filter from Eureka called "silk stocking". It can produce some nice results. This would let you experiment with different effects instead of permanently recording a real stocking on your tape. They also have some other free plug-ins that you can download from here: http://www.digitalfilmtree.com/EuPlugins.html. The website warns that they have only been tested with FCP 1.0, however I've used the silkstocking effect on FCP 3 without problems.

Are you concerned with softening facial features?

If so, I think that camera has a flesh-tone setup that will lower the sharpness of whatever tone you designate.

Another approach is to use a Pro-Mist filter that will soften detail and smooth out contrast.

Be careful placing nets behind a lens, as this will affect the back focus adjustment. After placing the net behind the lens you should backfocus the lens carefully at wide open. Then don't forget to do it again when you take the net off.

One of the classic film stockings is by Fogal, and the particular product is Noblesse. Be advised that it is not cheap--around $70 a pair. It has a particularly fine mesh and minimal stray hairs, unlike cheap stockings.

try this site
http://www.vidpro.org/tricks.htm

lots of inexpensive ideas, including home made softboxes and a neat idea on how to use Nylon stockings as a filter.

be interesting to hear about cheap tricks from other pros.