Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Les, you have a great idea about replacement of the internal filters : cheap, and most importantly, convenient.

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Thank you. If only Schneider had considered this idea when I talked to them directly a couple of years ago....

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

How resistant to surface scratching and marking are the new filters going to be. One cannot forever stop idiots from touching our stuff. I have a IR 750 which is an expensive lesson in conservation. I had two uses out of it before it got a vertical scratch in the surface coating.

This thread is beginning to look like a moan and groan session. We might need to be a little careful otherwise Ryan may have to retreat to the bunker.

I think Ryan, that what you are up against is one or two or maybe more people here have become conditioned if sometimes resentful towards being paying customers of a very complex software or a firmware based hardware product for which they become involuntary beta testers. In that instance the vendors offer free incremental updates or upgrades between major revisions, which makes the investment worthwhile most times.

When it comes to much simpler hardware, once you pay up, it's yours. Something the user may not like may not become apparent straight away. By that time, the product may also have some general wear and tear, example - scratches or cleaning marks. Therefore as one broke it, one owns it, to keep, hold and to cherish be it useless or not.

It is likely an impossible business plan for you to offer incremental revisions. The exchange offer is as close as you are likely to be able to get in that optical glass can be recycled to offset some losses.

At what seems to be a premium price, people want to know what they are getting. If that means you need to provide a spectral chart, then that might be a bullet that has to be bit before you turn the product loose in the marketplace.

Manufacturers of motion picture film have provided spectral charts of their products' performance for years. Reputable lens manufacturers do something similar. Makers of sound equipment publish the frequency and noise performance charts of their gear.

The manufacturers of prosumer level video camcorders probably should also be a bit more upfront. Over time, having to resort to iffy workarounds annoys people. Did JVC ever really recover the lost trust from their "split screen" and "blown firewire port" debacles. Sony took a bit of a slap over audio deficiencies in their prosumer version of their legendary VX2000 camcorder, the PD150.

Your filters represent a workaround for current deficiencies in camera products, which people have unfortunately become conditioned to expect. It is not your fault but is likely why people do want to know the technical guts of the fix they are putting hands in wallets for, lest they replace one problem with another.

Planar figuring and finishing of optical grade glass is a more expensive business than many appreciate and you are likely doing well bringing them in at the price you already charge. However "trust us because we say it is good" is unlikely to win us hoary lot of doubting Thomas's over. Give us as much techspec as you can without compromising the security of your intellectual property and you may find the troops more accepting.

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Bob, thanks. Yes, we want more info for specialized equipment.

The technical information about the IR cut filters on the Schneider site is concise but not enough to choose among them. How close is the "near-cut" Platinum IRND IR-cut performance to that of the Tru-Cut 680 IR? The IRND is described as being free of off-angle color shift problems. Great. Is this the case for True-Cut IR ?

MPTV True-Cut IR
https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecom....aspx?CID=1699

MPTV Platinum IRND
https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecom....aspx?CID=1698

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

As for the IR 750 filter, I am please with how it works with heavy ND. I have not so far observed any vignetting or darker corners on a SI2K image but I have not tested it with a wide lens like the 9mm or 5.7mm yet.

Greens on foliage seem to reproduce more faithfully.

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Bob, for which cameras do you mount the Schneider 750?

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Ryan,

Thanks for the information so far. I assume you have the filter in house, so come on surely you can give us a better example of what it can do rather than just two shots of black cloth. I think most of us would like to see a shot of someone wearing a black jacket and clean skin tones etc. For a product that is going to cost $250 we need a little more convincing.

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Have just noticed that the original post was uploaded February 2010, I thought this was new product information.

I must be going daft in my old age.

Having said that, I would have expected to see some better examples of what the filter can do - or was it never produced.

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

Gints.


The camera was the Silicon Imaging SI2K which at that time was running DVR1. It is now on DVR2 which seems to look better.

In Western Australia our light is hard and intense. On 0db gain the lenses as closed as they can be so ND filtering is necessary. Soft leaved deciduous foliage seems to sometimes aquire a grey tone on the undersides of leaves which is an un-natural look. It can be made to go away in post so it is not a biggie.

I intitally thought it might just be the penetration of light through the leaf is insufficient and when the full 11.5 stops of image is used there is not enough from the light through the leaf to register any green. Orange/yellow coloured laterite rock around here also does not reproduce faithfully on many cameras. I thought it was just something I had to live with until the IR debate started.

I bought the IR 750 by blind decision in the end. I could find nothing mentioned specific to the SI2K. I went with what was supposed to be good with the RED camera and that seems to have done the job.

I have yet to give it a shot on the EX1 but that may happen in the next two weeks as I am undertaking behind-the-scenes coverage for a local movie being shot on film.

Re: New Schneider Platinum 1/2 Stop IR for CMOS Sensors
 

A call to Schneider Optics revealed that these filters are in production , though it's a lengthy of a back-order situation with the larger square filters taking precedence over the 77mm screw-in filters. I've ordered one and will post some screen grabs.