Tiffen ProMist Filters

[Adrian Douglas]

I going to buy one of these bad boys to give my shots that silky smooth look( I'm tired of hearing "Film Look" this is DV!!!). There are quite a few to choose from, Black, Warm, Warm Black etc and in different densities. The descriptions on the ZGC website are pretty good, but only descriptions. Does anyone have any experience with this filter. Comments, bitches, praise all welcomed

[Bill Ravens]

I much prefer the Cokin 694 (SunSoft) filter. It adds a bit of warmth to the diffusion.

[Wayde Gardner]

I've tried several of them and finally settled on the Warm Pro-mist and the Warm Black Promist with a .25 density.

I tried the Black Promist .25 and .50 but wasn't really happy with the result. The Warm Promist seems to give me the best effects as my Sony shoots a little "cold". The Warm Black Promist worked well to add warmth and balance out some of the contrast in particular shots. The Black Promist seemed a little too flat. All will soften the image. Bottom line is that one filter is not a universal answer.

Let me direct you to Shawn Bockoven's article at Ken Stone's sight that talks about making video look like film.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/film_look.html

I use a combination of filters and techniques described here to achieve a softer, richer, warmer look. I shoot with a VX2000 and I shoot with a choma mask in anamorphic format. (It fools most of the people most of the time)

Good luck and I plan to post "dailys" on my website as shooting starts.

[John Locke]

Thanks for the URL, WGardner.

Awhile back, I was trying to find input on how to duplicate a certain technique that you see often in music videos, but never found the answer I was looking for. Shawn Bockoven tells how to do it in one paragraph...

<<Getting that music video slow-motion lip sync look. Think of the Police music video where Sting is frolicking through a bunch of candles. We shot a music video trying to recreate that look of singing and moving in slow motion while the song is in real time. Here is the basic math. Speed up your music in FCP to 150%, export it to CD and burn it. You could just playback from a laptop (PowerBook/iBook) and pump it through a PA or boom box. Have the artist lip sync and move fast with the new faster music. In post you slow you video back down to 66.7% and you should have that wonderful look with good sync. This looks really good shot with a Steadicam or SC Jr. >>

I'd figured the process was something like that, but had no idea on the percentages he mentions. I'll have to send him a thanks message for that morsel.

BTW - Are the Tiffen "black" promist filters better than the "warm" for the XL-1? Since it leans toward red anyway, seems the "warm" filters would make it look like a Godfather film.

[Charles Papert]

Regarding Promists and diffusion in general: it is advisable to have a set of varying strengths within the type of filter i.e. 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 etc. The longer the focal length/the more telephoto, the less strength is required to achieve a similar level of diffusion. In other words, if you use a Black Promist 1/4 on a medium shot, when you go in for a tight close-up you can fall back to a 1/8.

Another thing about diffusion to think about is that you are in essence softening the image, something that can be a bit dicey with DV since it is already a bit soft to begin with. The wide end of the lens tends to look not as crisp as close-ups, especially if an external wide-angle adaptor is in use, so I wouldn't recommend much diffusion there. Also, using the frame movie mode on the XL1/GL1 does manage to soften the image automatically.

Finally, the warm Promists will affect the overall color balance of the scene, so they should be used for the entire scene to avoid a color shift. Another way to duplicate the warming effect of the filter is to "cheat" the color balance by performing a white balance while holding a piece of 1/8 or 1/4 CTB gel in front of the camera.