Tiffen T1 - I am impressed

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Anthony Nalli

It was about 2:30 pm on a bright sunny day.

You've discovered the "day for early evening" trick of filmmaking! :-)

[Mike Marriage]

Before the filter was on sale, Carey Duffy from Tiffen UK and I shot this little test with the prototype:

Tiffen T1 Filter Test

[Aaron Scheiner]

I bought three of these filters a few weeks back based on the comments in this thread.

The green cast is quite annoying... and I don't think white balance solves the problem.

Why would white balancing solve a green tint ? White balance runs on a scale between red and blue, green shouldn't be affected ? If white balancing affected green too it'd be an RGB value.

I removed the IR-cut filter from an old DSLR and I put on a Infrared only lens... I know based on the images I've taken with the camera that some of my black socks reflect large amounts of infrared (in the pics I've taken they appear solid white while everything else is exposed properly).

This is a frame grab from an EX3 with the sock present.

I'll see if I can reproduce this with the T1 filter later today and my IR DSLR.

P.S. Lighting makes a big difference, these socks show up as pink under infrared heating lamps (some restaurants have them).

[Vincent Oliver]

The slight green cast can be removed very easy, just add a touch of Magenta. I use the Green Channel on curves and pull the centre curve downwards - Presto all gone :-)

[Aaron Scheiner]

I don't have the camera in front of me, but I remember the last time I searched for the green channel I could only find R-B, G-B, G-R etc. I'd assume Magenta is the equivalent of R-B ?

Whatever the case I'll give it a try, thanks for the advice :) .

[Vincent Oliver]

Sorry, I didn't make this clear enough. I meant use your NLE software to adjust the colours. Although you could set up a custom profile to bias towards Magenta when using the Tiffen filter.

[Giannis Pass]

The T1 is also necessary for ex1r?
I bought one week ago and aa discovered that the greens is a very very big problem.
Any balance that you may do, THE PICTURE IS STILL G R E E N.....
Maybe less than before balance, but the problem exists....
I am NOT impressed with the filter, but with the very bad picture that produces to my ex1r.

[Vincent Oliver]

The filter works very well and you can get rid of any slight green cast using the above technique.

In an ideal world we shouldn't have to worry about an IR problem or how to correct it and then apply a secondary correction for the green cast. The reality is that we are not in an ideal world, just about everything we buy or use has to be customized to our own requirements. Yes, we have spent a lot of money on a camera and don't expect any problems. We can either complain about it or just get on with shooting and being creative. I know the option I chose.

[Aaron Scheiner]

Giannis Pass wrote :

The T1 is also necessary for ex1r?

I don't think it is necessary for the EX1R... I think they included an improved IR Cut filter in the EX1R.

[Colin Rowe]

No, the problem is still there on the EX1r

[Anthony Nalli]

I just got my T1 and I'm not convinced that I can accept a definite green tint over an occasional IR problem. I shoot mainly outdoors and am looking for a "solution" that offers the fewest compromises. I've also considered the Schneider Platinum 1/2 stop IR filter but I haven't read enough about to be sold on it as being superior to the T1.

[Aaron Scheiner]

I shot some samples... and fluffed one of them up (the one wb'ed for outdoors but shot under tungsten lighting).

The unlabeled image in black and white is Infrared only... shot using a modified DSLR (has no IR-cut filter) plus a Tiffen 87 IR-only filter. The only *true* black in the image is the cover on the one lens adapter.

All the socks look black to the human eye.

The problem seems to get worse with an increase in gain.

[Giannis Pass]

Originally Posted by Anthony Nalli

I just got my T1 and I'm not convinced that I can accept a definite green tint over an occasional IR problem. I shoot mainly outdoors and am looking for a "solution" that offers the fewest compromises. I've also considered the Schneider Platinum 1/2 stop IR filter but I haven't read enough about to be sold on it as being superior to the T1.

THAT'S IT.....
BRAVO.....
Better a little brown, than a GREEN picture.
This filter is only for someone amateur....
No one pro can accept this GREEN S**.

[Colin Rowe]

Originally Posted by Giannis Pass

THAT'S IT.....
BRAVO.....
Better a little brown, than a GREEN picture.
This filter is only for someone amateur....
No one pro can accept this GREEN S**.

Giannis, what a strange comment regarding "someone amateur". The filter can be very helpful in a lot of cases, and perhaps.
No one pro can accept this BROWN S***
I have certainly found it helpful on a number of occasions, in a hall full of black suits, half of which stick out like a sore thumb because of the brown tinge.
It has nothing to do with amateur or pro, its just an aid to the inherant problem of EX cams, and used with good judgement, it is an enormous help.

[Aaron Scheiner]

someone amateur....

Haha, yes Mr professional.

Colin Rowe wrote :

and used with good judgement

Every tool has it's purpose... I think the filter should only be used when there's severe IR contamination... like in a theatre. It may not be that useful outdoors, although IR can also cause green leaves to look brown on plants. If you notice it, use it. We're going to be shooting a stage production very soon with about 7 seven cameras... that'll allow me to test the effectiveness of the filter in a stage scenario.

I seem to have made a mistake earlier about white balance being only red/blue... white balancing does seem to reduce the green tint quite a bit.

-edit-

Below is an example of where the filter will help... both shots were taken under Tungsten lighting (Redhead) and white balanced. They're just normal black cotton trousers. Synthetic materials are particularly bad...