Old style Mitchell diffs

Tony Brown · May 29, 2004

I've been trying to find a set of 4" and 6.6" old style (irregular surface pattern) Mitchell diffs.

Can anybody suggest a place to look / contact.

Actually I only really need A & B if there is a split set anywhere

Would consider a Mitchell sliding diff

Mitch Gross · May 29, 2004

I believe Harrison & Harrison in LA could set you up.

Tony Brown · May 30, 2004

I believe Harrison & Harrison in LA could set you up.

Based on what Mitch?

Mitch Gross · May 31, 2004

I thought they sold them. Dim memory though.

Tony Brown · May 31, 2004

Thing is these haven't been made for probably 30 years, they switched the process to a regular pattern type which are no better than any other diffuser... except possibly Harrisons own which I really dont like.

Thanks for the thought though Mitch, there are 100's of them gathering dust somewhere, I'll keep looking.

David Mullen ASC · May 31, 2004

Mitchells use a sort of trapeziod type pattern of "lenslets" which tends to give the image an out-of-focus feeling because of diffraction along the straight edges. Tiffen Soft-FX and Diffusion-FX use a sort of rounded irregular shaped lenslet in a more irregular pattern which helps minimize this out of focus look. Classic Softs use a regular pattern of circles.

Tony Brown · May 31, 2004

Mitchells use a sort of trapeziod type pattern of "lenslets" which tends to give the image an out-of-focus feeling because of diffraction along the straight edges.

Those are the new(er) type David (and they are awful). They were also made by Panchro.

The old style were an irregular pattern, it looked as if muslin had been stretched across the glass......

There are a set of 3" ones that I know of..If there is some way to photograph the surface pattern I'll post a picture.They came in leather pouches if that helps date them!!