HD Classic Soft?Any big difference comparing to the normal one?

[Hercules Fu]

:P I just found out that the Schneider Optics produce a new Classic Soft which is HD Classic Soft.

Is there a huge difference between them?The only thing i notice now is the HD one come with an extra 1/16 Density.

And also, is classic soft very insensitive to normal exposure area?cause i never used one of them and i am going to give a try on it soon on my next short clips:P

Edited May 29, 2009 by Hercules Fu

[David Mullen ASC]

The size of the lenslets (look like bubbles) that throw the focus off in that point are much smaller so they won't come into focus with the extra depth of field of a 2/3" camera (or a 35mm camera stopped down.)

 

Making the lenslets smaller will just affect the nature of the halation around lights, you probably won't get the obvious ring or bubble effect around points of light on longer lenses, as you can see here in "War of the Worlds":

 

 

 

You don't normally make exposure compensations for diffusion filters, except maybe a black net.

[Hercules Fu]

The size of the lenslets (look like bubbles) that throw the focus off in that point are much smaller so they won't come into focus with the extra depth of field of a 2/3" camera (or a 35mm camera stopped down.)

 

Making the lenslets smaller will just affect the nature of the halation around lights, you probably won't get the obvious ring or bubble effect around points of light on longer lenses, as you can see here in "War of the Worlds":

 

You don't normally make exposure compensations for diffusion filters, except maybe a black net.

;) Thanks for your kind reply David.

Now i am starting to worry about the lenslets will be "visible" with my Panasonic HVX200

Did anyone try to use the classics soft with a HVX200?I will use the filter in closeup shot only...I believe the focal length will be sth like 25mm-35mm and around F/2.8-4, will the lenslets come into focus? :huh:

[David Mullen ASC]

;) Thanks for your kind reply David.

Now i am starting to worry about the lenslets will be "visible" with my Panasonic HVX200

Did anyone try to use the classics soft with a HVX200?I will use the filter in closeup shot only...I believe the focal length will be sth like 25mm-35mm and around F/2.8-4, will the lenslets come into focus? :huh:

 

That's the point of the HD Classic Soft, that you can use them on smaller sensor cameras. You should be fine on the HVX200 on close-ups or longer-lensed shots, just not wide-angle stuff. And don't stop down the lens.

 

At least with video, you can see right away if there's a problem with the filter pattern coming into focus too much.

[David Cavallo]

Apologies in advance for replying to a thread that's nearly five years old. How is the efficacy/strength of the HD Classic Soft affected when used with a S35 size sensor camera? I'm currently using 1/4 Classic Soft and 1/8 Classic Soft on a doc feature shooting on the Amira, and would like an option that's less strong than 1/8 for heavy backlight situations. (I realize 1/8 is very mild, but we would prefer to not shoot entirely clean.)

 

Many thanks,
David

[David Mullen ASC]

The HD Classic Soft is the basis of the Hollywood Black Magics, which combine it with a 1/8 Black Frost as a base, with different strengths of HD Classic Softs, so a 1/8 Hollywood Black Magic is a 1/8 HD Classic Soft + 1/8 Black Frost.

 

Yes, a 1/8 HD Classic Soft looks slightly milder than a 1/8 Classic Soft.

 

Any milder than that and you probably should be looking at a Tiffen 1/2 Diffusion-FX, which is about the mildest filter I've used for softening, almost unnoticeable.

 

I like to use the Hollywood Black Magics because to go lighter than the 1/8 Hollywood Black Magic, you just have to go to a 1/8 Black Frost.