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Firecrest ND vs. TrueND


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Any recommendations on Formatt Firecrest ND filters vs. Mitumo TrueND filters? I'm never going to have Meryl Streep or George Clooney in front of my camera, but I am looking for an upgrade from my current set of Tiffen water white ND filters. I haven't found a direct technical comparison yet. I have a 4x5.65 matte box, so I can use either.

 

BTW - the Tiffen 0.3-IR1.8 set is for sale. PM me if interested.

 

Stuart Allman

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illuma.blogspot.com

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I think it depends on what cameras you want to use them with and how each sensor sees IR. A lot of rental houses are providing Mitomo TrueNDs for everything, but Shane Hurlbut recently posted a test with the Red Dragon Standard OLPF where the TrueNDs came up green compared to non-IR Tiffen (I am assuming these are White Waters): https://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2015/11/reds-game-changing-olpf-filter-cinematography/.

 

Still have not seen the Firecrests in person.

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I mostly use Sony cameras, like the FS-7. I occasionally see a Canon camera, but that's about it. I don't plan on using the Red or Arri cameras.

 

Mainly I'm looking for an opinion of whether the 2x price difference is really worth it for non-studio and non-broadcast work. I've seen plenty of favorable reviews of both products, but there has to be a gotcha somewhere, given the price difference. The Tiffen filters I have seem to work just fine with a custom white balance, but I feel like it might be time to upgrade to a more modern technology that handles color neutrality better.

 

Stuart

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illuma.blogspot.com

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Do you normally use the internal NDs? I've only used the FS7 a few times, but I use the F5 and F55 a lot. With an internal 0.9 and 1.8, I only ever use my 4x5.65 White Water 0.3 and 0.6 anyway, so IR pollution is never an issue. Have never needed TrueNDs with internal ND cameras.

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I use the internal ND's, but I noticed some magenta creeping into black fabrics last time we used tungsten lighting. It doesn't appear that the internal ND filters reject IR very well. Normally I use plasma or LED lighting, so it's not an issue, but we're back to using tungsten more often now. That's mainly why I'm interested in solving this issue with more modern ND filters. Trying to color correct excess red out of dark fabrics is very hard when your main talent is African-American with very dark skin.

 

We do a lot of video production tutorials, so I might have the option of contacting the companies and asking for demo units if we do a video about them. Some companies are much more open and responsive than others.

 

Stuart

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illuma.blogspot.com

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