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Filter stacking


Cristian Diaz

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Hi all!

 

I was wondering what is in fact the best possible way to stack filters into the matte box concerning order...assuming we have to use lots of different types: nd, pola, difussion...

 

I know physics count as we are talking about cinematography here, so I would like to know if there is a 'right order' technically speaking, if any.

 

It would also be interesting to know if 'the right thing' didn't work for you on some occasion, whatever the reason and why.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thank you!

Edited by Cristian Diaz
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My best guess would be to have the pola filter as the first filter and the diffusion filter as the last (closest to the lens). And use the minimum possible number of filters of course. There are some matte boxes that tilt the filters to help avoid reflections. But, I wouldn't tilt a pola filter.

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  • 7 months later...

Bit of a thread hijack - (and a return to this forum after over 10 years it seems! ?

Let's assume I had a polarizer in first position, would something like black pro mist or maybe pearlescent actually almost counter out the work of the pola in bringing contrast/saturation to the scene (ignoring what it does to reflections)? Is there a good resource about filtration? Any good books? I'd like to learn more about what can mix and match and what should probably not go together? Ideally to firm up my ideas before I rent to test in person.

Secondly, and may not be answered here - what's the perceived wisdom on the Arri Rota Pola? Quality? Any colour cast? How much light does it block (Is their claimed 1.2 stops accurate?) How does it compare visually to say the pola on the Tiffen Rotating Multi-Tray? 

I've just bought a LMB 4x5 and need some polarization but, being on a budget, I haven't yet got all the attachments for the LMB including the rotating stage so was looking at something like a rotating polarizer to fit in the first 4x5 slot. Not sure if this is a terrible idea or not.

Lastly, on the Tiffen Rotating Multi-Tray front - any experience here from anyone? I've seen the video they produced and something by Dan Chung over at Newshooter and the pola seems 'OK' to my eye from the video examples. The variable ND function seems like it could be useful - particularly on a motor (for example moving from interior to exterior) but not sure how they're regarded in terms of quality and whether it is worth the extra £600 (Arri rota pola is about £600, Tiffen multi (pola/variND/warm-cool) is about £1200).

Thanks!

Ed

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Pola will not impact the look of other filters. And Pro Mist or any other diffusion filter will not impact saturation. 

Pola doesn't really create contrast, it does cut down on reflected light and in doing so can make a more contrasty image if there is a lot of reflections in a shot. Diffusion filters work very differently. Its sorta an apples and oranges situation - Although both can have an impact on contrast they work very different.

From what I know most people use Pola to either create a Bluer sky OR to cut reflections down when shooting reflective surfaces (cars/windows/sometimes skin).

I would assume the Arri rota pola is of good quality, probably better if not as good as the tiffen 

and I always assume I loose about 1 stop of light with Pola - not sure exactly about "1.2" stops that is very specific, but Arri isn't one to get something like that wrong. 

Edited by Albion Hockney
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I always stack the densest filter closest to the lens to avoid reflections from the less dense filters like diffusion filters which I use very often.

diffusion can have significant impact on saturation if the image contains bright highlights... for example the Promist filters will contaminate the other parts of the picture with that bright area colour, for example if the highlight area is bluish white the filter will contaminate most of the image with that colour and it will be most prominent in the shadows. and will reduce the saturation on objects as well because of "spreading a layer of colour over the image area" . 

I personally use promists mostly for the highlight effect on digital cameras and will grade most of the exposure boost +contrast change away. sometimes I also use them to fake more dynamic range to the image (depending on the content I can get an advantage of about 1.5 or 2 stops that way but I will lose some colour separation and saturation so it is not a perfect solution for all uses)

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