William Wright

Hi all, Just posting this here having previously received some invaluable insight on diffusion filters from the forum before. Please forgive me if this request is inappropriate for general discussion, I will post in a different section if that's more suitable. I am primarily a photographer, but wanted to do an image series based on stills from old (but not necessarily ancient) Camcorder footage. I was looking for possible second hand equiptment options, and came across the Sony Digital 8 cameras, and noticed they have an option for 'stills' - seemingly to take single shot photos as opposed to continuos filmed footage. Being of the digital camera era I have a lot of gaps in knowledge of analogue filming specifics, particularly this sort of technology that seems to be a bridge between the analogue and film eras, so I am curious - do these 'still' images have the sort of analogue softness typical to camcorder filmed footage (examples of I guess what I mean below, although I am sure it would be possible to get slightly better clarity than seen in these), and am I along the right lines looking at Sony d8 cameras etc, or are does this 'still' functionality simply very primitive digital photos like you might have got from a mobile phone a few years back, and is not directly relateable to the continuos filmed look produced of the cameras? The use of tapes etc in these cameras has me very confused! Any help very gratefully received!

ok - thank you

Many thanks for this - would you recommend a white pro mist over a black promist? I was under the impression the blacks held contrast better but I could very well be mistaken

Many thanks for your feedback - I have used some Bronica and Hasselblad lenses (which may be sharper than what you are referring to, and therefore not relevant to your point) but almost found them too 'good'/sharp in a way, even at quite open apertures. It's certainly something I will look into trying again though with other makes.

Hi all, Firstly, full disclosure: the question I am looking for advice on relates to still, rather than moving image. If this is is inappropriate please feel free to delete this thread and my account from the site. The reason I am posting here though is I am looking for advice on filters which seem to predominantly be used in film by Tiffen and Schneider, rather than photography. Screw in versions for dslrs etc are available (of black pro mist, soft fx, hollywood black magic filters etc) but all my local hire places stock only the versions used for video equipment, and enquiries on photo site forums have largely drawn a blank. The most useful information I've found online has been gleaned from this site. Basically I am looking for some kind of diffusion filter that would give an 'glamourous' effect similar to 70s instamatic cameras and polaroids. Good examples of this would be Antonio Lopez's instamatics and Andy Warhols polaroids - please feel free to put me right here, but it seems the slightly 'diffused'/soft quality comes from the combination of hard light which is diffused by a soft plastic lens. I've been trying to do this with a Zeiss Softar I lens using a flash, which although is a great piece of glass, doesn't quite do the job (example here). Hard to put my finger on why, but perhaps it blows out the flash highlights a little too far while losing too many of the darker tones, but subject matter from the example aside, I can't quite see it producing the desired glamorous results. I'm also looking for a little more subtlety - I want the effect to be visible but not dominant enough to seem gimmicky and I find the softar a little too much in that regard. Have also tried using plastic lenses but these suffered from a lack of control and loss of resolution. I'm thinking a Black Mist or Hollywood Black Magic filter might be good for this but being unable to find somewhere to try varying strengths etc I don't want to spend loads of money without a little more insight! If anyone is able to advise on this I would be most grateful! And if this post is appropriate for the forum, my apologies.