Punch Filters

Jonathan Stern · January 14, 2006

Does anybody have any info on Harris Savides use of (what a DP Friend told me were called) Punch Filters. Basically a 4x4,6x6 etc... ND Grad Filter where an apeture in the middle of the filter is clear, then graduates out to a determined Unit of ND.

Is this the correct name for the filter?

What are the units in terms of the size of the apeture?

Do they come in varius units of Graduation .3, .6 etc...?

Do they come in any other flavors (ie. Tobacco, color and so on)?

Thanks for the Help,

Jon

Chris Clarke · January 26, 2006

Hi Jon.

Don't know about punch filters but I saw a DP use a similar idea recently that I thought was interesting.

He had this material that was kind of like spun but black. I think it was a very light and quite brittle silk. We would stretch it over the barrel of the lens and secure it. Then cut a small hole in the centre and fray the edges of by pulling at it. To ensure that the 'hot spot' was in the correct place, we had a short length of solder cable looped to the size of our hole. We would hold it in front of the silk while the DP looked through so he could see exactly where hole was.

Looking through the lens you couldn't really see much effect, nor on the monitor, but when we saw printed rushes... Wow! It was suprisingly subtle but really altered the mood of the scene. Highlights bloomed quite nicely with a promisty feel but where the hole was there was this nice definition to the image. It really drew your eye to the character framed there without being too gimicky.

I'm gonna try it on a short film or something if it seems appropriate.

Cheers, Chris.

Jamie Metzger · January 26, 2006

Hi Jon.
Don't know about punch filters but I saw a DP use a similar idea recently that I thought was interesting.

He had this material that was kind of like spun but black. I think it was a very light and quite brittle silk. We would stretch it over the barrel of the lens and secure it. Then cut a small hole in the centre and fray the edges of by pulling at it. To ensure that the 'hot spot' was in the correct place, we had a short length of solder cable looped to the size of our hole. We would hold it in front of the silk while the DP looked through so he could see exactly where hole was.

Looking through the lens you couldn't really see much effect, nor on the monitor, but when we saw printed rushes... Wow! It was suprisingly subtle but really altered the mood of the scene. Highlights bloomed quite nicely with a promisty feel but where the hole was there was this nice definition to the image. It really drew your eye to the character framed there without being too gimicky.

I'm gonna try it on a short film or something if it seems appropriate.

Cheers, Chris.

Chris, thanks for the idea. Great info, and I'm going to use it as well.

nathan hope · January 26, 2006

Panavision has elliptical grad ND filters which give you an optically clear eliptical center which then gradually darken towards the edges to create a vignetting effect. Some people call them a center-punch grad, which may be where the punch name came from. I believe they are 6x6 but not sure, haven't used them in several years.

Nathan