Substitute for Contrast Viewing Glass

Brian Rose · October 11, 2007

All,

I was wondering if there is a good stand in for a proper contrast viewing glass for low speed color film? I want to buy a set eventually, but money is tight, and I was wondering if I could fabricate something that would be a reasonable approximation. I've got a big sample book of filters, colored, ND, fog, color correction, etc, etc. Perhaps some combination of those? I'd really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks!

Best,

Brian Rose

John Brawley · October 11, 2007

All,
I was wondering if there is a good stand in for a proper contrast viewing glass for low speed color film? I want to buy a set eventually, but money is tight, and I was wondering if I could fabricate something that would be a reasonable approximation. I've got a big sample book of filters, colored, ND, fog, color correction, etc, etc. Perhaps some combination of those? I'd really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks!

Best,

Brian Rose

Gday Brian....

grab a 35 slide frame...cut some wratten ND or just plain old lighting gel to size...many of slide frames are re-useable. And there you go ! I gather ND 6 or ND9 should do the job.........

JB

Jonathan Bowerbank · October 12, 2007

You'd have to figure out the transmission density of say a Tiffen #2 viewing filter vs. an ND filter.

I don't know the complexities of viewing filters, but I would imagine they're more advanced than just a basic ND gel.

e gustavo petersen · October 12, 2007

I know some folks who just use a good pair of sunglasses (usually with un-polorized lenses).

By the by, one gaffer I know uses a welding glass as a Gaffer's Glass.

Jonathan Bowerbank · October 12, 2007

By the by, one gaffer I know uses a welding glass as a Gaffer's Glass.

Makes sense since a gaffer's glass doesn't necessarily need to be in strict relation with a film's emulsion or anything as advanced as that. It's just something to protect your eyes when looking directly into lamps and such :)

Tim O'Connor · October 12, 2007

All,
I was wondering if there is a good stand in for a proper contrast viewing glass for low speed color film? I want to buy a set eventually, but money is tight, and I was wondering if I could fabricate something that would be a reasonable approximation. I've got a big sample book of filters, colored, ND, fog, color correction, etc, etc. Perhaps some combination of those? I'd really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks!

Best,

Brian Rose

Hi Brian,

I too have used sunglasses on occasion, although I think that they can be tricky because some of

them tend to make the chroma pop and while that looks nice you may not get the info. that you

need

from a color viewing glass that is designed to represent how things under your present lighting may

appear given a certain ASA range.

I've also used welding glass and I've bought replacement glass for welding goggles at a welding

shop

for sometimes a buck apiece plus it's circular so you can affix a cord to it and tie it around your

neck.

This is certainly helpful for simply protecting your eyes when looking at bright lights but as Jonathan

says what about representing to you how the film sees the shot?

Here is a blurb from the Filmtools site about Tiffen viewing glasses. By the way, they go for

under $40 bucks so they're not the most cost prohibitive item although you can get along without

them okay too.

It sounds like you may well know this info. but I'm including it for anybody who is reading the

thread and could benefit from this cogent explanation. I remember when I was learning about

viewing glasses and for a while I was puzzled because the people who had them never seemed

to explain their use as clearly as is explained so simply below.

If there is anybody reading this post who uses color viewing glasses a lot, have you

found that there are different experiences when using say a Tiffen 3 in that broad range of

films above 100 ASA? For example, have you ever felt that there should be a filter for every

additional 100 ASA so for example there would a 4 for films 200 to 300 ASA and a 5 for 300 to

400 ASA and so on?

"Contrast Viewing Filters Balancing lighting by eye is a matter of experience. Decisions can be aided through the use of contrast viewing filters. These are designed to handicap the eye, with its much greater range of apparent densities, to resemble the range of the various types of film. Use contrast viewers to judge relative highlight and shadow densities. There are viewers for black-and-white film, as well as various viewer densities for color film. A darker viewer is used for slower film speeds, where you would tend to use brighter lighting. Faster film, which can be used in dimmer settings would require a lighter viewer. The Tiffen #1 viewer is for black-and-white imaging. The #2 viewer is for film speeds to 100; #3 is for faster film. They can be used for video, as well, with the #3 being better suited for lower light levels. The green #4 viewer is for process photography. The blue #5 is for blue screen work, as well as for setting up color video monitors."

Brian Rose · October 12, 2007

Hey All,

Thanks a lot for the great advice! It really helped. I do eventually want to get some good viewing glasses, and forty dollars per is not too bad, but it's just a matter of priority, I suppose. My main objective right now is to get a glidecam for my XL2, so I'm trying to save what I can for that (damn grad school stipend checks). My motivation was that I'm DPing a friend's short film, and I want to make sure I do as good a job as I can. The suggestions will certainly help me out. Thanks again!

Best,

Brian Rose