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Schneider/Tiffen ND's Difference


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Hi,

 

I'm currently working for a rental house and have recently, while cleaning filters, discovered that the Schneider ND Filters have a slightly different color than the Tiffen Filters. The Schneider Filters seem to be a little bit cooler (bluer) than the Tiffen Filters. I measured them with a color temperature meter, and the Tiffen was about 200 degree Kelvin cooler than the Schneider.

 

Does anyone know if this as generally the case or maybe just with our filters, and if this is also recognisable on film?

 

Markus

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I've never noticed that since I never really a set of both brands in front of me. Nice catch.

 

If you can measure it and see it it would be visible on film. It would be easy to remove in timing, though.

 

The real question, though, is which one is actually neutral?

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I'm not sure exactly how bad +/-200K would be in truth if it were covering the whole frame.

 

But think of it this way: Master (no ND) f2.8 -> 2-shot (no ND) f2.8 -> Closeups (ND.3) f2 w/ wierd color shift.

 

A whole film of that would get annoying to correct the shots with ND.

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Yeah, you name it.

 

To my eye the Tiffen looks more neutral, but the color meter measured a greater color offset. Acutally i always thought these filters are produced to that high standards that absolutely no color shifts occure.

 

So neither one was that close to neutral?

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Hi,

 

I'm currently working for a rental house and have recently, while cleaning filters, discovered that the Schneider ND Filters have a slightly different color than the Tiffen Filters. The Schneider Filters seem to be a little bit cooler (bluer) than the Tiffen Filters. I measured them with a color temperature meter, and the Tiffen was about 200 degree Kelvin cooler than the Schneider.

 

Does anyone know if this as generally the case or maybe just with our filters, and if this is also recognisable on film?

 

Markus

 

 

It used to be that Tiffen used regular window glass whilst schneider use a crystal glass which is more pure. The window glass has a greenish tinge to it which is really really obvious if you hold one up against something white. Use a Grad, and you'll see in the clear section a very distinct green.

 

Crystal glass is a more pure version, and when you do a side by side on their clear or ND filters you will definitely see the difference. I mostly use Schneider these days for that reason, although I believe Tiffen are staring to use crystal glass, and there are some filters that only Tiffen make.

 

Schenider used to have a display with 4 of their clear filters stacked on top of each other, and 4 *supposedly* clear Tiffens over a lightbox. Nobody ever bought a Tiffen after seeing that display !

 

JB

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It used to be that Tiffen used regular window glass whilst schneider use a crystal glass which is more pure. The window glass has a greenish tinge to it which is really really obvious if you hold one up against something white. Use a Grad, and you'll see in the clear section a very distinct green.

 

Crystal glass is a more pure version, and when you do a side by side on their clear or ND filters you will definitely see the difference. I mostly use Schneider these days for that reason, although I believe Tiffen are staring to use crystal glass, and there are some filters that only Tiffen make.

 

Schenider used to have a display with 4 of their clear filters stacked on top of each other, and 4 *supposedly* clear Tiffens over a lightbox. Nobody ever bought a Tiffen after seeing that display !

 

JB

 

 

Great info, thanks

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