Category: Filters

Diopter or ‘dioptre’  from the Greek di optos (through + visible) has a number of meanings in optics, including being a unit for the refractive power of a lens. Full Field Diopters. In the world of filters, close up diopters are the equivalent of a magnifying glass for your lens.…

Our final look at diffusion examines emotional or atmospheric filters, which are really a sub-set of halation filters. While there is a great deal of crossover between the various forms of diffusion – as so magnificently displayed by Tiffen’s triangle of diffusion which permits you to select from the effects…

In the previous posts we looked at overt halation inducing filters which achieve their effect by use of fine particles embedded within the glass. As beautiful and stylish as these effects are, it is not always ideal to soften the images in a way that spills the light so obviously. Optical…

As already discussed, halation diffusion, provides an effect whereby a source of light acquires a halo in the shot. The effect is produced by embedding tiny particles or meshes into the glass in order to scatter and diffuse the light. In terms of manufacturing, black halation diffusion as opposed to…

Halation diffusion, as discussed last week, causes an effect whereby a source of light acquires a halo in the shot. White halation filters typically do this by producing a clean and sometimes shimmering halo effect but without losing the sharpness of the shot. Tiffen Glimmerglass for instance creates a subtle…

Diffusion – whether at the source of light or at the lens via a filter, is a way of reducing the concentration of the light. The earliest methods of doing this often involved putting vaseline or women’s stockings over the lens. (Please do not try putting vaseline on our lenses,…

Probably the first glass filter ever to be invented may well be the last one standing. In an era when many traditional effects such as colourisation and diffusion can be added quickly and cheaply in the edit room – where they can also be tweaked and adjusted to perfection –…