FILTERS GEAR
OPTICAL CHARM The use of filters to create distinctive visual effects, like this Schneider- Kreuznach Diopter Spot, is becoming more common as filmmakers seek authenticity
A fter decades spent pushing photography toward higher peaks of pristine cleanliness, the modern fascination with real-world optical effects might come off as almost contrary. Film is one aspect of that – but it’s expensive and so are classic lenses. Filters, though, are a very accessible route to interesting pictures that don’t come out of a computer. Claudia Baier is product manager for cine at Schneider-Kreuznach and has seen that trend first-hand. Even so, she draws careful air quotes around the word ‘vintage’. “People are tired of all the highly clean, contrasty and brilliant images. They want real, organic and authentic pictures – that’s where filters come in,” she explains. “I’ve also realised that younger students don’t get taught about filters; whenever we turn up at a trade show and we visit the universities, they’re interested in what a filter does. For them, a filter is pure magic.” Demand for filters, Baier points out, has paralleled demand for interesting lenses, provoking an ongoing design effort. “There are two ways to create new filters. One is that people come to you and ask for it, and the other is more by accident: you discover what happens if you combine two filters, or if you put special materials into the middle, something like that. Sometimes, you do both,” she continues. Recent Schneider innovations include the Radiant Black, which Baier compares to earlier designs, notably the company’s seminal Hollywood Black Magic. “We had the Radiant Soft for a while. That has nice skin tones – better than the Hollywood Black Magic. We then wanted something that keeps the smooth picture and nice skin tones with controlled halation, but
THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO CREATE NEW FILTERS: people ask for it OR IT HAPPENS MORE by accident ” As a manufacturer of both filters and lenses in a world where optical novelty is a watchword, Schneider frequently fields requests for new innovations. “There’s a lot of lens detuning happening. We’re not only a filter manufacturer; we also make lenses and work with some companies that rehouse and detune lenses,” Baier notes. “Sometimes, we work together to create optics that go in the lenses and have a filter effect. Rear filters are a thing at the moment.” Optical effects are particularly also has the rich blacks. That’s what we created and launched in April.” appealing due to their complexity, but Baier sees a need for a more formalised way to describe that complexity. “My background is as a photographer, then I studied imaging science. I worked for 20 years in industrial optics then changed to cinema. In cinema, you might have a lens with a specified focal length, a T stop and a mount, making it easy to compare. But there’s nothing that allows you to
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