Pro Moviemaker Autumn 2018

GEAR GROUP TEST

FORMATT-HITECH FIRECREST ULTRA ND/IRND 0.9 £440/$577 www.formatt-hitech.com

lens and is available in a variety of filter sizes up to 82mm to suit most DSLR and mirrorless cameras. The frame is made from thin aluminium to prevent vignetting at wider lens settings. If you are going to go super-wide on a full-frame camera, check for vignetting. Japanese-made, it is multicoated and does a great job in cutting down the light from around half (one stop) to a 400th of the original brightness. A huge range that should give you the exposure you want on even the brightest days. PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 8/10 Everyone needs a variable ND and this is a very affordable version Pros: Huge range of settings, easy to use and understand Cons: Not available in all sizes to suit bigger lenses including UV, visible and infrared. Not adding a colour cast to your footage is one of the biggest issues with using ND filters and the 3-stop 0.9ND version we tested was certainly very colour neutral. Having the coatings trapped inside the glass means the filters should be far more rugged than conventionally coated versions. The outside of these filters is pure optical glass which is stronger and more resistant to damage. Luckily we didn’t get to test this in our test, but it’s nice to know that the Firecrest filters are built to last and to keep their colour neutrality. PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 9/10 A radical new design that moves ND filter technology on Pros: Very colour neutral and built to be resistant to damage Cons: A little pricier than other top-quality rivals

Formatt-Hitech may be better known as a supplier of resin filters for the stills photography market, but it is quickly making a name for itself with serious filmmakers with its Firecrest Ultra IRND filters in the traditional 4x5.65in size for use with full-size matte boxes. It’s a new type of ND filter from Formatt-Hitech as rather than dyed resin, Firecrest is a rare earth mineral coating used to create very neutral ND filters. The filters are made from 4mm thick Schott Superwite glass, and the multicoating is bonded in the middle to increase scratch resistance. This bonded system explains why the filter is so expensive compared to some rival NDs which are just coated. After polishing and bonding, these filters undergo an additional process called lapping and polishing, involving grinding If you still aren’t convinced you need lots of filters to improve your filmmaking, there is at least one that everyone should buy. Everyone who uses a camera that doesn’t have built-in ND filters should get a variable ND filter as it’s the only way to get the exposure right. Unlike stills photography, where exposure can happily be changed by using shutter speed, in filmmaking the shutter speed is usually set at double the frame rate. You can experiment with different shutter speeds for different effects, of course, but double the frame rate is a good place to start. It’s the old 180° shutter angle rule that has existed for decades and gives your footage some element of movement rather than it looking like a set of still images

to ensure they are perfectly flat and highly polishing to ensure complete clarity. This is essential for video capture as any minute waves or imperfections in the glass would manifest as a ripple in the image when the cameras are panning. It’s revolutionary technology pioneered by Formatt-Hitech that works very well and explains why the filters look pricey. Firecrest filters are designed to be neutral across all spectrums,

MARUMI DHG VARIABLE ND2-ND400 £60/$78 www.marumi-filter.co.jp

assembled together in a staccato style. So if you’re shooting at 25fps, then 1/50sec is a good starting point. Presuming your ISO is set and your aperture set for creative effect, then the only way to get the exposure right is to vary the amount of light hitting the sensor. Most cinema cameras have built-in ND filters to do this, but mirrorless and DSLR cameras don’t. So you need a variable ND filter you can turn until the exposure is correct. Variable NDs transformed filmmaking a decade ago when run-and-gun filmers wanted a way to control exposure on the new breed of HD-capable DSLRs like the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. And they still have their place. The Marumi DHG Variable ND2- 400 screws into the front of your

100 PRO MOVIEMAKER AUTUMN 2018

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