IRND/Hot Mirror/Firecrest tests

The camera used is a Sony a7s in stills mode. Shooting 16x9, 10 Megapixels, Extra Fine jpeg, ISO 200, Cine3 Gamma in Pro Color Mode (no other adjustments), sRGB.

Filters shot at an f/ 2.8 in full frame mode. The idea was to shoot at a stop that neither helps, nor intentionally hurts the image (regarding vignetting, etc).

I used a 50mm Zeiss ZF for its color neutrality, and relative sharpness at f/ 2.8

The first frame is without filtration which can be used as a monitor reference. You should not see a magenta or cyan skew. This was shot under blue skies, mid-day in southern California. White Balance manually set to 5600K for reference. Zebras set to 90%, what you’re seeing is a 4x4 showcard.

This was shot at a deeper stop because I wanted as ideal a reference shot as possible. You should see a field of white with a page from a notebook in the center:

Performing a white balance yielded a result of 5800K. You can see a minor difference:

First filter up is the Tiffen IRND 2.1 at 5600K:

Of course you have to white balance an IRND. A manual white balance with the filter in front of the lens yielded 4000K:

Next is the Tiffen Hot Mirror IRND 1.2 pictured at 5600K:

And with a manual white balance again yielding 4000K:

Next is the Pancro IRND 0.9 at 5600K:

Now with a manual white balance of 4200K:

The Formatt Hi Tech Firecrest (IRND) at 5600K:

And finally, Formatt Firecrest manually white balanced to 5400K:

© 2015 Bill Totolo

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