You shouldn't lose it all, but it will change it some. I find using a very low-level diffusion filter helps maximize the desired effect while reducing the contrast reduction, because sometimes I also don't like it. There are also LOTS of different filters for these blooming effects, not all effect contrast as much as Black Pro Mist. The link below is a great chart to show Tiffen's offerings and their relative effects. I would say that increasing the contrast too much in post may make the lights look "funny" and too halo-y, so I'd experiment with that before committing to shooting with or without the filter. Chart: preview.redd.it/ive-read-that-the-tiffen-black-glimmer-glass-retains-more-v0-xtucq0egvxr81.jpg?auto=webp&s=0773a892204d3b8b44329ba8dccface4d6f1740c Hope that helps! -Trenton

Mostly, yes. But there are a few considerations to dial it in. It depends on the size of the softbox and the size of the silk/diffusion, and the proximity to the subject. If the silk is right next to the softbox, further from the subject, the softness wouldn't change as much because of the size of the diffusion relative to the subject, like what is shown in this video. But the additional material would scatter the light more, making it softer, while costing you some exposure. If you diffusion is closer to the subject then it would benefit from both. If your diffusion is smaller than your softbox and the softbox light spills around it, that light would be as diffused as the softbox would be from that distance, while what passes through the silk is further scattered and the "new" source of the silk is closer to the subject, both in turn making that part of the light softer. And, it would feather the change between what is being double diffused and just softbox diffused more. Doubling up on diffusion can also help by using different materials with different light-scattering properties to further customize your lighting look. I would say that to make using a softbox and additional diffusion/silk work best though, use a diffusion material that is larger than your softbox to maximize the surface area of the "final" source before the light hits your subject. That is how to best use both to make your light softer by maximizing both the size effects and scattering effects. I have a video that might help with this, too: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yXOO8Q2OruQ.html Hope that helps! -Trenton

According to the B&H listing, that flash is bowen's mount compatible, so the snoot *should* should work with it.

Thank you! :)

Sorry I didn't see this earlier! I hadn't heard of that one yet, but I will look into it! From reading the specs there seems to be a lot of great comparable features, namely the 32bit float recording. Definitely looks bigger though, but no more of a burden than the other H series recorders like the H5. Thanks for your comment and suggestion! :)

@@TrentonHoshikoCinematographyThanks for ansering me! I will wait for your VERSUS if you do it!

I’d be interested

I think there are a ton of videos about diffusion filters but very few videos where people stack them in interesting ways. I like to stack a (white) pro mist with a black soft net and it gives me a great nostalgic '50s look. I know stacking is common in the real world there's just very little of it on youtube. That could be a niche to fill. ;)

yes 💡

@@elverdaderojavier Thanks for the idea! I honestly haven't done much stacking of filters myself (my most common work isn't quite right for that), so that would be a good opportunity to try that out more. I love building looks in-camera, so that is right up my alley and would probably be useful on the photography side of things as well! :)

@@diegoolivares13 Thanks for the feedback!

I haven't tried it with broken disks, I'd be curious to see the results!

Glad you liked it and found it helpful! :)

Thank you for the kind words, as always! I have good news! I made a part 2, linked here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3ayCGnIMd_A.html , and have plans for a 3rd one!

Thanks for the tip about the Ambitful! Luckily, with my lights this unit didn't create too much heat, although some vents would probably be a nice addition - as long as they don't cause light leaks. If I get the opportunity to compare the two, that would be interesting!

@@TrentonHoshikoCinematography At the moment I don't have the Wellmaking unit but am doing a review in a mag we have in the UK called Film and Video Maker. The article should be coming out at the end of the year. However it's only sent to IAC members. Once I've finished the review I could send it to you for you to compare.

That is awesome, I haven't heard of that magazine in particular (probably because of the membership aspect), but it seems like a great resource. Really cool that you're doing a review for them! I'd love to see your review when it comes out. I know there are some differences and similarities between optical snoots and optical condensers, so that would be a quite interesting read! :)

Haha that's the only time I've done one of those - everyone was quitting youtube the week before lol

Electrical testing equipment are great tools to have in your kit and are especially useful for old buildings! Thanks for adding to the list! :)

Haha, never leave home without it!

Thanks for the heads up about another quality mask provider!

Thank you! :)

Glad you found if useful! I always say safety is the top priority and most important prerequisite for making films/videos! :)

They're so good for that, I have the same thing!

Thank you! :)

That is possible! I never saw it that way until you mentioned the possibility - which is one reason I love art! :)

Glad you enjoyed! The process of making DIY gear is always fun (even if challenging)!

I got the two I have off of amazon a few years back. Wig stores and hair cutting training places/stores will sell them too. I am careful with them so they don't get scuffed, the material is a soft-ish plastic, but they have definitely taken tumbles before and have been fine, but I wouldn't just throw them around if you care about scuffs, etc. These do not collapse/inflate, so it would take up space, however, when paired with a light stand to adjust height the ease of getting a stand-in for lighting and focus is so useful/quick. My only problem with them is that the skin tones can look a bit off on camera sometimes, I *think* that might be a product of them using color pigments to color them and they just simply reflect light differently than skin, color wise. Otherwise, lighting with them as stand-ins works as you'd expect.

Thank you so much! It is important to me that it is useful and helps people with creating their own art! I have lots more coming soon! :)

Now that you mention it, that might be a good topic for a video! :) Skirts are like multi dimensional flags/walls of a softbox (without the reflective material though). They are used to direct/cut the light to control where it falls. A good classic example of this is having a dinner table scene where you want top down light to fall on the table/actors but not to reach the set walls. The skirt limits where the light can go an constrains it to the table. You adjust the circle of light by raising or lowering the lamp/lantern. A skirt is, mostly, best used when the lamp is boomed overhead so that skirt edge can be parallel to the ground, otherwise it can twist and that changes the shape/opening size some. The some information is applicable to pretty much any skirt for overheads, space lights, etc. Here are a couple of pics that show skirts in use to control the lighting direction/spill: www.pinterest.com/pin/17170042322385088/ www.pinterest.com/pin/209698926392512807/ Hope that helps! :)

@@TrentonHoshikoCinematography very helpful thankyou, I’m an absolute novice but am trying to learn a bit to improve my RU-vid videos. Yes, a video would be a great idea 👌

We all start somewhere! For lanterns I usually like to have them higher up rather than head height, they work really well as overhead lighting. Also, while I'm not very good at it, I like the bit of woodworking that I do, like watching videos about tools, and I have some friends who are decently into it, so I subscribed and am going to send your channel to my friends as well :)

:)

Thank you so much for your kind words! :)

Thanks for the kind words!! I hope you enjoy using it, it is such a useful tool!

Glad you like the detailed explanation/discussion! :)

Thank you so much for watching! :) Safety is something that is so important to me and I wish was discussed and taken more seriously because you're absolutely correct about it being overlooked! I'm trying to find ways to incorporate safety topics/tips into more of my videos to support at least a basic knowledge for various tools.

Bummer, I hate that it has been happening to a bunch of people! I wasn't brave enough to open mine up haha

@@TrentonHoshikoCinematography Well, if you cut where the boton is, you are going to finde a flat boton facing to the battery and not to where the on botton should be. Its a stuppid way of be doing things but at the end you can still be using your light.

So glad you liked it, I really appreciate your kind words, they made my day! I totally understand why you thought about it that way before, glad my examples helped clarify some. To try and answer your question, there are a few different factors that all more or less adjust the shadows: relative size, distance, and diffusion material to scatter the light/tools to make the light harder. So it isn't exactly a one-size answer. Distance is a REALLY powerful factor here, but it comes at a consequence of exposure. So to reduce the exposure drop you can also use a smaller source so that when moved further away you can get hard shadows while minimizing exposure loss. So I kind of like a middle approach myself, but generally I think that it is important to consider the distance in particular because it is usually a lot easier to move your lamp back rather than get a smaller source if you want your shadows to be a bit harder. The easy to remember example for hard vs soft shadows is the sun itself! The sun is HUGE, but VERY far away, so the relative size is like holding a small coin at an arm's length. On a cloudless day, the sun would create hard shadows on the ground. On a cloudy day, the cloud catches the light and scatters it, but also is much bigger relative to pretty much any subject on earth (like a person). If it is a small cloud the shadows will be less soft, if it is an entirely overcast sky there could be no shadows at all. Of course, in this example, it is a combination of effects from the relative size and the scattering of the light via diffusion material (the cloud). Hope that all helps, I will probably make some more videos on this subject because it is very important! :)

Thank you so much for the kind words! :)

I have a new one diagramming a painting coming within the next few days :) thank you for your kind words!!

I particularly like giallo movies for unmotivated lighting, lots of Argentos, Strange Color of My Body's Tears is a good more recent pick too.

Thanks! They only take ~70 seconds to setup and ~30 seconds to tear down (including unpacking/repacking), so it isn't too bad overall (especially for the savings), but only having 2 frames with this kit is where it adds time having to switch them out. I can't wrap my head around why they'd only include 2 frames 🤦‍♂️😂

I don't have that issue when they are clamped properly, but I do have 2 thoughts that could help: 1. For your knuckle, does it have multiple sizes of attachment holes? What I use mine on in this video is an impact c-stand/gobo arm and the knuckle has the large size for babypin type accessories, but there is also a smaller diameter hole that is perpendicular to the large one. That hole is what I use for these flags; you do have to tighten it down a lot though. My fast flags also have a small rectangular support bracket (not sure if it has a name) right next to the attachment point and that and be positioned inside of the grip head's largest channel, which seems to prevent rotation left and right. 2. The other aspect that might help here is making sure the weight of the accessory/arm is going "forward" and rotating tighter rather than looser. If you stand with the grip head in front of you (handle towards your chest, where if you turned it to the right it would tighten), the hole that is on the top left of the head is ideal for the accessory to be placed in with the length/weight towards the right. This way, the weight tightens it, rather than loosening it (if it was long/weight wise towards the left). This is a big safety thing that I see overlooked in c-stand lessons sometimes. If that doesn't help, let me know and I will try and think of some other ideas! Thanks for working to make sure it is all safe! :)

Absolutely!

We store our film gear in our house, so space is a premium. That being said, we don't yet have a use for something like this. I use blackfoil if I need to shape the light at the source, gels to diffuse, and distance or reflection off of walls, ceilings, or one of the rolling mirrors our filming space has to attenuate light. Then again, our lights are a combination of DMX-controlled PARs and a pair of GVM panels, but the bulk of the lux we can throw on a scene are cheap BLE-controlled landscape lights with dimmers that absolutely do not work for video. We have to get pretty creative with how we light a scene.

The rolling mirror sounds really cool! I actually have a future video planned about some lighting tricks that can be done with mirrors. With that mix of gear I bet you have to get creative, but it sounds like a nice mix of tools to get creative with!

@@TrentonHoshikoCinematography they're huge mylar panel mirrors, roughly 5' tall and 8' wide, with diffuse foil on the other side. They're usually sold to ballet studios in lieu of actual glass mirrors, and they work well enough for classes and to bounce illumination around. I wouldn't film through them because there's not really a good way to clean them, so they stop being anywhere near optically pure really fast.

That is so interesting, I never knew that existed. I can see how they would get smudged/unclean though. Thanks for cluing me in!

Hi Sam! I don't have the same lamp/lantern (I think mine is actually a bit smaller than the cs-85 as well at 3.3ft vs 2.2ft), but I do find that the Aputurre 2.2 lantern can be front heavy on the GVM p80s, especially when the stand is extended more. It isn't as noticeable as the Aperture Fresnel, for example, but is something I am careful with. I generally leave a little overlap in each section of the light stand, use an extra sandbag, and make sure the weight is over one of the legs to help reduce tipping risk. I imagine with the larger size of the Cs-85 that the front heaviness is even more pronounced though. I hope that helps answer your question, let me know if you have any other questions! :)