Tiffen joins with Cooke to present ‘Mastering Filters: an Optical Experience workshop’

Tiffen International and Cooke Optics have co hosted a Mastering Filters Optical Experience Workshop at the Cooke Optics Gallery in London organised in collaboration with CVP. 

It was very well attended with a mix of film industry people including film school graduates, camera operators, directors  and cinematographers. Andrew Tiffen, President and COO of the Tiffen Company was in attendance too.This was primarily a hands-on event with three different camera and lens setups with dedicated monitors viewing a carefully lit scene with two live models and backgrounds that would help to show the subtle differences in the large range of Tiffen optical filters laid out in flight cases within easy reach.

It was also an opportunity to try first hand the new Tiffen Soft Glow™, Black Soft Glow ™, and Golden Glow ™ filter ranges recently added to their already impressive line of diffusion effects lens filters. Paired with digital cameras, these filters are designed to maintain contrast for a natural appearance and take away the sharpness and sterility associated with a digital look, while producing unique and pleasing highlights. Black tones remain deep, and whites stay clean, with eight grades available for each filter type with increasing strengths. 

Also on show was Tiffen’s new MCS Magnetic Control System which was developed to eliminate the hassle of threading screw type filters on and off and maintaining a safe and positive lock. MCS makes installation and removal lightning fast via their extremely strong magnetic force. 

Cooke Optics also had their new SP3 Prime lenses there, a complete set designed for full frame mirrorless cameras. Cooke is expanding its reach from PL mounted motion picture lenses into the prosumer video market with mount options supporting E-Mount, RF-Mount, L-Mount and M-Mount cameras. Their compact size allows them to easily fit on to lighter weight gimbals like the DJI Ronin series. 

Robin Thwaites, Tiffen’s Director of International Sales said “The Cooke Gallery was ideally suited for the event and having live cameras set up with the fantastic Cooke lenses was a huge bonus. We hope to repeat the event in the not too distant future.” 

Carey Duffy, Cooke Optics Director of Product Experiences commented “It was great to have a dedicated event for professionals to review images in-camera through glass like this.” 

All the new products are available now from Tiffen International and Cooke Optics and their distributors. 

Words: Mel Noonan