Director's Loupe / Preview Masks

[Lee Christopher]

Many times, I have problems pre-visualising a scene and envision what it would turn out to be in panchromatic shades as captured on the normal spectrum/consumer B&W films like Tri-X and so on.

I've heard that in the past, film directors used a special loupe that allows them to 'see' what a scene might look like in B&W. I also heard that this loupe, if it exists, uses some kind of dark blue filter.

Do you have any idea about this and can I DIY one or where would I be able to get one?

I also would like to make a preview mask for different focal lengths on a multi-format system (I use anything from 6x6cm to 6x12cm, and later, the selection will include 4x5 inch). Right now I have a 150mm lens, and intend to get a 65mm soon.

Am I being too ambitious in wanting to make a multiple mask set, or should I make seperate ones? Assuming I work with three fixed constants (my arm at full extension from my eye, lens focal length, and film format), how would I go about calculating the marking on the mask?

Hmm, thinking as I wrote the above, would it make more sense to make one mask for each film format, except that this mask can be used for different focal lengths?

Thanks in advance.

[Louie Powell]

Zone VI Studios offered previsualization viewers. You can still find these on e-Bay from time to time. The link below is to an offering of a particularly old model. Newer models were gray discs and were available in aspect ratios that matched 35mm, square roll film, and 4x5. Unfortunately, the prices that they seem to attract on e-Bay strike me as ridiculously high.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zone-VI-Studios-Viewing-Filter-for-Black-White_W0QQitemZ260415992759QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca200b3b7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

I made my own using a glass transparency mount and a Wratten #90 gel filter. The basic idea is that the filter reduces a scene to the essential highlights and shadows. The Wratten #90 is a dark amber filter that pretty much cancels the inherent color in a scene. I suppose a blue filter could do something similar except that it would also impart an overall visual sense of 'blue' that might influence how you see the scene.

[Lee Christopher]

Thanks Louie!

I vaugely remember seeing the listing for the newer model I think, but that ebay listing had a hefty US$28 shipping tag to it! :eek: I suppose the seller intends to ship it in a solid lead box or something to preserve the inherent optical qualities of the gel.

I'll shop around for old Kodak gels and see what I can make with old 35mm transparency mounts. I might even be able to mark out a few 'preview' ratios on them.

[Sevo]

Narrow-band brown filters were used for directors viewing filters in the motion picture industry in pre video check days. The exact type depends on personal habits - the narrower the filter, the longer it takes for the visual cortex to cancel the filter effect and discriminate the remaining colours within the passed band, but the more strenuous the viewing gets.

Wratten #90 was always considered the industry standard viewing filter for luminance checks on colour shoots. For black and white, the narrower #96 or #72B filters were also widely used.

Sevo

[Lee Christopher]

Thanks for sharing that Sevo!

When you say 'band', are you referring to the wave-length of light, or physical dimensions? I ask only because I've also heard of the 'squinting your eyes' method to preview a scene.

[Sevo]

When you say 'band', are you referring to the wave-length of light, or physical dimensions? I ask only because I've also heard of the 'squinting your eyes' method to preview a scene.

Wave length. Squinting or ND filters do reduce colour vision too, by the way, as the non-colour sensitive rods adapt much faster to a drop in light intensity, but that effect only works for a very brief period until the cones recover.

Sevo

[Lee Christopher]

I found one ebay shop that's asking for a whopping US$86 for a piece of 72B. Edit. I just found #96, and the seller lists it as a ND filter.

Do you think there are modern filter equivalents for these Wrattens Sevo? I was thinking Cokin or Tian Ya might have something that I could use that's affordable.

[ic-racer]

Do you think there are modern filter equivalents for these Wrattens...

The Kodak "Wratten 2" filters are sold or made by Tiffen (but still expensive and not necessarily easy to find).

A few weeks ago I lucked out in that my local shop had a #99 Wratten that I was looking for in the bargain box for $16.

[Sevo]

I found one ebay shop that's asking for a whopping US$86 for a piece of 72B. Edit. I just found #96, and the seller lists it as a ND filter.

Do you think there are modern filter equivalents for these Wrattens Sevo? I was thinking Cokin or Tian Ya might have something that I could use that's affordable.

Wratten gels always were expensive - even the popular ones are/were in a league with brand name glass filters, and some special ones could be five to ten times as much. As to that #96 - hard to tell, by memory I thought it should be #93, but a 1986 German Kodak Filter list has it as #96, maybe my memory is indeed better than their editing...

I doubt that anybody makes replacements nowadays - Lee has always had more of a focus on CC filters and lighting, and Agfa and Orwo dropped out two or three decades ago, leaving Tiffen (who took over the Wratten line from Kodak) as the last generalist gel filter maker. Estar, acrylic or glass filters never covered the same range of special colours, if only because they are much more limited in their choice of dyes.

Sevo