Today I am going to talk about my experience on using K&F Concept Black Diffusion filters on different lenses with various focal length, and what is the best stop for the particular focal length's portrait.
Key Points
35mm Full Frame Equivalent or Less
50mm Full Frame Equivalent or Greater
I have recently uploaded a video on using different stops of K&F Concept black mist filters for different focal length. The full video for the photoshoot is below:
35mm Full Frame Equivalent or Less
If you want to use black mist pro filter for your lenses with 35mm equivalent or less, I would suggest to use the range of 1/4 to 1 stop. It depends how dreamy the effect you want, you can go all the way to the 1 stop for the wide angle because it won't give an overwhelming feeling of being too soft. The bokeh for the wide angle lenses usually has less bokeh. The black pro mist helps soften out the background strong highlight.
I will start with the lenses that are equal or less than 35mm full frame equivalent. I will show some examples below and go over each photo about what stop I use.
Because the wide angle lenses background has less bokeh, I can apply a stronger Black Mist filter to soften out the overall background, creating a cinematic feeling. In addition, the black mist filter is great for the backlight portraits, which creates a nice sunlight glow in the highlight area.
Next, we are going to take a look at three photos with Fujifilm XF23mm F1.4 on a 1/4 stop K&F Concept Black Mist filter:
In the three photos above, the 1/4 stop works nicely as a subtle softness added to the photo. The Fujifilm XF23mm F1.4 is about 35mm F1.8 full frame equivalent. So if you have the 35mm full frame lenses, I would suggest you start with the 1/4 stop because it gives the right amount of softness for the photos.
50mm Full Frame Equivalent or Greater
For 50mm full frame equivalent or higher, I would suggest to use 1/8 stop to 1/4 as the max range. If you have a 85mm full frame equivalent, I would suggest to use 1/8 stop only. 1/8 stop will be enough for these lenses because the overall image without filter is already soft with bigger bokeh. If you apply the strong stop to it, it will have a very soft overall image.
I am going to show three examples of 56mm F1.2 Fujifilm (85mm F1.8 equivalent) below with 1/2 stop of the Black Mist filter.
It depends on the personal preferences, some people might not think it's too soft for the overall image. If you want to start with a stop for 85mm equivalent, I would suggest to have the 1/8 on 50mm or 85mm equivalent. Below are three images that are 50mm full frame equivalent, with 1/8 stop K&F Concept black mist:
Personally, I really like how the 1/8 stop on the Fujifilm 35mm F1.4 turns out. It has just the right amount of softness for the background and the focus area still remain very sharp for the portrait. I really enjoy shooting the 1/8 stop K&F Concept black mist on this lens.
In summary, if you shoot 35mm full frame equivalent or less, you can use the range of 1/4 to 1 stop of black mist filter. If you shoot 50mm full frame equivalent or higher, my favorite stop so far is 1/8 stop because 50mm full frame equivalent or higher already has softness in the background. Too big of a stop in the black mist filter will overwhelm the image unless you want a stronger soft image for your feed consistency. At the end, it all bases on your personal preference. These are my personal recommendation for you to start with. Happy creating :)
K&F Concept Store:
1/2 stop 67mm: https://www.kentfaith.com/KF01.1653?tracking=6189f9446701c
Amazon Links:
Black diffusion filter 1/8 stop: https://amzn.to/3iqiwAv
Black diffusion filter 1/4 stop: https://amzn.to/3BefFlW
Black diffusion filter 1/2 stop: https://amzn.to/3kWsSsD
Black diffusion filter 1 stop: https://amzn.to/2WPqFqV
K&F Store: https://amzn.to/3n6OWmN
16mm F1.4 WR: https://amzn.to/2QA1K2A
Fujifilm X-T4: https://amzn.to/3pV6kKa
Fujifilm X-S10: https://amzn.to/3Fp0kl1
Black diffusion filter: https://bit.ly/2WPm1cl
Magnetic filter: https://bit.ly/2VaplOk
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Thanks for reading :) More photos will be uploaded in my Instagram account: @caliallstaring.