Net behind the lens

[Ken Willinger]

I often use a product called the I-ring ( http://www.filmtools.com/iring.html ) with my B4 mount lenses when doing headshots. You can use any kind of see through fabric to create filtered looks from really soft glamour girl shots to just softening the hard edge of video. Does anyone know if there is a similar easy way of mounting nets/hose behind PL mounted glass? I actually prefer getting a soft look this way than using a glass filter out front in the matte box.

[Adrian T.]

First of all, there's no "hard edge" with the RED ONE. There is no edge enhancement. This is not video!

If you still need softening either do it in post or put the net in front of the lens.

[Ken Willinger]

there's no "hard edge" with the RED ONE. There is no edge enhancement. This is not video!

If you still need softening either do it in post or put the net in front of the lens.
I never wrote there was a hard edge with RED, I wrote with video! (I own a betaSP video camera that I use this technique with).
Also I wrote I prefer to not use a softening element in the matte box (in front of the lens). So you didn't give me any info I didn't already have. Anybody have any real info regarding this subject? TIA

[David Mullen ASC]

Typically people attach nets to the back of PL-mount lenses with snot tape. I don't think the I-rings work for the back of most PL-mount lenses.

[Ken Willinger]

I don't think the I-rings work for the back of most PL-mount lenses.

Thanks David, I didn't think so but thought maybe there was some other similar type product. Snot tape can be messy and stretching the net/hose can sometimes be tricky (and time consuming). I guess the design of the PL doesn't allow an area where an I-ring type product could easily be attached.

[number6]

Typically people attach nets to the back of PL-mount lenses with snot tape. I don't think the I-rings work for the back of most PL-mount lenses.

Does anyone have a link to a glossary of technical terms, like snot tape? I really want to look it up and see if it is the same as the visual I'm getting in my mind... that is, a long, stringy, sticky booger.

Seriously, there are many terms used here that I'm unfamiliar with, and if I asked for clarification for every one of them, I fear a loss of self-esteem after all the abuse I would obviously take for interrupting the flow of information in a rapid fire thread debate.

[dalemccready]

sometimes I've worked with DPs who get the assists to use nail polish to attach a net to the rear of the lenses so that they spend the time in prep getting them sussed instead of fiddling on set.

Bill Wages ASC got filter frames made up for the mattebox that had nets glued into them so that he could swap them out when necessary. Smart guy that Bill. Makes a lot of his own gear if he can't find anything that already does the trick. I've never managed to find nets as good as the ones Bill used though, and he'd gotten them on a prior visit to New Zealand, but they were from some arcane supply store in Japan.

[Ken Willinger]

Does anyone have a link to a glossary of technical terms, like snot tape? I really want to look it up and see if it is the same as the visual I'm getting in my mind... that is, a long, stringy, sticky booger.

It's a double sided tape:
http://www.filmtools.com/doubcoattap.html

[David Mullen ASC]

You peel off one side, apply the tape, and then peel off the other side, leaving only the sticky residue on the surface.