What is a Lens Filter? Five Choices For A Cinematic Look

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Published: June 26, 2019 | Last Updated: May 21, 2025

Neutral Density Filters (ND Filters)

ND filters reduce the amount of light entering the lens without affecting color too much. They’re good for maintaining a shallow depth of field or desired shutter speed in bright conditions.

Read out comprehensive guide to ND filters

ND Filter Variations

Graduated ND filters: These filters have a gradient, transitioning from dark to clear. They’re ideal for balancing exposure in high-contrast scenes, such as landscapes with bright skies and darker foregrounds. Placing the darker portion over the sky allows you to maintain detail in the highlights and shadows within a single frame.

Variable ND filters: Allow for quick adjustments by rotating the filter, which is useful for changing light conditions.

Infrared ND filters: Specifically designed for high-quality digital cameras with sensors sensitive to infrared light, these filters prevent unwanted color shifts and maintain true-to-life images.

Ultraviolet (UV) Filters

While modern digital sensors are less sensitive to UV light, these filters serve primarily as protective elements for your valuable lenses, guarding against scratches, dust, and other potential damage.

Polarizing Filters

Polarizers enhance color saturation and reduce reflections and glare. They’re particularly useful for:

• Shooting exteriors and enhancing skies
• Capturing scenes involving water or glass surfaces
• Seeing below water surfaces by cutting through reflections invaluable for underwater or surface-level aquatic shots

Color Filters

These filters alter the color temperature of your image, allowing for creative effects or correction of ambient light. They can enhance specific colors or create atmospheric moods that support the story.

Diffusion Filters

Diffusion filters soften the image, creating a dreamy or glamorous effect.

They’re often used to flatter subjects by reducing the appearance of skin imperfections or to give digital footage a more film-like quality.

Mounting Options and Sizes

Cinematographers typically use one of three methods to attach filters:

1. Matte Boxes: These professional-grade attachments offer the most versatility, allowing for quick filter changes and additional light control. The industry standard size for matte box filters is 4 x 5.65 inches, though other sizes exist for different camera systems.
2. Screw-on Filters: Directly attached to the lens thread, these are compact but less convenient for frequent changes. They come in various diameters to match different lens front elements.
3. Filter Holders: A middle-ground option allowing relatively quick changes without the bulk of a matte box.

Step-up rings are useful accessories that allow you to mount filters with larger diameters onto lenses with smaller front elements. This can be more economical, as the same large filters can be used on multiple lenses.

When to Use Filters

The decision to use a filter should be based on the specific requirements of your shot and the limitations of your camera system.

Ask yourself: “How can I control the light entering my camera in ways that my camera settings and lighting setup cannot achieve alone?”

Some common scenarios include:

• Using ND filters to maintain a shallow depth of field in bright daylight
• Using polarizers to reduce reflections when shooting through windows or water surfaces
• Applying color filters to enhance or alter the mood of a scene
• Utilizing diffusion filters to soften the ultra-sharp look of modern digital sensors

Benefits of On-Set Filtration

While many effects can be achieved in post-production, using filters during the shoot offers several advantages:

1. Immediate visual feedback, allowing for real-time adjustments
2. Reduced post-production workload
3. Commitment to a specific look, encouraging intentional cinematography
4. Preservation of image quality by capturing the desired effect in-camera

In other words, don’t fix what should have been done from the beginning in post-production!

Quality Considerations

Investing in high-quality filters is important. Lower-quality options may introduce unwanted side effects such as color casts, softness, or vignetting. This is especially true for variable NDs.

Multi-coated filters often provide the best results, minimizing reflections and maintaining image clarity.

Creating a Cinematic Look

Filters allow you to modify your footage on the spot by controlling exposure, enhancing colors, and adding subtle atmospheric effects.

Remember that what is considered “cinematic” depends on the context. For example, while a shallow depth-of-field is often considered cinematic in product commercials, you’d rarely want this look for a scene in an indie feature. In narrative storytelling, you prefer to understand the character’s surroundings.

Here are some ways they can be used creatively:

Balancing High Contrast Scenes

Imagine shooting a scene where your subject is standing in the shadow of a building, but the background includes a bright, sunlit sky.

A graduated ND filter can help balance this exposure. Place the darker part of the filter over the sky area, gradually transitioning to clear over your subject. This allows you to expose properly for your subject without overexposing the sky.

Underwater Clarity

When filming a scene that involves looking into water, such as a character searching for something in a lake, a polarizing filter helps improve visibility. By reducing reflections on the water’s surface, the polarizer lets the camera capture what’s beneath, adding depth and clarity to your shot.

Day-for-Night Shooting

A combination of ND and bluish color filters can help create the illusion of nighttime during daylight hours. ND filters reduce exposure, while cool-toned color filters can shift the color temperature to mimic moonlight.

Summing Up

Filters are a great way to gain more control over the images you shoot directly on set. Instead of leaving it all up to the color grading, you can commit to specific choices and create more cinematic-looking shots directly from your camera.

Making a creative commitment to a specific look and feel can feel scary, especially if you are nervous it will play. But it’s incredibly beneficial, both to your creative growth and to your story, to commit to a style choice before you ever take it to the editing room.

Plus, controlling your exposure with ND filters prevents you from needing to change your camera’s aperture, base ISO, or shutter speed, allowing you to keep your settings as optimal as possible.

All in all, having your filter kit on any production set will give you more creative liberties and control, and having the option makes all the difference.