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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Essentials

The Prism FX Rose Filter is Everything Your Lenses Need

Chris Gampat
No Comments
09/07/2022
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Prism FX Rose filter product images 21-160s200

The Prism FX Rose Filter is a unique lens filter that the younger me would’ve scoffed at. How little did I know the Japanese camera industry would absolutely gut the charm in lenses. Back then, around 2009, lenses were gearing up to be even more clinically clean. And today, over a decade later, that mission is still in full effect. Manufacturers show us MTF charts we care nothing for, and you’re encouraged to edit your photos for hours on end. For a few years now, I’ve been saying that all these lenses look the same. And this filter is giving them the sparkle and dazzle they’ve so desperately needed.

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I personally think photography hit peak lens with the Zeiss Milvus lineup of glass. The images were clean, sharp, and yet there was character. The lenses had micro-contrast and lens flare was easy to obtain. Plus, there were fantastic colors. But Zeiss has more or less left the photo-industry in favor of the cinema world where folks spend money on their products. After seeing Zeiss create the Otus lineup, the Japanese manufacturers obsessed over getting clinically better lenses. And they succeeded, therefore wiping the soul and character out of lenses.

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Seriously, how many of us really complained about things like onion bokeh? Have you seen Watchmen on HBO? There’s tons of onion bokeh and the scenes look wonderful.

All this aside, the Prism FX Rose Filter is looking to do two things. First off, it gives the images some haze. This softens the way people look and mutes details. It adheres to the aesthetic that Frank Ockenfels III told Pop Photo years ago about digital being too sharp. On top of that, it adds more gorgeous lens flare. If that isn’t enough, it also tints the images a shade of purplish pink. They call it rose! And be warned that your camera might try to compensate for it, so I’d recommend locking your white balance to Daylight 5200K.

Mind you, Mr. Ockenfel’s quote is pretty much why I bought this filter. And if you’ve followed this blog for some time, you know that a while ago, we went on a mission to review every single Sigma prime lens on the market. To date, we’ve got the most complete guide of any standing publication. But we’ve also stated that their lenses are super clinical with barely any character. And that’s why I bought the Prism FX Rose Filter: to specifically keep it mounted to my Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 Art DG DN lens. Let me tell you, it’s made a world of difference.

First off, the build quality of the filter is better than most of the others from Prism FX because it doesn’t require you to twist anything around to change the effect. The less moving parts, the better! Now here’s a quick comparison of how the filter renders in auto white balance and daylight white balance.

Auto
Daylight

See the difference? It’s pretty large, and locking the white balance means way less work in post-production. But the color is only a small part of how this filter works.

Take a look at the photo above. Have you ever seen a Sigma lens deliver lens flare like this? Or have you ever seen this much contrast taken out of it? Probably not! Nor have you probably seen such a pleasantly warm glow to your subjects using this filter.

Here’s what that looks like with a bit less lens flare, the details are still soft and muted. And here’s what it looks like when combined with a Spektrem Effects Light Speed Filter.

Again, it’s really nice at cutting out all the excess details and adding in character. But what’s most entertaining is using this filter with a daylight white balance in Tungsten lighting like what you see above. There’s more though!

No, these problems can’t be solved just by taking off the lens hood. The solution instead lies in understanding we need to break the mentality that the darkroom and Adobe have put us in for years. We don’t need to slave away and toil for hours and hours to get good photos. We can do it in-camera. It’s not lazy, it’s efficient. 

Want one? Check out the Prism FX Rose Filter on their website.

clinical contrast daylight white balance leica lens flare prism fx prism fx rose filter rose filter sigma sigma 24-70mm f2.8
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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