The best diffusion filters and low-contrast filters provide a fantastic way to achieve a stylish, cinematic look in-camera for both video and stills. However, they do much more than that!
Beyond achieving that movie-like look, the best diffusion filters are also flattering to skin, making them ideal complements to modern lenses (which are so sharp as to be unkind to pore structure). And, as the name suggests, low-contrast filters also raise black levels by diffusing light into the shadow areas to lift dark areas of your image.
This can be just as helpful whether you want to create a more atmospheric shot in a portrait, or you want to shoot a sunset shot where the low sun is rendering everything in shadow as a harsh silhouette.
Still, the most common use for these filters is to capture that dreamy, hazy, "golden-age Hollywood look" with blooming highlights, lifted contrast, and even more charismatic bokeh.
So, why would you do this in-camera, as opposed to overlaying an effect or LUT at the editing stage? The main reason is that software-driven effects simply can't recreate the same effect as these filters, which are etched to defocus illumination and spread it across the image – all while retaining crucial sharpness and contrast.
In this way, filters give otherwise crisp, clinical, modern lenses similar visual characteristics to vintage lenses, and even 35mm film. TV productions like The Crown and Peaky Blinders use Tiffen diffusion filters for this very reason, to achieve that distinct period look.
The editor of Digital Camera World, James has over 20 years’ experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). Always on the hunt for fresh creative takes in his professional and personal shooting, he has built up extensive experience in the practical application of lens filters.
The Quick List
This is the professional’s choice for bringing a soft, natural feel to stills or video without sacrificing the detail of digital photography. Read more below…
If you haven’t used diffusion filters before and want to experiment, this is an affordable way to get started, with very pleasing results. Read more below…
These filters work fine with conventional lenses, but Moment’s clever cases and adapters mean you can add them to smartphones too. Read more below…
With Tiffen’s customary impeccable quality, this filter series adds subtle golden hues as well as softness, for an otherworldly feel. Read more below…
For the most natural result possible, this filter adds softness without affecting contrast or generating flare effects. Read more below…
Add this filter to a Lee filter holder, and you’ve got a combination you can use across your lens collection to create a distinctive look. Read more below…
Best diffusion and low-contrast filters
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Best diffusion filter overall
Tiffen is the leading brand in this field, with a mighty reputation thanks to its popularity with cinematographers as well as portrait photographers. The Pro-Mist line softens the light without sacrificing detail, giving you the benefits of digital photography with an old-school film feel.
The Black Pro-Mist series yields a stronger effect in brighter areas of the frame compared with the standard Pro-Mist series. We tested a Black Pro-Mist with a 1/4 strength, and were really pleased with the pastel-like light it rendered in our shots. The 1/4 filter has a nice balance between making a noticeable change to images and overpowering them, but this is a subjective area, which is why Tiffen offers such an extensive range.
Read more: Tiffen Black Pro-Mist review
Best budget diffusion filter
A prolific name in the camera accessory sphere, K&F Concept offers its diffusion filters in subtle 1/4 and 1/8 strengths – but they’re very good. The Nano-X Black Mist has similar properties to Tiffen's Black Pro-Mist range, at a lower cost. This increases black halation and reduces highlights while maintaining resolution, to soften skin imperfections and create a dream-like haze to your imagery. It also boasts K&F's anti-scratch, anti-mold, anti-oil and waterproof coatings to ensure peak performance even if you're using the filter out in the elements.
Best diffusion filter for smartphones
Moment made a name for itself with neutral density, UV and polarizing filters, and now it has entered the arena of diffusion filters with the stunning CineBloom line. Where Pro-Mist covers every possible base, offering eight different strengths, CineBloom comes in 5%, 10% and 20%. Moment's filters create high-quality results, with a more straightforward line-up than the complexity of Tiffen.
While we should stress that CineBloom filters work perfectly well on ‘normal’ camera lenses, with a decent choice of thread diameters, what makes this range stand out is their compatibility with iPhone and Android smartphones. You can get a Moment Case and Moment Phone Filter Mount to use 37mm CineBloom and other filters with your phone, or a Moment Case plus a Filter Adapter to use a 67mm Cinebloom filter with selected iPhones. If you use Moment lenses, there’s another adapter that takes 67mm filters.
Best diffusion filter for warmth
Where Tiffen’s Pro-Mist filters focuses primarily on white halation increase, Tiffen Gold delivers warm halation and reduces resolution, to produce atmospheric bloom and glow. This creates an almost soft focus-like effect, spreading the light to create an ethereal glow rather than hard sharpness, with added gold hues to warm your image and balance skin tones. Clarity and detail is retained, but skin is flattered and illumination is spread around highlights.
Best diffusion filter for smoothness
The Tiffen Digital filter is engineered specifically to produce softness and diffusion while with almost zero flare or contrast reduction. As such it's perfect for more subtle shooting, where you want to soften skin or smooth background details while retaining clear focus, making it look like no filter has actually been used. If you want to achieve a soft, diffused effect with other characteristics so controlled that the filtration feels almost invisible, look no further.
Read more: Tiffen Digital Diffusion FX review
Best low-contrast filter
If you own Lee Filters' 100mm System or the recent Lee100 (which we rate as the best filter holder currently on the market), this Low Contrast filter can be used with any lens (as opposed to having to buy individual screw-ins to fit each filter thread). These white-opacity resin filters diffuse light into the shadow areas of your image to reduce contrast, while also creating subtle flaring and halation around hot spots and highlights.
How to choose the best diffusion filter
What does a diffusion filter do?
It's very difficult to visualize what diffusion filters do. At their lowest strength, they can add subtle softness to textures, cause highlights to halo or gently raise shadows. At their strongest, they can radically reduce resolution, create brilliant bloom or lift contrast so much that shots resemble ungraded log-like footage.
How we test filters
When we test filters, we look at both optical performance and general build quality – how robust the filter feels, how easy it is to use and how securely it attaches to the lens. We use a combination of real-world and lens testing to inform our comments in reviews and buying guides. For filters, we test light transmission levels, color neutrality (i.e. if the filter introduces a cool or warm cast) and the impact a filter has on image quality.
Find out more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World
