Firecrest Bloom Gold Filter Review

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British filter manufacturer Formatt Hitech has recently introduced a new lineup of diffusion filters called Bloom Gold. These circular screw-on filters, designed in collaboration with cinematographer Philip Bloom, offer a touch of warmth and subtle halation to your images. Let’s dive into the details!

Formatt Hitech Firecrest Bloom Gold Filter 1/8

This filter introduces a softening effect that enhances highlights and light sources while also providing a skin-smoothing touch to your subject.

Black Rim with Gold Text
Limited 1-Year Manufacturer Warranty

BHPhoto

The Bloom Gold filters are similar to the Tiffen Glimmer Glass, or the K&F Shimmer Diffusion filters except their glitter is gold, giving the highlights a slightly warmer touch.

Overall, they look nice and do something unique, so I thought I would post some samples shot by a friend as I do not have this filter yet. It’s hard for me to get all these American-brand filters in Japan.

Key Features

1. Screw-On Design: The Bloom Gold filters are available in various sizes, including 49mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm, and 82mm. Unlike traditional matte box filters, these are screw-on-only, making them more accessible and affordable for filmmakers who don’t typically use matte boxes.
   There is also a version with Gold Ring.
2. Subtle Halation and Warming: Formatt Hitech Bloom Gold filters transform images by removing the digital edge often seen in modern cameras and lenses. They add a slight warming effect, enhancing your footage’s natural and organic feel.
3. Philip Bloom’s High Standards: Philip Bloom collaborated with Formatt Hitech to create these filters. His previous successful partnerships include the Kessler Crane Philip Bloom signature series Pocket Dolly V2.

Why Bloom Gold?

Cameras and lenses today produce technically perfect images, but sometimes they lack character and warmth. The Bloom Gold diffusion filters address this by softening harshness and adding a pleasing touch to skin tones or to specular highlights.

Depending on the strength chosen, they can have a flattering effect on faces and skin, making them a great accessory for the Fujifilm X100VI for photographers looking to give their images an additional analog touch.

Here, we are using the 1/8 power, which is very subtle.

These filters with the glitter effect work a little differently than the Tiffen Black Pro Mist Filters or The Moment Cinebloom Filters.

In typical shooting environments with neutral lighting, you likely won’t see much of an effect other than some slight calming of some of the harsh contrast, but then it blooms with specular highlights.

The effect isn’t too strong unless you’re hit with some bright lights like LED lighting, but that is typically for this Glimmer or Shimmer-type filter.

One thing you should note about these filters with the glitter particles, is they do tend to cause little orb reflections especially when they are uncoated.

I’m not a huge fan of the mist effect that this type of filter generates. I think they are best at subtly taking the edge off. That’s why I like the Glimmer Glass and the K&F Shimmer filter. Generally, if I want a mist or bloom effect, I like a lighter-powered Black Mist or something similar. They have a bit more of a unique character in the way they bloom.

However, having the gold glitter filter is an excellent extra option for all the filters out there, and I’ll likely add these filters to my collection when I’m back in the USA.

I’ve come to like these Glimmer Glass-type filters the most, and I think they are the best diffusion filters for everyday use. You don’t necessarily want a noticeable effect all over your image, but you still want a touch of an analog feel.

Formatt Hitech filters are great, and I’ve been using their Firecrest Ultra Patrick Di Fruscia Signature Edition filters for years now as my landscape ND filter kit. I have always loved the quality of their glass.

FireCrest Bloom Gold Filter Sample Images

Sample images in this post are all shot straight out-of-camera with the Fujifilm X100VI.

This review and the photos complement Chris Do.