K&F Concept Black Mist Filters Review

K&F Concept Black Mist filters have small particles embedded in the glass to diffuse light and create a glowing misty effect. In bright lighting conditions, they will create a soft glow similar to the Orton effect, but in neutral lighting, they can diffuse the colors and smooth the contrast.

Today, many photographers are turning to these soft filters to remove the digital edge from their lenses for a more cinematic analog look. But traditionally, they have used them for a more relaxing, diffused look or situations where a calmer contrast is desired.

K&F Concept Black Soft Filter Specs

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K&F Concept Black Soft Filter 1/4 – Amazon

K&F Concept Black Soft Filter 1/8 – Amazon

Sometimes, the side of the filter will say “Black Diffusion,” and sometimes, it says “Black Mist.” I believe K&F Concept just mixes up the wording to deal with search engine optimization.

On the side of my filters, it says Black Mist and Nano-X, which I purchased in Japan.

Black Mist Filters | What You Need To Know

Most brands release these filters in several sets of powers with different particle types.

There are really three particle types I’m seeing in filters.

Black Particles: These are generally referred to as Black Mist filters, Tiffen calls them the Black Pro Mist filters. The Black Particle filters typically keep the blooming effect isolated to mostly just around the light source.

Glitter or Glimmer Particles: Tiffen has these glittery particles in the Glimmerglass filters, K&F has a Shimmer filter, and there is also a Philip Bloom filter that uses a gold-type particle. These effects add some softness without a lot of bloom effect.

Soft Mist Particles: This looks almost like a fine mist. Moment Cinebloom uses this style of particle, as do the Tiffen Soft Mist filters. I would say these are better for that dreamy portrait look you see in films where the whole image is misty and diffused.

The K&F Black Mist filters have a 1/8 variant or a more intense 1/4 variant. Some brands refer to their 1/8 filters as a No.05 or 10% and the 1/4 as a No.1 at 20%. The K&F filters at 1/8 are probably closer to the Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/4 filter, so be careful; they are a little strong.

Black Mist Filter vs Orton Effect | Is It Worth The Money?

You can create a look similar to what these diffusion filters provide in post-production. However, it will never quite be the same as the optical effect in front of the lens.

One method of doing this is with an Orton effect. When doing the Orton effect in Photoshop, results can be customized with much more flexibility; however, the effect will still be slightly different and add extra steps to your workflow.

I got into these filters for shooting street photography where I want to take that digital edge off of my ‘too perfect’ Nikon Z lenses. These filters are fun for that and I’m getting some pretty fun results, especially when shooting at night. They tend to smooth out the harsh lighting a little, or a lot, or too much, depending on the situation.

K&F Black Mist Filter | Comparing The Different Powers

In this review, most of these images are shot with the Nikon Z 50mm f1.8 on the Z6.

A lot of the Nikon Z lenses have a nice calming diffusion or blend with the color and contrast at f1.8, then at around f2.4 or so, they click into this super sharp, high-contrast look. So using the filter at these higher apertures kind of help keep this soothing contrast, basically adding a little character with a deeper depth of field.

The filters behave a little differently on wider lenses as the light hits them at different angles, and you’ll need to be careful of the effect of vignetting on those ultra-wide lenses, but this shows how they generally compare in the real world when doing street photography.

I haven’t noticed any significant color cast on the K&F filters, but they reduce the light since they have a transmittance of only 85% to 87%, depending on which power you pick.

Here are some samples of the 1/4 on the Fujifilm 23mm f1.4.

The 1/4 power is pretty extreme. I feel like this is nice if you want to use them for a very specific thing, such as getting that misty gas station shot at night or that log cabin in the woods foggy look. It works great when the lights are further away. Super intense lights, especially when they are close to the lens, will completely blow out the 1/4 power filters.

In some situations, I also have a harder time with autofocus through the 1/4 filters.

For general everyday use, I like the 1/8 filter. I think it’s just right. However, I feel like these are often too powerful, and I wish they made a 1/16 power filter as well. This is where the Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/8 filter would be useful.

I like the look of the K&F 1/8 a lot, especially if you aren’t under super intense lighting.

If you want to try the K&F Concept Black Mist filters, start with the 1/8, it’s probably all you’ll need. It gets the job done, whereas the 1/4 just adds more.

If you plan on shooting many situations without a bright light or bright key light and want that muted look, the 1/4 can be pretty cool as well.

On another note, these filters don’t interfere with the sharpness much. Images are still sharp, just a bit misty.

K&F Black Mist 1/8 Filter Review & Sample Photos

You can get a pretty extreme glow when dealing with bright lights shining directly into the lens.

You will get some minor blooming of the highlights with an overall soft feel in normal daylight conditions.

Indoors, you won’t notice the effect, but it still calms the colors and contrasts, taking some of that digital edge off. It’s nice if you have ‘clinical’ lenses and want a calmer look to the colors and contrast.

Here, with bright lighting conditions, you can see that you probably wouldn’t want more than the 1/8 filter.

Even without bright lights shining into the lens, you still get an almost more analog feel with a ton of vibe.

K&F F Black Mist 1/8 Samples In The Day

You can see the images are still very sharp.

K&F Black Mist 1/4 Filter Review & Sample Photos

The 1/4 filter has a much stronger look. It’s nice for when you’re not working a lot with direct bright lights where you just want a softer moody atmosphere.

I find the 1/8 filter to be more than enough when shooting under bright city lights because the 1/4 filter can get a little bit out of control, which at times can interfere with autofocus. Especially face and eye detection when in bright sunlight where the image is blooming out.

The 1/4 filter is great when you are shooting under calmer lighting conditions and want to add in an analog muted look with the post-processing. They really can add a cool effect like with this first shot.

Here are a few day shots.

Bottom Line | Are Black Mist Filters Worth It?

Yes, I think they are, but that depends on what lenses you plan on using them with.

I like using these with my ultra-modern lenses, like the Nikon Z 50mm, which has a very modern way of rendering bokeh. It creates a very flat field curvature with a 2D cutout effect that some people call 3D separation and often say that lenses that do this are ‘clinical’. But the misty look adds a cool vibe to this kind of rendering and compliments it well, I think.

There are also some older lenses, even lenses from China or Russia, or even some Voigtlander lenses, that already have some natural qualities that create an interesting vibe. Some will bloom the highlights or produce some wild flaring, and you may not need any additional soft filters. Like my Helios, 40m has some pretty intense blooming effects already, likely due to the greases in the lens evaporating over time and accumulating on the inner elements.

Final Thoughts

These Soft filters generally help remove some of the digital edge from images shot with super modern lenses, giving them a more vibey, analog feel.

They are also nice if you want to create more of that wet, misty look with bright lights or a more diffused vibe in calmer, low-key lighting.

I would say soft filters are not something you won’t want to use all the time, but it’s probably worth spending the time to get familiar with the look so that you can add it to your toolkit of tricks.

Again, if you have the time and patience, the Orton effect will get you closer to the look these filters produce with more flexibility.

Which Black Mist filters are the best?

I like them a lot at lower powers since they keep the blooming effect more contact than your standard soft mist filters. But I also really like the glimmer glass filters by Tiffen or the Shimmer filter by K&F for a less in-your-face soft feel.

When dealing with all the different brands of filters, there is really no clear winner; it will likely all be situational depending on how big the particles are used in the glass.