NiSi, a company well-known for developing and manufacturing a vast range of optical products for filmmakers and photographers, has announced the new entry in their growing range of NiSi Cinema products: the Circular Black Mist Filter.
NiSi says this filter is ideal for street photographers, thanks to their soft, paste-like effects on the image. Like the Tiffen Black Mist filters, this new one is designed to lower overall contrast while softening and enhancing highlights. The result is most prominent when a strong light source backlights a subject.

The company explains that the flaring of bright light sources creates an ethereal glow and softness which can be used to soften wrinkles or blemishes on the subject’s skin. This characteristic of the Circular Black Mist Filter makes it a good addition to portrait or wedding photographers, cinematographers, street photographers, and even cityscape photographers.

During the manufacturing process, NiSi says it has added a layer of “black specs” to the filter which are designed to diffuse and reduce the impact of highlights, while lightly brightening shadows which it claims delivers an overall balanced tonal range. Finally, NiSi has also applied its Nano Coating to the filter glass to make it easy to clean while adding an additional layer of scratch resistance to help protect it.

It comes as a circular filter with standard screw threads available in 49mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm, and 82mm thread sizes. Effect densities are available in 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 for a choice of varying levels of diffusion and contrast reduction.

Here some sample pictures with and without the filters:

Of course, price vary across the filter size: from $65 to $109.
More info on NiSi Optics Usa’s website.