A complaint often expressed by Sony EX1/EX3 owners is the infrared or far red contamination frequently seen on dark fabrics. Sony’s EXMOR sensors are designed to see a huge amount of color, or what Sony calls “broad spectrum colors.” This is a great thing, because these Sony cameras can capture more color than ever in a digital image. The negative effect of this, however, is that they’re also able to see some red colors that our eyes cannot see. This shows up particularly in dark fabrics, where the red contamination turns greens into muddy brown and some blacks will turn magenta…not a good thing. Up until now there was not much you could do about it, but thankfully Tiffen came up with a solution. They have created the T1 IR filter, which is designed to reduce this contamination but still maintain the wide range of colors. I’ve done some tests to compare an EX1 camera with and without the filter, and the difference is quite obvious. In short if you are an EX1 or EX3 owner, the T1 IR Filter is a must have. Keep reading to see comparisons and how the new EX1R and PMW-350 perform.

Note: Click on any of the images below to see a larger version.
EX1 without T1 Filter	EX1 with T1 Filter
Notice how magenta the tripod bag is in the middle, and how the T1 filter eliminates that problem. Next, I looked at Sony’s newest EX cameras, the EX1R and 350. Sony has known about this complaint for awhile, and it looks like they have adjusted for it as well. To learn more about this, read Art Adam’s article at ProVideoCoalition and the Tiffen T1 white paper.
EX1R without T1 Filter	PMW-350 without T1 Filter