I’ve just returned from a few days in Tuscany visiting the beautiful towns of San Gimignano and Florence. I took my Fujifilm X-T5 with me. It was the first time I have taken this camera away with me and I really appreciated the more compact form factor than my Sony A7III that I have previously travelled with. I’d purchased a Hoya Mist Diffuser Black No 0.5 to fit on the 33mm f1.4 Fujifilm lens and was keen to see what, if anything, it would bring to my pictures.

Spoiler alert…..I really like it!!

This first image was taken in the early evening and it’s pretty much a straight out of camera jpeg with a very minor adjustment to the black point. A testament to the Fuji’s wonderful in camera recipes. Taken into the sun, I love the way the Mist Diffuser makes the sunlight bloom and glow. I tried to edit the RAW file but ended up just trying to get back to this look and somehow loosing the atmosphere that I love in this image.

Again in this next image the atmosphere of the glowing highlights from the Hoya filter and the warm tones of the Fuji jpeg captured the moment as I felt it in the moment. I just added some contrast for a little extra pop.

The next shot is early morning in San Gimignano.

I know this next shot is a bit blown out in the highlights but it just has a quality I really like.

These last two shots were processed using Mastin Labs Artisan B&W presets which added to the combo of the Fuji and Hoya Diffuser filter create a wonderful atmosphere.

I think if you’re after some character and find yourself looking for that something then this Diffuser filter is something worth having in your bag. It’s pretty subtle in lots of shots so I might go mad and try the No 1 version to see what that’s like. I’m obviously enjoying the whole analogue like experience I’m having with these sort of shots and the Hoya filter only seems to build on the “Fuji” thing and create an inspiring and enjoyable shooting experience which just makes me want to go out and take photographs.

Find out more about the Hoya Mist Diffuser Black no 0.5 here

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog. If you like this sort of thing and want to see more let me know in the comments.

Take care. Simon