I’ve been seeing Prism Lens FX filters everywhere and have been curious about what they're actually like to shoot with. There are so many interesting filters available that it’s hard to know which ones are worth the investment. So, here’s a comparison of the Lucid Dream FX Filter and the Moody FX Filter.
I believe that you should constantly push your creative boundaries and experiment with new techniques in photography. That’s why I was excited to finally use some Prism Lens FX filters! I've seen them everywhere, and they honestly look like so much fun, so I had to try them out for myself.
I’d never shot with any Prism Lens FX filters before and just wanted to see what all the hype was about. I got my hands on the Lucid Dream FX filter and the Moody FX Filter. While I've seen a lot of studio photography done with these filters, I haven’t seen much outdoor and natural light photography with them. So, I was curious to see how they’d perform in that setting.
I planned a simple portrait shoot for golden hour, nothing fancy or over the top. I just wanted to do something simple to see if these filters added much to an everyday portrait session. On the day of the shoot, it was super overcast and gloomy. Instead of rescheduling, I decided to go with it, thinking it would add an additional test element into the mix. Can these filters work well outdoors? And can they provide solid results with overcast lighting?
I started the shoot using the Lucid Dream FX filter. This filter is pretty much a stronger, more exaggerated version of their well-known Dream FX filter. It is the boldest, strongest softening filter Prism Lens FX sells, with a sparkle-like coating and texture that creates a super dreamy, softening effect.
The filter was super simple to put on. You just twist it onto your lens. I primarily shot using an 85mm lens with my aperture around f2.2. The location I photographed had lots of wispy grasses. The Lucid Dream FX filter really softened the detail of the grass and almost created a hazy feel. It felt like a dream that you can only sort of remember what happened in it. It also really softened my model, Ceili’s, skin tone and gave it more of a glow. It softened all of the highlights in the photo and gave my digital images more of a film-like quality. The results made it look like I was shooting with an old lens from the '70s. This filter was super easy to use and focused easily without any issues at all.
The lack of direct light due to the overcast weather didn’t affect this filter much. Diffused lighting seemed to work really well with it. I’d imagine that some golden light popping into the frame may have exaggerated the dreamy effects even more, but I thought this filter enhanced and elevated the mood of this cloudy day portrait shoot. I could see myself regularly using this filter for all sorts of outdoor photography, from portraits to landscapes.
The Moody FX filter is a combination of two of Prism Lens FX’s most popular filters - the Starburst FX filter and the Dream FX filter. By the time I got around to testing out the Moody FX filter, what little sunlight was still popping through pretty much disappeared. But I think this ended up working to my advantage because the Moody FX lens filter was definitely meant to be used with more direct light.
The streetlights at the location I was shooting at had just turned on, so I started shooting a little wider using a 24mm lens at f3.2 and framing to include the streetlights. The streetlights all took on the starburst lighting effect which looked super cool and surreal against the gloomy sky. Because this filter also has the Dream FX filter mixed in, the images also had that soft, dreamy haze to them.
I definitely see why Prism Lens FX decided to combine the Starburst FX filter and the Dream FX filter into one. The combination of the soft haze and the starburst effect allows you to create some incredibly surreal images. I was pretty blown away by how this filter transformed a somewhat boring everyday location of a power plant into a surreal dreamscape. I embraced that effect and posed my model, Ceili, in a way that made her seem like she was looking at something in the sky that she was confused and fearful of. It definitely had some Mars Attacks vibes.
It was getting pretty dark out while I was shooting these, and I didn’t have any additional light source other than the streetlights, so it did get a little hard to focus in the low light, but I was still able to make it work. I just had to move a little slower.
I was pretty blown away by how wild these photos turned out. I really wasn't expecting that.
So here are my takeaways:
Prism Lens FX filters are a tool to enhance your images or help create a distinct mood. So, you should use them as such and not rely on their effects completely to create strong photos. Use them to add to your images.
The Lucid Dream FX filter is 100% a great filter to use for outdoor photography of all types and in all light conditions. It keeps your photos true enough to reality that you could definitely shoot an engagement shoot, wedding, or landscape with it, but it enhances the mood and gives everything a dream-like glow.
The Moody FX filter is amazing too. This filter definitely benefits from direct light though, so I think it naturally lends itself more to studio photography, night photography, and cityscapes. I think it could possibly look pretty cool during an intense golden hour portrait session too or with more direct sunlight. It is definitely a more distinct and surreal aesthetic, so I think you’d use this filter when you are really trying to achieve effects like that. It’s a very cool tool, but not quite as versatile in my opinion.
Of these two filters, if I was only going to buy one, my pick would be the Lucid Dream FX filter primarily for its versatility. I think you can really add a lot to your work with this filter.
After using these two, I am so excited to try out more of their filters. They have so many to choose from.
I like the Prism FX filters (and those types of filters in general), but have a dislike for the company itself. As you start to follow and interact with them on social media, they seem to be more of marketers than designers. Many have commented that their filters are just rebranded ones available through AliExpress and similar sites under another brand name which sell for about 10% of the cost. The ones they show themselves actually making are the kind of.. stupid ones (plastic gemstones glued onto a filter).
But moreso, they're just completely rude and disrespectful to people in the comments.
It's nice to see them selling these in the US and trying to market them, but just about everything else leaves a bad taste.