Aging film and TV stars may want to include Schneider Optics on their holiday gift lists this year. The company has introduced its first line of HD soft filters (“Classic Soft”) which it said was created in response to requests for better softening filters for small-format HD camcorders.

This new series of professional filtration tools is based on the company’s Classic Soft filters for cinema and high-end broadcast cameras, and is compatible for ¼-, ?-, ½- and ?-inch HD formats. The softening filters use the same In-Focus Diffusion as Schneider’s standard Classic Soft series, featuring precisely positioned “micro-lenslets” which provide a controlled soft image that is overlaid onto a sharp, in-focus image (thus creating In-Focus Diffusion).

The effect “blends” small wrinkles and blemishes while maintaining an overall sharp focus that conceals the fact that a softening filter has been used. The new soft filters come in 4×4, 4×5.65, 5×5, 5.65×5.65 and 6.6×6.6-inch sizes.

Schneider Optics has offices in Hauppauge, N.Y., and Van Nuys, Calif.