Tiffen 72SFX2 72mm Soft FX Portrait Filter

The Tiffen 72mm Soft/FX 2 Filter is a purpose-built diffusion filter designed to flatter human subjects by softening the appearance of wrinkles, pores, and skin blemishes directly in-camera. It achieves this through an array of tiny lenslets embedded in the optical glass, which scatter a controlled portion of the light passing through the filter. The result is a gentle, even softening that smooths fine skin details while preserving sharpness in high-contrast areas like the eyes, lips, and hair — the details that give a portrait its life and dimension.

Rated at Grade 2 in Tiffen's Soft/FX series, this filter provides a moderate diffusion effect that sits between barely perceptible and heavily stylized. It is particularly suited to headshots, beauty work, and wedding photography where a flattering rendering of skin is important but an obviously filtered look is not. The filter is constructed with a high-quality metal mounting ring in a standard 72mm thread size, making it compatible with a wide range of lenses. Tiffen backs it with a 10-year warranty. Because the effect is optical and applied at the time of capture, it offers a look that can be difficult to replicate precisely with software-based smoothing in post-production.