Polarizing Filter

[C&B Young]

Lol. I hear ya! I have my eye on a 300mm f/2.8 sigma for$ 1700. I wish it would stop haunting my dreams. But then i will lust after the canon 300mm f/2.8 IS lens. Make it worst i already have the canon 300mm f/4 IS! Oh it gets bad some times.

An f/4 is a gateway lens... it's only a matter of time before you NEED the faster 2.8!

 

[Docarino]

Lol. I hear ya! I have my eye on a 300mm f/2.8 sigma for$ 1700. I wish it would stop haunting my dreams. But then i will lust after the canon 300mm f/2.8 IS lens. Make it worst i already have the canon 300mm f/4 IS! Oh it gets bad some times.

Stop! You're putting ideas in my head! I am self imposing a 4 month ban on new equipment!

 

[disneyboy2003]

I thought that with a digital camera you didn't see any benefit from a polarizer.

Am I mistaken?

How does a polarizer affect the sensor and impact my photo?

I know how it works with film. I recall reading somewhere that a polarizer wasn't necessary with a digital camera.

I used to love using filters and my circular polarizer with my film cameras. This could be interesting again if I was wrong......

I think you might be confusing circular polarizer with UV filter. Nowadays, you don't *need* a UV filter on digital cameras because digital sensors are much less UV-sensitive than film. The only reason to use a UV filter on your dSLR would be to protect the front of your lens. There's a huge (and often heated) debate about whether or not to use a UV filter.

When you get a polarizing filter, make sure you buy a *circular* polarizer for your digital camera. Don't buy a linear polarizer. Linear polarizers interfere with your digital camera's autofocus.

A polarizing filter will make skies richer blue in color. They also help to reduce reflections off glass or water (ex. taking photos of fish in a pond, where you want to reduce the glare/reflection from the surface of the water). These are effects that are difficult to simulate in post-processing.

Here's an example of the effect of a polarizing filter removing reflection from water:

Hope that helps!

 

[Marlton Mom]

You can indeed use a circular polarizing filter with a digital camera. If the sun is at a right angle to you, you can get some very nice structure to the clouds and deeper blue in the sky itself.

This video mentions the adjustments you need to make to your camera's settings to best take advantage of the polarizing filter (-ev, set white balance to sunlight, etc)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vvz_d6APXk

Regards,

Adam

I just dug out my filters kit and I was very pleased to discover I had an adapter ring which will allow me to fit all of my 'old' filters on to my VR type lenses.

Hubba Hubba!!

It's like going through your closet and finding forgotten and FREE treasures!

Thanks for the help. That video was great! I'm sure I'll burn some time watching the rest from that helpful site.

With Fall just around the corner I'm going to have some fun with those filters.


Marlton Mom

 

[Groucho]

I used to use my CP filters a lot more than I do now. This is not necessarily an aesthetic choice, more of a convenience thing - at Disney, so much shooting, even daytime, is somewhat dark (inside stores, attractions, etc) and the CP does cut down the light coming into the camera. I probably should use it more than I do - but again, during the day, I am also often pushing a stroller, chasing the kid(s), etc, and messing with CPs is about the first thing to be overlooked.

I don't really agree with the use an of ND filter for fireworks. I mean, I don't think it will really hurt anything, but I think you can usually do just as well (or better, since you're not putting an extra piece of glass in front of the lens) by just adjusting your aperture. As Disney, the lighting changes so dramatically for the castle that I really don't think that makes a lot of sense. If you make it too dark, the fireworks themselves will lose a lot of their brilliance - and you can generally get that just by stopping down a little further. You could make an argument for diffraction being an issue, but I have not found it to be a problem in fireworks shooting (and I specifically tested this on the 4th of July this year and viewed the photos at 100%.)

 

[rmdavis]

what brand cp do most of ya'll use? Is any one brand better? Thanks

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I use almost exclusively B+W filters including my cp and nd filters. But they are prince. Hoya and tiffen have good stuff. Nikon makes a good cp too. But i have a 77mm B+W cp.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I agree with Groucho on the convenience aspect. If I were at WDW on a photography trip, I'd probably use a polarizer a lot. As it is, I'm too busy enjoying myself and rapidly going into and out of situations where a polarizer is appropriate for me to bother putting one on much.

I don't totally agree with the lack of use of an ND filter for fireworks. It depends on what aperture you are getting. I wouldn't bother with one if I could get apertures of f/11 or less. If I needed f/16 or higher and I had an ND filter with me, I'd use it. That said, I wouldn't buy an ND filter just for that purpose unless I really wanted poster sized prints of my fireworks shots. So for me it would depend on the capabilities of the camera and how long I wanted my shots open. If my camera couldn't use an ISO less than 200, I'd probably bring along a two stop ND filter if I already owned one. I might just a polarizer as an ND filter and call it good enough.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I use almost exclusively B+W filters including my cp and nd filters. But they are prince. Hoya and tiffen have good stuff. Nikon makes a good cp too. But i have a 77mm B+W cp.

I don't think Nikon actually makes a CP. I've been told that Canon licenses Tiffen filters. I wouldn't be surprised if Nikon did the same.

Personally, I like the high end Hoya stuff. I think it performs as well as the B+W filters for less money. I wouldn't be anything but their high end, though. I've never met a Tiffen filter that I really liked. I also like Singh-Ray, but they are terribly expensive.

One thing that sucks about the Hoya filters is the crummy little case they come in. The plastic on them always breaks apart after a while of hard use. I love the little pouches that the SR filters come in.

When getting a filter, buy the largest size for any of your lenses. For smaller lenses, use a step up ring. These rings allow you to put bigger filters on smaller lenses. They also sell step down rings that allow you to put smaller filters on bigger lenses, but these often vignette badly. You might be able to get away with that if you are using a FF lens on an APS body.

With a polarizer, you also have to decide if you want a slim filter or not. The slim filters have fewer vignetting problems (often an issue with polarizers on wide lenses), but they don't have threads on the front. That means no stacking any filters on them and no lens caps.

Why the heck would you stack a filter on a polarizer? Some people put a linear polarizer on top of a circular polarizer and adjust the two relative to each other as a variable power neutral density filter. There are actually some commercially build versions of this setup. It's great when shooting video. With video, you have very little shutter speed flexibility so if you want a particular aperture for DOF reasons, you can use the variable ND filter to help keep you in your sweet spot. It also works sort of like smoothly adjustable iris control.

 

[ssanders79]

I started to use a CP this past year and it has made a difference. More so at WDW as you are typically shooting in the bright florida sun that reflects off most surfaces. I found a used on at B&H that did not break the bank.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

So does everyone remove your uv filter before attaching your cp? I tend not too but i am curious if i should

 

[Docarino]

So I just got back from WDW and was very happy with my last minute decision to buy a polarizer. I really, really liked it. The skies in my pictures are great! I bought a Hoya multicoated thin filter 77mm, which fits my 24-70 and 10-22. I haven't bothered with the step down rings yet. It definitely was one more thing to hassle with but I didn't mind so much (disclaimer- I have no kids and thus, less responsibilities). Once in a while, I noticed after the fact that I forgot to take it off when I went inside, usually when I wasn't intending to take pictures and ended up not being able to help myself (like this morning, in the Tiki Room- realized after the fact that I had the polarizer on-no wonder I was having trouble!).

Anyway, thanks all who helped push me in the direction to buy it- it worked out well! Eventually, I'll have pictures and a trip report posted!

 

[lovetheprincesses]

Best polarizing filter for Canon 28-135 on a 50D suggestions? Canon or vivitar or another brand?

 

[lovetheprincesses]

Which specific hoya or b&w model would you choose? Best price for best polarizer? Would be used outdoors, at beach, etc.

 

[My2Girls66]

I use this one. Looks like you would need a 72mm?
http://www.amazon.com/Tiffen-67CP-6...r_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285551339&sr=8-1

 

[cpbjgc]

I use the Hoya Pro1 Digital filters. I have 2 of them for the lenses I use the most: 72mm and 77mm.