The best polerizer

bantor · Mar 3, 2006

I am finally gonna go out and buy myself a polarizing filter, my question is what is the best?

I plan on getting a circular, but i was wondering if i should get a normal one, or a warming circular polarizer? Also is multi coating that much better?

Thanks for the help

Edit: Sorry for the typo in the title

Dweller · Mar 3, 2006

I have not heard of a warming circular polarizer in my limited expereince but my first thought was "no". If you want warming get a warming filter and add it on with the polarizer.

You may experience some vignetting with a wide lens when you have to many filters stacked though.

As for whats best, I am wondering that myself since I am in the market.

clarinetJWD · Mar 3, 2006

I just bought a Hoya S-HMC Polarizer off of eBay for $65 including shipping. FOr that price, you get a 7 layer coated lens and Hoya quality...seems like a win win situation.

Unimaxium · Mar 3, 2006

I've heard B+W are supposed to be the top brand for filters. I have a B+W Keasemann MRC circular polarizer, and it indeed is a very nice piece of glass. It wasn't cheap though; at 72mm it cost something like $150. (luckily though I bought it using $125 in amazon.com gift certificates

)

As to whether you should get a circular or a linear polarizer depends on the camera you have. Some cameras' AF or AE systems are thrown off by linears, so you would need to use a circular. If you have a manual-focus camera then a linear should work just fine. The visual effect caused by both is exactly the same. The only difference is the price and the ability to function with certain AF / AE systems.

And the question about getting a warming polarizer is pretty much up to your personal taste. Do you often want warmer images? Personally when buying something as expensive as a 72mm circ. polarizer, I wouldn't want it to always act as a warming filter, so I opted for a ND polarizer.

joyride · Mar 3, 2006

Speaking of the filters throwing off the AF or AE...I noticed last night as I was going through my D50 manual that it says "the D50 cannot be used with linear polarizing filters. Use the C-PL circular polarizing filter instead." Is there anyway to tewll if this will throw off the AE or the AF? I dont use the AF much, so Im not worried if it gets thrown off. However, the AE i cant afford to lose. Unless it is a consitant error. I think I would be able to compensate for it after testing several exposures. Has anyone epreienced this? Is it very minute, or will it be very far off?

bantor · Mar 3, 2006

Wow, thanks guys, so what i am understanding here is that coating makes a difference then hey?

joyride said:
Speaking of the filters throwing off the AF or AE...I noticed last night as I was going through my D50 manual that it says "the D50 cannot be used with linear polarizing filters. Use the C-PL circular polarizing filter instead." Is there anyway to tewll if this will throw off the AE or the AF? I dont use the AF much, so Im not worried if it gets thrown off. However, the AE i cant afford to lose. Unless it is a consitant error. I think I would be able to compensate for it after testing several exposures. Has anyone epreienced this? Is it very minute, or will it be very far off?

For some reason i doubt it would throw off the AE, logically the camera should just see a darker image and compensate, but i am no perfesional in regards to filters.

Unimaxium · Mar 4, 2006

joyride said:
Speaking of the filters throwing off the AF or AE...I noticed last night as I was going through my D50 manual that it says "the D50 cannot be used with linear polarizing filters. Use the C-PL circular polarizing filter instead." Is there anyway to tewll if this will throw off the AE or the AF? I dont use the AF much, so Im not worried if it gets thrown off. However, the AE i cant afford to lose. Unless it is a consitant error. I think I would be able to compensate for it after testing several exposures. Has anyone epreienced this? Is it very minute, or will it be very far off?

Well, if the manual says that, then I would assume it definitely throws off at least one of the two. See below for more detail.

bantor said:
For some reason i doubt it would throw off the AE, logically the camera should just see a darker image and compensate, but i am no perfesional in regards to filters.

This is not necessarily true. The way it works is this. Some cameras use what are called beam-splitters to measure focus and exposure. I'm not sure exactly how beam-splitting works, but essentially it means that the camera itself also polarizes the light coming to its AF/AE sensor. If the lens filter is polarizing light in a direction perpendicular to the direction that the sensor is*, then the two cancel each other out, and the sensor essentially sees no light coming through, resulting in an inaccurate reading that would generate an overexposed image. On the other hand, if the polarizer were oriented parallel to the sensor's beam splitter, then the proper amount of light would pass through, resulting in a relatively accurate exposure. If the filter is anywhere between parallel and perpendicular, the amount of light getting through will theoretically vary between 0% and 100%. This means that you can't easily predict how much to compensate for if your camera's metering system is thrown off by a linear polarizer.

To the best of my understanding, what circular polarizers do to correct this is they essentially un-polarize (scatter) the light once it has travelled through the polarizing part of the filter, meaning that the beam-splitting sensor will always receive the same amount of light regardless of what angle of polarization the filter makes.

*If you're not familiar with exactly what polarization is, then google will provide you with some good pages for understanding it:
http://www.google.com/search?q=polarization

bantor · Mar 4, 2006

Well i'll be, fancy that. Thank Unimaxium.

Has anybody ever herd of Tiffen Filters? are they any good?

crawdaddio · Mar 4, 2006

^Tiffen are good. I use one. Bantor-I also use a D50 and had that concern. I just got a circular polarizer and didn't worry about it. If the manual says it won't work optimally why even bother?

bantor · Mar 4, 2006

Very true, I am most going to buy a circular polarizer, it is not just a matter of brand. i found a tiffen Circular Polarizer for 32.99$, if it coated, and seems to be good i will buy it. I also found a Hoya for 50$, I really wonder what will be best.

joyride · Mar 4, 2006

If you are using the 52mm filters, A shop here sells the hoyas for $32. They do online sales too. http://www.normancamera.com/shop/searchresults.asp?ProdManList=ALL&ProdTypeList=Filters%2F52mm
I find they have a lot of good deals on some products

JonathanM · Mar 4, 2006

Re circular & linear, a question? Whats the difference (except price)? I've an old Cokin from my 35mm days and have tried it on my E500 and it seems to work OK, despite the fact it is linear. Is this just fluke, or will it interfere with the AF only under certain circumstances?

The pictures I've used it on have been done at home just as "tests"

Unimaxium · Mar 4, 2006

JonathanM said:
Re circular & linear, a question? Whats the difference (except price)? I've an old Cokin from my 35mm days and have tried it on my E500 and it seems to work OK, despite the fact it is linear. Is this just fluke, or will it interfere with the AF only under certain circumstances?

The pictures I've used it on have been done at home just as "tests"

As I said, the only difference between circular and linear is the ability to not throw off certain Autofocus and Auto-exposure systems. Linear polarizers only cause problems with some cameras, and may or may not have an effect on the E500. If it works, then it works. If you are having no problems with it on your E500, then it seems linears work just fine with it.

As to whether it works under certain circumstances: the amont the AE system is thrown off in the case that your camera indeed is affected by linears depends on the angle to which the polarizer is rotated. Read my post above. As for AF systems, I would imagine it works in a similar way, meaning that if the polarization is parallel to the AF's beam splitter, then it would work, but if it's perpendicular then it wouldn't work.

airgunr · Mar 5, 2006

If you are planning on getting more filters in the future you may want to consider going with the Cokin "P" system and their circular polarizer. That way you only need one polarizer filter for all your lenses regardless of size. I find that Cokin system gives the most flexibility. Their filters are decent. Better quality ones are available from Hoya and really excellent quality from Singh Ray (very expensive as well....)

Another option is to get a Circular Polarizer that fits your largest lens and get step-up rings to fit it to any other lenses you may have.

bantor · Mar 6, 2006

one more questin in regards to polarizing filters.

What is the difference between coated and non-coated. Meaning, does it make that much difference, and is it really important?