Circular GND leaves banding, should I get square....

[NancyMoranG]

I bought the screw on Sing-Ray 2-8 stop @ 6-7 yrs ago. Was learning on my own and read about this filter and it should do what I need..
I was told it could cause banding with my wide angle. (11-16 tokina)
It does..

Should I get a square filter that I will attach in front of lens to avoid this problem? Or will my wide angle always have banding?
I have the Nikon 35 mm 1.8 that I would also like to use it on for slowing g water, clouds etc.
Thank you as always.
Nancy

 

[Original katomi]

As understand it wide angle lens will band because they cover a wide range

 

[weepete]

Yes, it's to do with the wide field of view of the lens and polarisation I think. My understanding is that polarisation has it's greatest effect when the light is at 90° from the lens, utrawides cover so much that the light hitting the polariser can change angle so the polariser can loose its effect in some areas

 

[480sparky]

.........the light is at 90° from the lens, .......

It's 90° in relationship to the sun.

 

[weepete]

It's 90° in relationship to the sun.

I thought you could polarise any light, not just sunlight?

 

[NancyMoranG]

So if I watch the direction of sun coming in, and stick to the 16mm, I may have better luck with cutting out the banding and keep my circular?

 

[480sparky]

It's 90° in relationship to the sun.

I thought you could polarise any light, not just sunlight?

OK, light source, not sun. But how many lights sources do you have that affect the polarization of the sky?

 

[weepete]

So if I watch the direction of sun coming in, and stick to the 16mm, I may have better luck with cutting out the banding and keep my circular?

It can be better but it's a wee bit of luck of the draw. 16mm is still pretty wide. Most of the time nowadays I avoid polarising the sky with utrawides at all, and only use them to cut reflections. If you feel you need to cut reflections and show the sky I'd take two shots and combine them in post but most of the time I just live with it.

 

[RAZKY]

I bought the screw on Sing-Ray 2-8 stop @ 6-7 yrs ago. Was learning on my own and read about this filter and it should do what I need..
I was told it could cause banding with my wide angle. (11-16 tokina)
It does..

Should I get a square filter that I will attach in front of lens to avoid this problem? Or will my wide angle always have banding?
I have the Nikon 35 mm 1.8 that I would also like to use it on for slowing g water, clouds etc.
Thank you as always.
Nancy

Are you sure you don't have a Variable Neutral Density filter? Avoid stopping down all the way to prevent or reduce banding. It's possible to get vignetting with an ultra wide angle lens, for which you will need a thin or oversize filter.

 

[zulu42]

Variable ND filters work by polarization which is causing the banding. You don't necessarily need a square filter, just a good non variable ND filter.

 

[smoke665]

As above comment a variable circular ND uses two, polarising layers of glass that are placed in opposition to each other. The inner layer which attaches to the camera remains fixed and blocks light coming in one plane. As the outer polariser is rotated, it reduces an increasing amount of the available light, the nearer the front layer comes to being perpendicular to the inner layer. A variable circular ND filter doesn’t have any impact on polarisation (unlike a circular polarising filter).

Are you confusing banding with vignetting? From the Singh-ray web site, "Be alert to the possibility of vignetting with wide-angle lenses. Some photographers who regularly shoot at very wide angles find it helpful to use a larger filter and a step-up ring." Anytime you stack a circular filter in front of a lens you run the risk of vignetting caused by shadow from the ring, depending on aperture. Personally I prefer square ND filters and a holder. They aren't quite as convient as the circular, but the ability to swap between lenses by changing the mounting ring and the ability to stack/adjust multiple filters, outweighs the inconvience.