Review: Marumi Super DHG Circular Polarizer
eoren1
Registered Users Posts: 2,391 Major grins
After much debate, I settled on the Marumi CPL in the 77mm thread for my Canon 10-22 and 17-55 lenses. As there are few, if any, reviews out there, I thought I would post some quick shots from today and ask for your thoughts. The filter comes in the standard plastic case. It is a thin mount and does not show any vignetting on my 10-22. The 10-22 does have that very concave lens and at first I was wondering if it was hitting the filter at the 10mm mark - still not quite sure :scratch. The filter is tough to get off once screwed in place given the thin mount and I am very glad that I bought the filter wrench for a few bucks more. Based on Lightroom's color readings and the use of AutoWB, I don't think there is any color cast.
Shot from the deck with the 17-55 - 90 degrees from sun; shot with autoWB (listed Lightroom's color reading as [temp/tint])
Naked lens 1/200 f/8 - LR [6000/36]
CPL (min) - 1/160 f/8 [LR 5800/36]
CPL (max) 1/80 f/8 [LR 6200/18]
The filter against white paper for what it's worth
Not sure if this type of shot is helpful either...
The filter on paper
Lens now aimed at sun - max CPL effect
Camera aimed straight up into sky on the 10-22 at 10mm. No vignetting as far as I can see and nice even polarizing effect.
Had a great sunset tonight so headed to the Marblehead Neck. This is shot with the 10-22 at about 10mm with max CPL effect 90 degrees from the sun. Shot at f/8 for 3.2 secs.
This one shows the limitations of using the CPL on a wide lens as the sky has varying CPL effects visible. Not a limit of this filter per se - just the use of CPL's on the ultra wide angle zooms.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the filter. It seems to transmit a good amount of light and does not seem to have a color cast to it. Cost was equivalent to the Hoya Pro 1 digital series. The 2filter guys told me it is closer in characteristics to the Hoya HD series which costs much more. There was one 'scientific' review of CPLs on lenstip.com [link] that suggested this filter was on par with the best of B+W. I wouldn't go that far but, as someone without any expertise on CPLs (or another to compare with), I'll say it holds its own.
Hope this helps and would love to hear thoughts from those with other brands of CPLs to compare or suggest other tests/shots to take.
E
Shot from the deck with the 17-55 - 90 degrees from sun; shot with autoWB (listed Lightroom's color reading as [temp/tint])
Naked lens 1/200 f/8 - LR [6000/36]
CPL (min) - 1/160 f/8 [LR 5800/36]
CPL (max) 1/80 f/8 [LR 6200/18]
The filter against white paper for what it's worth
Not sure if this type of shot is helpful either...
The filter on paper
Lens now aimed at sun - max CPL effect
Camera aimed straight up into sky on the 10-22 at 10mm. No vignetting as far as I can see and nice even polarizing effect.
Had a great sunset tonight so headed to the Marblehead Neck. This is shot with the 10-22 at about 10mm with max CPL effect 90 degrees from the sun. Shot at f/8 for 3.2 secs.
This one shows the limitations of using the CPL on a wide lens as the sky has varying CPL effects visible. Not a limit of this filter per se - just the use of CPL's on the ultra wide angle zooms.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the filter. It seems to transmit a good amount of light and does not seem to have a color cast to it. Cost was equivalent to the Hoya Pro 1 digital series. The 2filter guys told me it is closer in characteristics to the Hoya HD series which costs much more. There was one 'scientific' review of CPLs on lenstip.com [link] that suggested this filter was on par with the best of B+W. I wouldn't go that far but, as someone without any expertise on CPLs (or another to compare with), I'll say it holds its own.
Hope this helps and would love to hear thoughts from those with other brands of CPLs to compare or suggest other tests/shots to take.
E
Eyal
My site | Non-MHD Landscapes |Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | Smugmug photos
My site | Non-MHD Landscapes |Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | Smugmug photos
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Comments
I have several filters: Marumi, Nikon, Hoya HMC. I don't notice a cast in any of them. I have previously owned some other brands that did have a cast, and had a Toshiba filter delaminate.
Stan
Thanks for this writeup. It is especially useful to see how the filter works on the 10mm end and I agree that I don't see vignetting from the filter. Very encouraging.
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