Circular Polarizers

Raphy

I'm new to this, so any help would be appreciated. I want to get a Circular Polarizer for my Nikon D40... not sure what to look for/what to avoid/etc. THe brands that are most widely available in my area are Optex and Hoya and go for $49.99..... Are these brands OK??? - i do have a Hoya UV filter, and ..well... it doesn't do anything other than protect the lens (which is why i bought it in the 1st place)....

THanks!


:dunno

dangin

i think the first thing is that you need to understand that there's a difference between a linear polarizing filter and a circular or rotating polarizing filter. this link may be of some use to you:
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/photos/filters_uv_pol/#polq2

CPL filters do more than just protect the front element of the lens when used properly. also be aware that if the front element of your lens moves when focusing as opposed to focusing interally, you will have to adjust the CPL filter every time you focus.

as far as brands go, hoya makes good and really good filters depending on the particular model. b+w makes great filters, but are a little more costly.

Manfr3d

Good brands includ Hoya (Pro), Tiffen, B&W, Heliopan.
The rule is that you get what you pay for. If you have
a 500$ lens you dont want to save pennies and buy the
cheapest hoya filter available because they will impact
on the quality of the lens (flare, sharpness, color etc).

Van Isle

I don't know if it's just me, but I shoot outdoors often (hiking, motorcycling, etc) and I really use my CPF a lot. On much recommendation I spent some good money on a good b+w filter, and with the saddle time this thing gets, man, I'd hate to have a cheap, un-sharp, irregular, funny piece of glass in front of my $XXX lens and $XXX camera. Not that I'm a good photog, but I'd notice the difference and it would matter to me.

VI

Antonio Correia

About reflections and CPF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection
and look of the effect of using a CPF here, please.

Raphy

THanks for the replies... I am aware what a CPL is and how it works... what I'm asking is what to look for/avoid when buying one....maybe from YOUR experiences you found some to work better than others, better quality, etc... and if the brands I mentioned are good...

THanks for all the links tho, I will check them out.

claudermilk

I would limit the brands to look at to Heliopan ($$$$), B+W ($$$), and Hoya ($$). Stick to the best multi-coated version available. For Hoya and B+W you can go online & use hvstar.net--their prices are the best I've found. Like Manfr3d said, don't cheap out on the filter you put in front of your pricey lens.

I use a B+W MRC Kaesemann and it works wonderfully. The only step up is Heliopan & that's mainly for nicer markings on the ring.

mercphoto

Raphy wrote:

what I'm asking is what to look for/avoid when buying one....

Avoid anything from Tiffen. I like B+W myself but Hoya is good. Look for a multi-coat filter.

rpcrowe

Avoid Canon as well...
It is a shame but Canon filters are not very good. When I was a Navy Motion Picture Cameraman/Director in the 1960's and 1970's, Tiffen filters were the standard of the industry. Unfortunately, they have not retained their excellence.

The no-name filters on eBay and elsewhere are usually terrible. Just because some distributer adds the term "Professional" to their filters does not make them good.

The top-line Hoya multi-coated filters (There are several grades of Hoya filters), B&W, and Heliopan are great but, expect to pay a premium price for these.

Filters of these brands are available from Hong Kong but, I cannot determine of they are genuine of counterfeit. I have attempted to contact both Schneider (the parent company in Germany) and Tokina in Japan, the manufacturer of Hoya filters in order to ascertain if they supply their filters to Hong Kong distributors. I received a reply, not from Germany but from Schneider USA to the effect that they did not know if the Hong Kong filters were genuine or not. I kind of expected a very non-commital answer from Schneider USA and that is why I emailed Schneider in Germany. Apparently, the parent company passed the email query on to their USA division.

Manfr3d

rpcrowe wrote:

It is a shame but canon filters are not very good.

The top-line Hoya filters (multi-coated), B&W and Heliopan are great but, expect to pay a premium price for these.

Filters of these brands are available from Hong Kong but, I cannot determine of they are genuine of counterfiet.

Optical Filters should be bought from the Germans, namely from
B&W (they use shott glas the glas Zeiss lenses are made of).
Of course I'm being subjective all the way.

Glenn NK

Manfr3d wrote:

Optical Filters should be bought from the Germans, namely from
B&W (they use shott glas the glas Zeiss lenses are made of).
Of course I'm being subjective all the way.

What do you know about Rodenstock? My dealer stocks these and B+W's at about the same cost.

Antonio Correia

Glenn NK wrote:

What do you know about Rodenstock? My dealer stocks these and B+W's at about the same cost.

It happens that I own a Rodenstock CPF bought in my usual shop in Lisbon.

I am sure it is a genuine filter because the shop is reliable.
Now, a silly question: How do I know it is a good filter ?

It was really expensive. But, as I only buy one of these filters once in ... 5 years time ( may be more ) I thought it rather be very good one.

For L lenses I should have a good filter.

The filter was among the most expensive in the shop.

Manfr3d

Antonio Correia wrote:

Now, a silly question: How do I know it is a good filter ?

By asking people what and why they use this or that filter.

A good filter will be more resistant to scratches, has a
high quality mount (brass is better than aluminium for
example) and has glass with coating that minimizes
reflections and other sideeffects. Polfilters for example
can be shielded against moisture. Moisture can destroy
a polfilter over time. Rodenstock is known for its high
quality large and medium format lenses. But I haven't
heard anything about their filters yet.

claudermilk

rpcrowe wrote:

Filters of these brands are available from Hong Kong but, I cannot determine of they are genuine of counterfeit. I have attempted to contact both Schneider (the parent company in Germany) and Tokina in Japan, the manufacturer of Hoya filters in order to ascertain if they supply their filters to Hong Kong distributors. I received a reply, not from Germany but from Schneider USA to the effect that they did not know if the Hong Kong filters were genuine or not. I kind of expected a very non-commital answer from Schneider USA and that is why I emailed Schneider in Germany. Apparently, the parent company passed the email query on to their USA division.

The preferred vendor (hvstar) is generally considered to be selling genuine filters. This question has been raised a few times before & several FM members who have purchased B+W filters both from these guys and from B&H have said there is no discernable difference. As far as I can tell mine are genuine--and perform as well as I'd expect them to.

That said, I would not personally go to any of the others, particularly the ebay-only vendors.

Raphy

I got an order for a Hoya Pro1D from hvstar... i hope it's the real deal thanks everyone !