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Someone posted a link recently for a review on all the top Polarisers but i can't find it for the life of me....
A ha, that's the one, thank you,Kris
Just get a Hoya HD - there's nothing better![]()
Just get a Hoya HD - there's nothing better![]()
,,,,,,,, I just say go for a top of the line Hoya and save some money.
Well I have the No.1 on that list B+W Slim KSM C-POL MRC 72 mm and was very worried at first that I had a fake as the effect is far far more subtle than on the cheap Hoya I had before.
I would never recommend but one to someone else, I just say go for a top of the line Hoya and save some money.
no offense - but cannot see how you "save money"...?..:shrug:
forgetting the HD at £162
and using the lenstip report, and Clifton, and 72mm, for sake of discussion
joint 1st = Marumi Super at £92
4th = Marumi DHG = £51
7th = Hoya Pro-1 Digital MC [their best] = £114
Nothing against Hoya - they came out at the top in the UV testing
FWIW - at 52mm I have the Hoya Pro-1 Digital MC C-PL and the Hoya HD Protector - both excellent
but for my new Sigma 17-70 I will switch to Marumi - each to his own...![]()
£162 for a Hoya HD CPL?I bought mine for £78 off Amazon - swapped a Pro-1 for it.
HD is the top of the range Hoya, and I think it is the best you can get because it not only has all the high optical quality of the best German filters - including hardened glass and easy-clean multi-coating, it only reduces the light by 1.2 stops as opposed to 1.7-2.0 stops. And it's cheaper.
As a result, it stays almost permanently fitted to my super-wide.
Linear polarisers are not suitable for DSLRs.
Linear polarisers are not suitable for DSLRs.
Oh yes they are....

damn - just sold my 2 Hoya PL for £5 each ---should have asked more...
pity they're both posted - never thought to try them out
though that's impossible - it's p***ing down snow ATM......:razz:
If your camera utilizes a beam splitter in the optical path to adjust focus or to meter or if your camera has a polarized display then you need a circular polarizer for the functions of the meter/focus/finder to work properly under all condition.
If your camera does not have any of the above then a linear will work properly.
Or, in simpler terms, a circular polarizer will work properly under all lighting condition and on any camera.
A linear will work properly only if the camera does not have a beam splitter and/or a polarized viewfinder display.
There are all different grades of polarizing foils that can be used by filter manufacturers to make a polarizing filter. The better grades are more neutral and have less effect on color then cheaper ones. They also are optically better to have less effect on image sharpness then cheaper ones. The glass used to sandwich the polarizing foil is also available in different grads as is the adhesive used to cement the foil between the glass plates. There is a also a manufacturing technique for polarizers
called Kaesemann which stretches the foil to hold it flatter between the glasses and the glasses are rim sealed. This also makes the foil immune to moisture and fungus damage so it is a superior performer, especially in tropical areas.
The glasses used on a polarizer may be uncoated, coated (both sides or multi coated. Some multi coating like the Heliopan SH-PMC have a top coat on each side that repels dust and moisture. The better the coating the less flare and the better contrast and color saturation the filter will deliver.
Lastly there is the matter of the mount. Some filters are mounted in plastic or aluminum mounts. These are fairly easy to cross thread and may be difficult to screw-in or remove from lens mounts made of the same materials. Best filters are in brass mounts.
It's weird how firmly this belief is established. But from the very beginning the LPs were not unusable - they just had certain conditions where the AF and metering could be affected on certain cameras. I actually never thought of that until some time ago a few threads on Dpreview talked about that and people shared their experiences with LPs.
If you think about it, the CPL construction is a bit more convoluted - it has another layer in the filter sandwich (glass, foil, quarter wave plate, glass) so more layers in the overall optical path hence more chances for flare (not the large one but the one that spoils overall contrast). Of course that may not be something everybody cares about (I do personally).
Also there must be a reason why the Singhray (the ultimate in filter quality in my view and looking by their prices) do not even do CPLs only LPs.
This quote from another old forum conversation does explain some differences in quality, prices and polariser types quite well imo (bear in mind it is quite old):
The theory is as quoted in your full post above, in practise I found that if I pushed the AF to the point where it would only just focus by selecting a very difficult target, if I turned the linear polariser 90 degrees it would no longer AF. With the circular polariser, it would AF in all positions. It has to be said that I chose a very difficult low-contrast target in low light that TBH I didn't think the camera would AF anyway, but it did, and the difference was there.
I don't think this is in anyway surprising, given the theory, and I'm a little surprised folks really question it. It's there, fact.
...but I don't see why manufacturers would bother to make circular polarisers if the plain linear ones were better (or even as good).
Also, it's kind of a moot point anyway as trying to buy a decent linear polariser is actually quite difficult - they are never a regular stock line.
I'm less convinced of the downsides of using circular polarisers, the arguments about increased flare and reduction in contrast, plus a reduced polarising effect. I've tried hard and failed to detect either.
On the flare and contrast issue, whatever the effect is, I cannot see it, and if it does exist, it is certainly insignificant compared to the general impact on image quality that fitting any filter has - which can be dramatic, depending on circumstances.
The other thing I've tried hard to detect is the increased polarising effect of the linear type. On both bright blue skies and reflections, I've been unable to see any difference. Perhaps it's there, but I can't tell. Again, compared to all the other upsides and downsides of using a filter, whatever the effect is, it's not significant in my view.
I've tried a lot of polarisers over the years and in terms of polarising effect and colour, I've never noticed much difference between them. The big difference has always been flare from uncoated filters, and less flare from coated and multi-coated filters. Apart from that, the reason I like the Hoya HD is because it has all the advantages of every other polariser that I'm aware of, plus it is about 2/3rds of a stop brighter - for no penalty. You can just leave it on, get a brigher viewfinder image and a higher shutter speed. Those are real, significant benefits.
It is the best I have tried - can't afford it though. It is also very bright as that Hoya HD.IMHO Singhray sell snake oil - and expensive snake oil at that![]()
When I got mine, I did similar tests on my D200 and it did fine. I have not tried the low-contrast targets but my D200 has troubles focusing in low light and low-contrast cases anyway (may need to somehow clean those AF sensors after years of abuse).
I may said it in a wrong way but it's not the theory that is questioned - that is correct of course. It is that now established belief that LP won't work on SLRs full stop. I would say it needs to be tested. Different cameras has differently built mirror chambers and not all of them affected by polarised light. Plus those LP proponents argue their cause in most of the cases that it largely depends on the usage - for landscapes the AF is (arguably) not needed very often and metering should be carefully done before turning LP to the maximum effect.
I do - they can charge a lot more under the pretence of more difficult manufacturingSeriously though, the difference in prices can be staggering and all of that is what - adding quarter wave plate to the optical sandwich...
The cheaper and popular ones (Marumi, Kenko) do not - but big names like Singhray, B+W even Hoya all produce them.
This I cannot fully answer yet (I am still learning to get the best of my RAWs), but there is a photographer on Dpreview - Iliah Borg, that often comments on that. My understanding is that the effects though subtle still are there but using standard RAW converters like ACR, LR or Bibble won't show much of a difference. Using the floating point converters that extract the maximum details from RAWs (like RPP or RawMagick) will make it more obvious. But for the details, I'd refer you to check with Iliah (incidentally he is the author of the RawMagick and co-author of the RPP as well as raw processing library).
Though Iliah commented on this as well on Dpreview, I did see the significantly better effect on my B+W LP as opposed to the Kenko UW Pro 1 D. Can now turn the sky nearly black (have not managed it before with Kenko) - not that it is something I do usually
I am not pretending to understand why this is so yet but will try to dig some information up.
My CPL (Kenko one) does have a funny blue cast - not too much yet noticable comparing to the B+W LP. Before I thought and attributed that to the polarising effect.
It is the best I have tried - can't afford it though. It is also very bright as that Hoya HD.
Someone posted a link recently for a review on all the top Polarisers but i can't find it for the life of me....



I'm not convinced by any of your points Alexey![]()
Got to rush out now, but if you want black skies with a circular polariser, here's one.
I was not trying to convince you Richard - I still am trying to make sense of this all myself and only say what I saw or read. A few references to Iliah (sometimes cryptic) replies:
This thread
This reply as well
Yet a long time ago in 2004 he said this and this.
Well I said I could never achieve this on my Kenko - so may be it has to do with cheaper quality make.
Great image btw...
But it has to be said that this Eliah guy that you have quoted a) says quite clearly that linear polarisers affect both AF and metering systems in the last link, and b) when asked specifically to explain his apparently contradictory comments, particularly in support of Singh-Ray filters, his replies are rather less cryptic and more simply evasive.
But it has to be said that this Eliah guy that you have quoted a) says quite clearly that linear polarisers affect both AF and metering systems in the last link
puddleduck said:He is wrong - I have a Linear Pol and it works identically to a C-Pol right down to AF and metering
b) when asked specifically to explain his apparently contradictory comments, particularly in support of Singh-Ray filters, his replies are rather less cryptic and more simply evasive.
What this boils down to for me, is that there are real problems using a linear polarising filter on a DSLR. Metering is the major concern, and while I didn't get much of an exposure shift in the tests I did earlier today (under-exposing by 1/3rd stop) they were done indoors with zero polarised light around. I strongly suspect that if I repeated the test under a bright blue sky, things would be much worse. I'll give it a try if the sun ever shines again this week but whatever the outcome the effect is there and is significant.
On the AF test, yes I could get the linear polariser to make the camera under perform, but I really did have to try very hard to do it. On the basis of that test, I would say it's a non-issue.
It would be interesting to see how other cameras behave under the same conditions, but I only have a 5D2 to hand. TBH, all DSLRs are so similar with their metering and AF systems that I'd be surprised if there was much to choose between them.
On the other issues:
Increased flare due to the addition of a quarter-wave plate in a circular polariser, and reduced sharpness: I have looked hard, with the best lenses and filters on the just about the sharpest camera you can get, and been unable to detect anything. If there is a detrimental effect, and you need to go to the lengths you have suggested above to find it, I'm just not going to worry. Certainly compared to the image degradation that you can potentially get by sticking any piece of glass in front of the lens, it's insignificant.
Reduced polarising effect with a CPL - I've done a few tests on this in the past, and have noted zero difference.
Sorry, I know I go on a bit, but I've leaned something doing those tests today and thought I'd share it![]()
<snip>
I enjoy it - it is always interesting to have conversations with you especially since you do "go on a bit" on various subjects which makes it more interesting (at least for me it does).
I've been looking for the best price for a Marumi 72mm DHG
[cannot afford a Super DHG]
Clifton Cameras seem to have the best at £51
should you find better prices in your searches - pls let me know
Camera King offer good prices through eBay but I'm of the mind..
"if it's too good to be true...etc"
John
Just got the Marumi DHG 72mm CPL from Camera King through Amazon for about £43 inc postage. first class service and it works a treat.
Cheers....Dougie
thanks for the info........![]()
Hold that last one John.....! I'm getting confused now! I got the CPL from Microglobe (I got the Hoya UV pro from Camera King)
Sorry! :bonk:....Dougie
Wow, i did get out the can opener out lol.
I ended up ordering a 77mm Hoya HD for the reason Richard makes about the 1.2 stops etc. I was really going to go for the Kaseman but at £130ish from Robert Whites against £84 delivered from HK via fleabay it was a no brainer. I've got an MRC 67mm C-POL plus the cheap green Hoya and to be honest there's not much noticeable difference other than flare as the Hoya isn't coated.
Not in too much of a rush should get it within 10-20 days. Amazon worked out just over £100 so saved around another £20![]()