Step up ring with polariser

[Merlin]

Been away from here for ages but just got the photography bug back

Need a new polarising filter and the lenses it'll be used on need 77mm and 82mm filters. Are there any problems using a 77-82mm step-up ring on a wide angle lens? Tokina 11-16 if it makes any difference.

Not cheap at this size so hope to use one for both lenses.

Thanks

 

[TheBigYin]

If you're talking of using a 82mm polarising filter on both 77 and 82mm dia. lenses, then I'd make sure that you get as low-profile as possible step-up ring (they do differ...even in fleabay purchases) and make sure that the Polariser is again as low-profile as possible. All this is to try and avoid vignetting at the wide end of the UWA lens.

FWIW, I use a 77mm Marumi DHG polariser on a 17-40L (77mm) Sigma 10-20 (77mm) and EF-S 15-85mm (72mm with a step-up ring) without any problems. I think that if the EF-S 15-85 went much wider than 15 it'd maybe vignette a bit though.

The other thing to watch with using a Polariser on a UWA lens is that it can cause "banding" in the sky, due to the wide angle of capture from the lens - the darkening effect being strongest at 90 degrees to the sun. This means that the subject that you are shooting will display maximum polarization at right angles to the sun's position. At 180 degrees, in other words with the sun right behind you, polarization is almost non-existent. As a 11mm lens on a crop sensor has a field of view of over 90 degrees, you can see how the effect will vary from one side of the shot to the other.

 

[Merlin]

Thanks for that. It was vignetting I was concerned about and hadn't considered other problems.

Have to try it out in store first. Thanks again

 

[TheBigYin]

Thanks for that. It was vignetting I was concerned about and hadn't considered other problems.

Have to try it out in store first. Thanks again

It's not so much a problem as something to be aware of. I find that provided I don't dial in the full polarising effect, it works without being noticeable, and it'll still do the reducing reflections trick. You can see it at it's worst in this shot... Taken a couple of days after I bought my Sigma 10-20. From the shadow, you can see that it's pretty much at 90deg to the sun, shot at 10mm (from the exif), and with the polariser dialed in at full to take the sky nice and blue (or so I thought!)


Tree by The Big Yin, on Flickr

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I don't like polarizers with UWAs for the reason shown above, at least when its sunny.

It can be done via step up ring, but I can be a bit fiddly adjusting CPL and then taking it all off. They like to 'stick' together.