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Polarizer on a M


leicanut2

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How many of you use a polarizer on your M cameras? film or digital. I had the Leica polarizer for a few years and sold it to get the Leica Goodies Steps I like that alot but really hardly use it and now am thinking of selling them. I am still downsizing my stuff any ideas on keep it or sell it?

Great for snow pictures or water shots. But when my M9 gets here ( I hope before I die Ha ) will I really need the polarizer. I could get light room and do all that stuff there right?

 

 

Jan

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No, you cannot replicate all the effects of a polariser in LR. You could do it in PhotoShop -- but that would mean painting a new picture. And it would be lots of very difficult work.

 

A polariser does not just darken a blue sky. Sometimes we do not even want that. It is used to diminish or remove reflections that degrade the image. But with a RF camera, you have to be pola-savvy.

 

Use a linear polariser. Circular is needed only by SLR cameras with half-silvered main and auxiliary mirrors, which in themselves have a polarising effect on light that passes through them, and can thus lead to exposure errors. There is no such thing in a M. Most polarisers have a mark on the rotary outer mounting ring. This is usually positioned so that an imaginary line from the mark across the filter to a diametrically opposite position on the ring, shows the direction of polarisation of the filter. Check this. Find a reflecting piece of plane glass -- a windowpane will do. Stand at its side, looking at it horizontally through the filter, so that you are at an angle of about 20--25 degrees to its plane. Now turn the ring until the reflection in the pane is extinguished, or at a minimum. The mark on the ring should be at 9 or 3 o'clock (polarisers work the same when turned 180 degrees). If there is no mark on the ring, put one there for reference.

 

Now when taking a picture, ascertain the orientation of the reflecting surface that annoys you. Set the mark at 90 degrees from the plane. If it is a water surface, or foliage reflecting an undue amount od blue light from the sky, set the mark at 12 o'clock so that the polarisation is vertical, stopping the reflected light which is mainly horisontally polarised. Play a little with the hand-held filter so that you learn the effect on reflecting surfaces at different orientations. -- If the intention is to darken a blue sky, just point the mark in the direction of the sun.

 

Note that the filter is also a circa 1.5x ND filter (and can be used at such). Completely compensating for that exposure effect will to a large extent wipe out the effect you want, so a slight under-exposure is called for. It is best to use pola filters with manual exposure, and bracket some, while you learn.

 

The old man from the days of Edwin Land

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Ok I am keeping my Leica Goodies Steps. Now am I the only one that uses the steps? Do any of you know what they are?

They not only work well but it also looks good on the camera. Really easy to use polarizer for the M camera.

 

 

 

 

Jan

Edited by leicanut2
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Not even in Photoshop, Lars. B&W used to sell a "digital Polarizer" plugin. It did not even come close.

I use the Leica "goofy" polarizer set. Not cheap - but ideal to use on the M 9.

 

I do own the GOOFY ;-) It's so clumsy to use, and to stow in a small bag, that I simply do not use it anymore. A plain B+W linear Käsemann filter with the appropriate mark added to the rim is what I actually use. Complete satisfaction, in my case.

 

The old man from the Age of Edwin Land

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looks like you would need to buy a few to fit different lenses or a step up filter ring and one larger polarizer.

Jan, that's always been the problem and the solution.

On reflex, I had two pol filters (55 & 77mm) with a lot of step up rings.

 

On rangefinders it's a bit of cumbersome and, yes, you need many filters sizes, but, by luck, only one viewer. ;)

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I learned a very simple, but accurate, method for using a polarizer on a rangefinder camera from Niels Thorsen (if I haven't mis-remembered, or misspelled his name) of Leica NJ.

 

While metering through the lens with the polarizer attached, turn the outer polarizer ring and notice the point at which the meter indicates that the least amount of light is getting through. This will be the point of maximum polarization. After you decide how much polarization you want, re-adjust f-stop or shutter speed, if necessary, for correct exposure.

 

Pretty simple. No worrying about angles of illumination, or marks on the filter. In fact, one does not even have to remove one's eye from the viewfinder.

 

Brent

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A linear and circ have the same adjustable effect on the pic. A circ is required to maintain some auto functions of some reflex cameras, but it always possible to run the camera manually with a linear.

 

darkening a blue sky is easy with photoshop. Use layers and a gradient or add blue with all but the sky masked off.

 

Controling reflections off non metalic objects like tree leaves, a golden corn field, or water is best done with a pola, ANY kind.

 

My only caution is All my Tiffins, linear and circ, impart a green cast. No leica or B+W impart a color cast except some very old Leicas made before color folm was popular.

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