do you use a polarizer ? if so which ?

[proenca]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

After seeing what my M8 can do with landscapes ( never tried landscapes with my MP go figure ) , and since now I have two camera bodies and a 28mm lens is on the way, I want to buy a decent ( read good but not a Leica polarizer price ) filter or filter system.

 

Saw Kood, Cookin, Lee and a few others, apart from the traditional bolt on linear polarizers.

 

I bought one in Singapore , unknown brand, which is absolutly crap. It softens the image greatly and gently ( very gently ) polarizes it. What is sharp becomes blerghhhh soft.

 

So I would like to know what you guys use ( from people who actually use polarizers or ND ) on your leica ( film or digital ) .

 

Share your opinions and samples if you have them,

 

thanks

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Artichoke]

BW and Heliopan make excellent polarizers and I favor Heliopan as they emboss a scale along the edge and use excellent fittings/glass

I also use a circular polarizer, though theoretically the M8 may do as well with a linear (which are less expensive) ...I may one day want to use the polarizer with an AF camera system

the Leica polarizer system seems too expensive, though it does have the advantage of letting you have some idea of the degree of effect rendered by the polarizer ...I suppose if you use this system for multiple lenses, the cost may not seem so severe

[hdrmd]

I use the Leica version, and it works well. It is expensive, but I bought it several years ago to use with the Hasselblad X-Pan, and the M6. I think I would buy it again because of its quality, and the way you can see the effect before shooting. DR

[mwalker649]

I got rid of my filters and just replicate them in post processing. I use lightroom or CS3.

[gesper]

I have a B+W 72 mm Kaeseman Circular Polarizer that I had bought for my D200. Not ideal, but it is so large that I can just hold it in front of any of my M8 lenses (including the Nocti) before I press the shutter. Awkward at best, but I don't use a polarizer enough to justify the expense of a Leica one.

 

Apologize that I don't have a better example to show you, but here's one taken with the Nocti.

[Likaleica]

I got rid of my filters and just replicate them in post processing. I use lightroom or CS3.

 

How do you postprocess the effects of a polarizer?

[Bill W]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I use the Leica version that I bought many years ago and considerably less that what it is today. I works great will not attach to all the lenses...You can sometines pick them up on ebay.....

[filmboy]

Robert White sells this:

 

Kenko Rangefinder polarisers

 

Which I've always liked the look of, but never got around to purchasing. Seems similar to the Leica one, but a whole lot cheaper?

[wparsonsgisnet]

There is a circular polarizer from Leica in the accessory list for the D2. I bot this a couple of years ago and use it. It is large, so I hold it in front of the lens.

 

Since the lens must be rotated to find the correct effect, the fact that it must be held in front of the lens doesn't detract much from ease of handling.

 

It's an excellent polarizer and highly effective. I believe it was around $200.

[M6J]

How do you postprocess the effects of a polarizer?

 

You can't! It's the only filter that is still needed.

[Baxter]

I've got the Kenko from Robert White - works well when I need it. Bought 46mm and use with 43mm stepping ring when needed. The hotshoe device works well too, but need to be careful removing it, lots of leverage and a small join. Cannot obviously use this with a w/a finder.

 

Tip for most polarisers is to point the embossed manufacturers name at the sun for full polarising effect. Quick and accurate!

[M6J]

Tip for most polarisers is to point the embossed manufacturers name at the sun for full polarising effect. Quick and accurate!

 

Seriously? I didn't know that!

[pklein]

The following works with linear polarizers. I don't know if it works for circular.

 

I have a 49mm Vivitar polarizer that I used with my Olympus OM lenses. I also have some step-down rings that let me use it with lenses with 46mm or 39mm threads.

 

I have a second polarizer from a camera store's "bargain bin." It is a little scratched and unsuitable for photography. I carry it in my pocket, and when I think I might want to use a polarizer, I look through it to check the effect, rotating it back and forth. When I find the "sweet spot," I rotate the polarizer on the lens so the index marks on both polarizers are in the same position.

 

"But," you ask, "How do you know that the two polarizers are indexed the same?" My polarizers are. But if they aren't, you can very easily make a mark on one or both so that they are "calibrated" together.

 

Orient both polarizers with the threads toward you--in other words, look throught them as if your eye were the camera lens. Now, look through both polarizers simultaneously, one in front of the other. Rotate one until the image blacks out. If they already have index marks on them, and the marks are 90 degrees apart, they are already calibrated together. If not, mark one polarizer at the 12:00 position and the other at the 9:00 or 3:00 position.

 

Another way to check this: Go outside on a sunny day and look at the sky 90 degrees from the sun. Rotate each polarizer for maximum darkening of the sky. Are their index marks at the same position? If yes, you're done. If not, mark them so that each has a mark at the same place.

 

Another tip that will help you know if a polarizer will have the desired effect. Wear polarized sunglasses. Tip your head from side to side to see the effect at various angles. Be sure to tell your partner and family about this method beforehand, and be prepared to answer the occasional question from quizzical passers-by.

 

"Daddy, why is that weird guy tilting his head sideways?"

"Oh, that's just Vincent D'Onofrio from Law and Order: Criminal Intent"

 

Needless to say, do not look through both polarized sunglasses and a photographic polarizer at the same time--what you see will not be what you get.

 

All this is a lot easier to do than to write!

 

--Peter

[lars_bergquist]

The correct way to find out the direction of polarisation is to check a surface with a known direction. A level smooth water surface will do. Rotate the filter until the reflection of the sky is extinguished, then mark the rotating part of the mount at 12 o'clock. This is what I do with B+W filters which are not indexed. With some experience, in most cases you do not need to look through the filter. Just point the index in the direction of the sun if you want to darken the sky, to 12 o'clock if you want to get rid of reflexes on water, and to 9 or 3 if it is a windowpane that bothers you.

 

The old man from the Age of the Yellow Filter

[JL2006]

I use a step-up ring to mount a 77mm CPL & view the effect thru the viewfinder

[mwalker649]

Sure... you can replicate the saturation that a polarizer gives ie.. in lightroom the target adjustment tool in the HSL. You of course can not get rid of problem glare in post if you shoot around or near the sun or water. There are also some LR presets that come very close to a polarizer and other filters here;

 

Inside Lightroom

 

I used a polarizer all the time with my D2 but when I bought the M8 swapping filters is one more thing I don't want to deal with anymore, hassle and expense, and I can get very close in post.....but thats just me......