Using a Polarizer??

[SD70MAC]

Im thinking about buying a polarizer for my Sigma 28-105 MM lens. Do any of you here shoot your photos using a polarizer? Im trying to figure out if its worth getting. Thanks for any help.

[SD70MAC]

Anyone? :(

[railfanzone]

Ryan-

I do use one, sometimes. I've got them for both of my lenses, so no matter what situation I'm in - wide or tele - I can use it if I need it. Doesn't work in all situations, but it can lead to some dramatic colors. And on the other hand, can really screw up some shots....

My advice - get one and play around with it. You're shooting digital, so it costs nothing to experiment... :)

Here's the only one up here I can find that I used a polarizer on. Note the deep blue sky...
[photoid=42276]

-Tom

[SD70MAC]

Thanks Tom,
Nice shot! Im going to be getting a UV and polarizer 2 pack that I found for $20 bucks. Im getting it for my sigma 28-105 mm lens. The way to tell what size polarizer and UV filter I need is to look on the front of the lens right. Its got something that looks like a 0 with a slash through. Mine says 62 so I guess that would be the size to get.

[railfanzone]

Ryan-

Bingo - that's the filter diameter in mm, the size you want.

Only thing I'd watch out for is using both stacked together at the wide end of the lens - it may vignette the image - not too sure, though, since there's also a 1.6x crop factor. It may be within the limits, but I'd do an experiment first. Shoot a shot of a bright scene wide open (like the blue sky) and see if there's any dark fringing around the corners of the frame. If there are, I'd only use the polarizer. What's happening is the filters stacked will start to block some of the light at the wider angles. I have this problem with my 28-135 IS when shooting with film. Haven't tried it on my 20D yet, so I can't say if it is a problem or not - probably not, but something to keep in mind...

Another thing to consider is the quality of the filters you're picking up. Lower quality (and price) filters will not have anti-reflective coatings on them, so you've got to watch out for ghosting of bright parts of the image, like headlights. Even the multi-coated filters suffer from that to an extent, albeit much less. That's the reason I didtched all my UV filters and am running without them - I was getting ghosted headlights under the right conditions using a $40 Hoya Super HMC UV filter. Also, stacking filters will add to your ghosting problem - 2 filters give 4 surfaces to reflect off of... Just some food for thought....

-Tom

[SD70MAC]

Thanks Tom. I was looking at some Sunpak ones. Not sure if I should get them since you said to stay away from the cheap ones. If there not good would it be better to get Hoya?

[railfanzone]

Sunpak would be the bottom of the barrel, or pretty close. I'd go for at least a Tiffen, or ideally Hoya or B+W. Tiffens run about $50 each - both of my polarizers are Tiffens, and Hoyas and B+W run around $70 for uncoated, and well over $100 for coated. Basically, like anything else, you get what you pay for. No real cheap ways out... I don't use them that often, so Tiffens work fine for me - they spend most of the time in the bag...

Just make sure you're getting a circular polarizer, and not a linear. Autofocus won't work with a linear polarizer...

-Tom

[SD70MAC]

Alright thanks again!

[dsktc]

Ryan, I have only used a polarizer a few times
while railfanning. Obviously, when the sky conditions
dictated using it. Best advice is to buy quality UV
filters for your lenses, if you can. As Tom said,
you shouldn't skimp on filters. The better Hoya
filters are what I use.

http://www.2filter.com/prices/specials.html#4_of_The_Best_UV_or_Skylight_filters

Dave

[SD70MAC]

Thank you very much dave for the link to the filter website.

[railfanzone]

http://www.2filter.com/prices/specials.html#4_of_The_Best_UV_or_Skylight_filters



Hey, these guys are right down the street from me! (well, about a 10 minute drive, but close enough). Maybe I'll have to head down there & check 'em out....

-Tom

[E.M. Bell]

As Tom said, you really have to be careful about getting ghost images when using a filter (of any kind). I used to keep a polarizer on each of my lens, and it took me a long time to figure out why I kept getting doubled up headlights and these little off color spots on my slides....took the filter off and poof, problem solved. This seemed to happen to me more so when shooting with a tele over 200mm...I didnt notice it as much with wider angle shots. I havnt had any type of filter on my stuff now for several years.

I have a couple of sets of good quality filters (slightly dusty) that are taking up real estate in a cramped camera bag if anybody wants to make a offer :)