Do Current Heliopan Polarizers Have Front Threads?

[r.e.]

[Edited February 3, 2024: I now have Heliopan standard and "Slim" versions of a circular polariser and a neutral density filter. The Slim versions of each have reduced front thread, but enough to stack a filter in front of it.]

Heliopan makes Standard and Slim versions of its polarizers. In a 2011 thread, Bob Salomon said "[Heliopan] polarizers are the most neutral in the industry and are available with or without front threads". Am I correct that the Standard polarizers have front threads and the Slim ones don't? If so, is this still true in 2023? I'm considering Heliopan's "High Transmission" polarizer.

I expect that I'll want to use a neutral density filter sometimes, and I don't fancy looking through three or four stops of ND while trying to adjust a polarizer. Consequently, the idea is to adjust the polarizer and then place the ND filter in front. To do that, the polarizer has to have front threads.

Thanks


* This is the link to Bob's post: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...l=1#post681687

[xkaes]

I can't speak to Heliopan filters, but all the filters marked "SLIM" that I've run across do not have front threads -- that's how they are able to be slim.

[r.e.]

I can't speak to Heliopan filters, but all the filters marked "SLIM" that I've run across do not have front threads -- that's how they are able to be slim.

B+W's slim filters were called XS-Pro before they were renamed about three years ago to Master. I use XS-Pro filters and all of the ones that I have have front threads. I don't think that there'd be much of a market, if any, for ND filters that don't have front threads. B+W's spacing of its ND filters assumes stacking. Unsurprisingly, B+W makes its slim ND filters with front threads.

There's flatly contradictory information about Heliopan Slim filters on the internet. I start with Bob's statement because he knows what he's talking about on this subject. Unfortunately, he didn't address my question, and his comment is now over a decade old. I don't know about other filter makers, but B+W has revamped its filter lines twice in that period, and has discontinued many products. To complicate matters, there are suggestions that Slim may mean different things depending on whether one is talking about Heliopan's polarizers or its other filters.

[r.e.]

I found what I need to know on Heliopan's German site, Heliopan.de, on the page about its polarizers:

"Available in regular version with front thread and in slim-version without front-thread."

I want to confirm that with a dealer tomorrow because it isn't consistent with a statement allegedly made by the U.S. distributor several years ago.

For some reason, that information is not in the Heliopan brochure nor on the U.S. site.

I also found a paragraph that's helpful on the issue of using one of their polarizers with an ND filter. This means that there's an easy way to make the polarizer the outermost filter:

"The rims are calibrated to help in finding the
 proper settings when a TTL preview is not available. If it is not possible to view through the lens the desired effect is obtained by rotating the filter in front of the eye and noting the numbered scale when the desired effect is obtained. Mount the filter on the lens and rotate the filter until the number is in the same position on the lens as it was when viewed when in front of the eye. The polarizer can almost totally eliminate reflections yet it is variable in its effect and should be used according to individual desires. Exposure factor: 3.0 – 4.0 x".

[r.e.]

There are a lot of purchaser comments on Amazon for these filters. Several confirm that the Slim version doesn't have a front thread.

[xkaes]

Like most companies, be it filters or computer software, they want you to buy their newest, more expensive, stuff. They will tell you the advantages -- like SLIM -- but never tell you the disadvantages -- like NO FRONT THREADS.

[r.e.]

Like most companies, be it filters or computer software, they want you to buy their newest, more expensive, stuff. They will tell you the advantages -- like SLIM -- but never tell you the disadvantages -- like NO FRONT THREADS.

Heliopan U.S. appears to charge the same amount for Standard and Slim. On Amazon, there sure are a lot of comments from purchasers who didn't know that Slim means no front threads and who weren't happy that it precludes a lens cap. For me, of greater interest were comments about the smaller surface area for one's fingers during rotation.

Anyway, I've ordered the standard version. In the past, I haven't made much use of a polarizer with a wide angle lens. I did it once, and regretted it. The resulting sky was ... interesting

[xkaes]

You've got to watch those skies with polarizers, for sure. Still, I've used a polarizer, a lot, on my fisheye lens (attached to the REAR) with great results -- if I'm careful.

[Drew Wiley]

Sometimes slim filters can be darn hard to install and unscrew. But they don't always call them slim - that's the bigger problem. The biggest ripoff I've seen is big price hike for "digital filters" which are the very same thing except in new packages with new labeling.

[xkaes]

-- and higher prices.