Polarizers

[Peter De Smidt]

Now that I've started to shoot color, both in LF and MF, I'm realizing how useful a polarizer is. I have a Tiffen 52mm warm polarizer, and it's ok, but my larger polarizer, the one that fits most of my LF and MF lenses, is a very crappy Rokunar, which has a decided blue tinge. Hence, I'd like to get a better one. Neutral color would be great, but I'd rather have a slightly warm one rather than a cool one. It should be well machined with good knurling, as getting the filters on the Fuji rangefinders can be something of a pain. I see that there's a lot of new polarizers with special coatings, but I don't have any experience with them.

[venchka]

I have B+W polarizers. They work.

[Capocheny]

Hi Peter,

You might want to consider the B+W line of filters... the rings are made of a good brass material and should, therefore, be easier to mount onto your lenses.

B+W put out a nice little brochure illustrating the different product lines in it... look for a copy and go through it prior to making a decision.

Heliopans are also very well made and are a very good filter. Probably harder to find and more costly than the B+W.

Cheers

[Jerry Bodine]

Years ago (70’s) I had a number of Leica lenses for which I bought several B+W polarizers in the necessary thread sizes. After about twenty years they ALL started to degrade by what appeared to be delaminations and significant loss of density that increased toward the edges, rendering them useless. I queried B+W about replacing just the glass in my metal rings, but they wouldn’t hear of it, and recommended buying new filters (probably a cost factor) without any comment as to the cause of the problem. I don’t know if they’ve done anything to resolve the degradation issue. But, since I’d been thinking of liquidating all my 35mm and MF gear anyway and going only with my Sinar Norma, I decided to toss the useless B+W’s. The Norma needs only ONE polarizer (Tiffen 105mm, coarse thread) in the Sinar swing-out filter ring and is large enough for all my LF lenses, so we’ll see how long the Tiffen holds up. Tiffen also offers the Warm Polarizer, which I did not want as I’m only doing B&W now. I find the polarizer very helpful in B&W, not only for darkening skies but for controlling reflections (e.g., removing enough reflection from the surface of water to show the rocks etc on the bottom).

[Steve Hamley]

Peter,

My "go to" polarizer is an older uncoated Heliopan warm tone. While too thick to use with wide angle lenses, I like the heavy brass ring, the tone which seems very well suited for landscapes, and the "index" marks on the rim.

I typically set the polarizer (not always to full polarization) and note the index alignment, then screw the filter onto the lens.

I haven't found that the lack of coating is a detriment with color film as the polarization seems to outweigh any loss of contrast or saturation because it isn't coated.

Heliopan doesn't make these anymore although they should pop up occasionally, but the index marks are really nice.

Cheers, Steve

[Peter De Smidt]

I appreciate everyone comments.

I have a couple of older Tiffen filters which show de-lamination. It's probably a problem for every laminated filter, which covers all polarizer filters. Maybe the Kasemann filters are better in this regard since their edges are sealed.

I'm leary of MC filters, having owned some of the earlier Tiffen and B+W coated filters, both of which were very hard to clean. I often work near water spray, and so I need to clean my filters fairly often. I'd be particularly interested if the newer anti-scratch/anti-dirt coatings actually work.

[Archphoto]

I use the B&W MRC polfilters, but am never that near to any water.....
They are neutral.
If you have any doubts about the neutrality of your filter(s) use a colormeter and write down the diferences.

Peter

[Lachlan 717]

Save yourself some money and get linear, not circular, polarisers. You don't need the circular for what you're doing and linear are cheaper.

As for brand, it's up to you. I find it easy enough to tickle up some warmth for tranny scans in PS and not really an issue in B&W.

Lachlan

[Bob Salomon]

Heliopan polarizers with SH-PMC coating are the most neutral in color. Additionally, all Heliopan polarizers are rim calibrated for convenient use on rangefinder cameras.

[Peter De Smidt]

Bob, how delicate are the coatings?