Warm Tone Polarizer Advice.

[Blumine]

I had a warm tone Heliopan warm tone polarizer that I really liked, but dropped it in a river while shooting a while back. I guess its now visting Davy Jones. So when I went to replace it, sadly to my surprise Heliopan is no longer making them and the remaining stock doesnt have the size I need.

So that brings me to either ordering a new Singh Ray or a B+W. I have used neither one, so if anyone has any opinions either way that would be great. There seems to be alot of people raving about the Singh Ray, but you dont hear to much about the B+W ones.

Thanks for the insight!

Blumine

[anchored]

A vote for the Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer!!! In my opinion, the best warming polarizer you can find. The effect isn't excessively warm... and it only adds 1-1/3 stop to exposure times (a definite asset especially when shooting LF cameras).

But then again, I'm a big fan of both Singh-Ray and Lee filters, preferring them to any other filter brand on the market. But honestly, I have never used a B+W warming polarizer, but once-upon-a-time bought and tried the Hoya Moose warming polarizer before buying the Singh-Ray. No comparison in quality between those two. Judging from the standard B+W polarizer versus Singh-Ray and Lee (and also Heliopan) polarizers, the range of effect on the B+W appeared to me to be less than their competitors.

Singh-Ray has changed the coloration of their warming polarizers since adapting their warming polarizer to the "LB" designation. The tone is less "brownish-gold" than the older coatings.

[more photography]

Go for B+W Käsemann Circular Pol, you will not go wrong with them. Nuetral colors and very well made. I use one on my Lee filter with GND, Lee is another favourite of mine.

[Atul Mohidekar]

I use B+W Warmtone Linear Polarizer for 4x5. I feel the slight warming effect provided by the warmtone filter removes the typical cooling effect introduced by a polarizer, making the overall effect close to neutral.

When I bought the filter few years ago, there were a few drawbacks that I wished B+W could address:
1. B+W did not make the warmtone polarizer in Kaesemann style
2. B+W did not make the warmtone polarizer in MRC style
3. B+W only made the warmtone polarizer in thin/slim style with no front threads
Since I always use a lens hood (I'm quality paranoid), I don't think I have seen the effects of using a non-MRC filter.

Overall, I still like the warmtone polarizer very much.


// Atul

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Consider the Moose Peterson warming polarizer.

[Steve Hamley]

Hey Blumine,

I feel your pain, except I dropped a Schneider 80mm Super Symmar XL in a river.

A Heliopan warm tone Kaesemann polarizer was my "go to" filter for many years, and recently I tried, and like, the Heliopan high transmission polarizer in the thin version. A stop more transmission, and I can couple it with a warming filter of any strength with little or any more thickness to the group. I'm still testing it, but the results so far indicate that it's at least as good a strategy as the standard warm tone polarizers.

And as a note, my fave Heliopan warm tone Kaesemann was uncoated, the Heliopan high transmission filter is multicoated.

The Singh-Ray will probably be uncoated; that never bothered me with my original Heliopan which I used for 9+ years. A polarizer increases saturation to the point that coating isn't really that important IMO.

Cheers, Steve

[Mark Stahlke]

I have a hunch the OP has replaced his filter by now.

[Steve Hamley]

Yup, probably. But it's a place to post info on the new generation of polarizers if anyone is researching.

Cheers, Steve