Polarizer and UV filter question

[Deepak Kumar]

I think I had missed this point somewhere about polarizer !

Is UV filter required after Putting Polarizer on your lens ? or Should I say do polarizer work as UV filter as well ?

I am ordering filter for my trip on high altitude location, need your advice.
I plan to order following filter for Nikon 90mm F 4.5 len, For 4X5 & 6X9cm

1. Linear polarizer
2. Light orange (B/W)
3. ND 2 Stop Hard/Soft need advice
4. UV If required after purchasing PL
5. light Warming filter

I will be shooting both color and B/W. I am bit tight on budget so I want to avoid purchasing one or two filter from this list so that I could buy few but quality filter.

Deepak

[Walter Calahan]

No you do not need a UV and a Polarizer. I cannot screw in a filter on top of the Polarizing filters I own. There is no need for one behind the Polarizer.

For a great source of quality filters:

http://www.singh-ray.com/index.html

[anchored]

a) You don't really need a UV filter for much of anything except for far distant shots. I'd skip this filter.

b) I would suggest a circular polarizer instead of a linear. Yes, they cost quite a bit more, but a linear cannot be used on autofocus lenses and a circular can be used on anything. Why limit the use of an expensive filter to only one system?

c) Be VERY careful when using a polarizer in high elevations... generally it isn't needed at high altitudes and can really screw up photos by turning the sky and any water too black. [know this from experience... screwed up 6-rolls of MF film at Crater Lake... looked great in viewfinder but slides unusable].

d) On GND filters and 90mm lens... I would suggest the soft variants instead of the hard. The hard grads are best used with flat horizons... for mountainous scenes the dividing line shows too badly. I would also suggest having at least an ND2 AND an ND3 grad... I find myself using both equally.

e) On warming filters... would suggest if just getting one to get the 81B... the A variant too light in most cases, and the C oft-times applies too much warming.

f) If you are on a very tight budget, you might look at brands other than the Singh-Ray link posted. Although I'm a big fan and user of Singh-Ray filters, they are among the most expensive filters on the market. Also consider Lee, Heliopan, HiTech and a few others that offers high-quality filters.

[Jim Ewins]

Glen says it well.

[Deepak Kumar]

thanks for useful advice Jim, Glenn and Walter

what I get from these reply that you can get away with only Polarizer but it does not neccessarily work as UV.

As I have wide lens only I will stick to advice of 2 Stop soft ND Grad.
I am looking at Hitech for that.

As for Singh-Ray LB warming Polarizer, it is in my wish list. As of now Hoya multicoated is all I can afford.

81B should be enough for me as I plan to shoot around sun rise and sun set only.

For B/W I think I should choose between yellow and orange filter. I don't want over dramatic sky but think that yellow might be too tame.

Ilford FP4 is film of my choise for B/W. But as said earlier that at high altitude you get vibrent sky itself so this is confusing me a bit.:confused:
where I live orange filter is Ok as for most part of year you get washed out light grey looking sky. but in mountains sky is so amazingly blue :) that you really find that you need to relearn some basic things.

thanks

Deepak

[venchka]

A polarizer, dialed to show no effects, is a neutral density filter of about -1.5 to -2.0 stops. In other words, it does double duty. You won't need an ND filter in that range.

[anchored]

Using a polarizer works as an ND for sure, but isn't a replacement for an ND Grad. Deepak mentions a Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer, which is a fantastic filter (more range and built much better than Hoya's warming polarizer), and... only looses 1-stop of exposure.

Deepak, I believe you'll be well-pleased with HiTech filters. Oh, and another nice thing about Hi-Tech filters regarding their GND's... the transition on their hard gradiants is a bit softer than Lee and Singh-Ray grads... for this reason I prefer them over their more expensive cousins for hard grads.

Another reason for having multiple grads... don't forget they can be rotated and used in positions other than just dark on top for skies. I often use a GND for the sky and another GDN reversed to slightly darken foregrounds... or, vertically to tone down one side of an image that's lighter on one side than the other.

[Deepak Kumar]

I read it in B&h filter discription (Hoya circular glass filter ) circular polarizer that I works as UV filter as well. I wonder if that was right infornation. does it apply to all polarizer filter of all make or just that particular filter.

[Peter K]

I read it in B&h filter discription (Hoya circular glass filter ) circular polarizer that I works as UV filter as well. I wonder if that was right infornation. does it apply to all polarizer filter of all make or just that particular filter.
A circular polarizer is at least a sandwich from four layers - glass, polarizing foil, lambda quarter foil, glas - plus the cement layers. So almost no UV can transmit this filters. And most other photographic filters made from glass.

[C. D. Keth]

Using a polarizer works as an ND for sure, but isn't a replacement for an ND Grad. Deepak mentions a Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer, which is a fantastic filter (more range and built much better than Hoya's warming polarizer), and... only looses 1-stop of exposure.

Be careful with polas that lose less than a stop and 2/3 or 2 stop of exposure. It means they are more lightly polarized and the full effect of the polarization will be less than that of a 'real' pola.

I try to urge films I work on to carry a regular 2 stop pola as well as a 1-stop pola. That way you are covered in case you really can't afford that extra stop of loss, but you also have the possibility of really strong true polarization.