sunglasses: Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have...

tomd01 Loc: Allentown, Pa.

Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have a pair of polarized sunglasses they might be able to give a different rendition of a filter on the camera.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

tomd01 wrote:

Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have a pair of polarized sunglasses they might be able to give a different rendition of a filter on the camera.

But the loss in image quality would probably be too big a trade-off. My most-used lenses need 77mm filters.

Ambrose Loc: North America

tomd01 wrote:

Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have a pair of polarized sunglasses they might be able to give a different rendition of a filter on the camera.

I have on occasion just for fun - usually with compact cameras. As mentioned - the quality suffers, but occasionally you get some interesting results!

tomd01 Loc: Allentown, Pa.

I can see that it would be hard with large of diameter lens, but I was thinking of the 49 to 55mm lenses. I have a nikon S4 and sony a65 with various sony and minolta lenses. I also thought of using my wifes sunglasses since she has some with the larger sunglass lenses. This is just a passing thought but had the idea from the coken products, and if I were in a pinch for a filter, thanks for the reply.

JPL

Just try it and see what happens.

CJartist Loc: Ormond Beach

tomd01 wrote:

Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have a pair of polarized sunglasses they might be able to give a different rendition of a filter on the camera.

I put my sunglasses in front of my lens in my p/s and it came out very nice.

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

bi-focals suck

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

As an experiment I once put blue-tinted sunglasses in front of the lens for b&w photography. It certainly worked as a cheap substitute color filter. Although the resulting image was a little softer than I would have liked.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

tomd01 wrote:

Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have a pair of polarized sunglasses they might be able to give a different rendition of a filter on the camera.

Yes, I have, and it's worth a try. There is so much variation depending on the glasses, how you hold them, the camera, the lens, the scene. Experiment. Try polarizing glasses.

cherylpeters Loc: Kentucky

mine are prescription. That would be interesting.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

cherylpeters wrote:

mine are prescription. That would be interesting.

Definitely. I'll have to see what I have lying around the house. I have lots of reading glasses in various powers - even tinted reading glasses, and probably some old Rx glasses.

cherylpeters Loc: Kentucky

We might look like the 60's, with our tripping pictured. They might think it was photoshopped lol.

RicknJude Loc: Quebec, Canada

tomd01 wrote:

Has anyone tried using a lens from their sunglass to substitute for a filter. Some time out in the field a filter can be forgotten, and I've been thinking that if you have a pair of polarized sunglasses they might be able to give a different rendition of a filter on the camera.

Cost nothing to try. I'm gonna do it. Cheap fun. :-)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

RicknJude wrote:

Cost nothing to try. I'm gonna do it. Cheap fun. :-)

It's funny that we should think of holding a pair of glasses in front of a camera as fun.

MWojton Loc: Yardley, PA

Thats ironic- I was just sitting on the beach last weekend and took a few shots using my polarized sunglasses as a "filter". It certainly had an effect but I need more practice.

MW