foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

Twice wasn't enough??? LOL

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

tomad, one caveat that I would mention is something I discovered while using a circular polarizer in RMNP in Colorado. What looked good through my viewfinder equated to india ink colored skies in the final images. Just be mindful of that. Also, if you can get a polarizer in a thin mount, that might come in handy if you eventually go to a wider wide-angle lens.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

You might also look at the Breakthrough x4. This thing is getting rave reviews everywhere. It is a couple of $$ more than the B+W. I have some Breakthrough in CP as well as ND and they are very color neutral and sharp. I also have an x-Pro B&W CP, but find that I like the Breakthrough better. And they come with a 25 year warranty.

Bill

tomcat

Also take a look at Singh-Ray filters. They are manufactured here in the US and I have really been impressed with their build quality. I recently switched all of my filters to Singh-Ray because they have a warming polarizer that takes the bluish light out of the mountain shots. You should be aware that at higher elevations, there is a lot more blue and it will give a slight cast to your images.

GLKTN Loc: TN

Marumi DHG Super Circular polprizer rated number 2 behind the top rated filter by one point and was less expensive. It was a technical comparison. Can not find the artical now, sorry. I never hear it mentioned on UHH. Any Hoggers familiar with it? Rated above all favorites usually mentioned here.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

You don't say what lens you intend to use it on. Many people use super wide angle lenses for landscape images. The problem here is that the CP will leave a "band" in the sky due to the wide angle and polarization being only the 90% from the orientation to the sun.... Just wanted to remind you of that issue in case you were not familiar with it. Lots of people opt to shoot panoramic images, stitching together multiple images with other than wide angle lenses.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I've read that polarizes do not affect the amount of light coming to the sensor.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

You read wrong. A polarizer can reduce light by 1.5 to over 2 stops depending on the polarizer. The better ones, B+W, Breakthrough etc. claim to only reduce by 1.5 stops.

Bill

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

I think the OP is aware of this but for others who will read these posts: Darkening the sky is fairly simple in post but cutting haze and reducing reflections from flowers &etc are best done with a CP. If you need it for the 2nd two then your sky will suffer when using a CP on a wide view. Whether stitched images or wide angle lens.

ChristianHJensen

Yep - I like that polarizer and it's limited (for a polarizer) loss of light. This is especially great when shooting low light scenarios

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

First of all, do yourself a favor and get the brand name right. It's "B+W"... not "B&W".

If you Google "B&W filters" you will get information on "black & white filters" in various shades of yellow, orange, red, green and blue that are used for a variety of effects when shooting black & white film.

On the other hand, if you Google "B+W filters", you'll find their website (part of Schneiders) and various retailers offering the filters you're interested in.

All B+W filters use high quality, German-made Schott glass. The company is a subsidiary or Schneider Kreuznach, an optical manufacturer with a long, rich history manufacturing very high quality lenses and various other, related products. AFAIK, all B+W filters also use brass mounting frames, which are less prone to "galling" and getting stuck on lenses with metal threads, or to each other if you stack the filters (unlike aluminum frames used by many other manufacturers... which are more prone to galling.... though if your lens is like many modern ones with plastic threads, it may not be a significant problem either way).

The differences between the various B+W C-Pol series are mostly in the fine points and coatings:

- B+W "SC" filters are single coated or uncoated. The C-Pol of this series are "standard" type, which are fairly dark and reduce light passing through by between 1 and 2 stops (approx.) depending upon how strongly you dial in the effect of the filter. Even this least expensive uses Schott glass in a fairly low profile, brass frame.

- Their "MRC" line are essentially the same as the above, but have 8-layer multi-coatings to improve image quality in various ways. Working outdoors in a wide variety of lighting conditions, multi-coatings such as these can be helpful and are highly recommended. (The SC might be fine indoors, under more controllable lighting conditions.)

- B+W "Kaesemann MRC" are being phased out, but are basically the same as above, except that they use finer polarizing foils and have additional edge sealing for extra resistance to moisture and dust intrusion. B+W Kaesemann were their previous top-of-the-line.

- B+W "F-Pro MRC" are basically the same as above, but are "High Transmissive" (HT), with a lighter tint that allows more light to pass through. HT typically "cost" between approx. 3/4 and 1.5 stops of light. Compared to standard strength C-Pol, the difference of 1/4 to 1/2 stop doesn't sound like a lot, but can make possible some shots under particularly challenging shooting conditions that would be more difficult with a standard strength C-Pol. The polarizing effect is about the same, either way.

- B+W "XS-Pro Nano MRC" are their top of the line, same as the above and also High Transmissive, but with more advanced 16-layer "nano" multi-coatings which are more resistant to dust, fingerprints, scratches and.... probably most importantly... easier to clean. XS-Pro are also mounted in "Slim" frames, which may be needed to minimize or prevent vignetting on particularly wide lenses. However, I'd note that even the standard B+W frame on all the above are pretty low profile. I've used the standard frame B+W on various ultrawides without any problem (for example, Canon 20mm and 17-35mm on full frame and 10-22mm on crop sensor/APS-C)... but some other lenses may need the slimmer frame filter. Another consideration, especially with C-Pol that have two rings, due to how little frame there is to get a grip on, slim filters can be a bit trickier to install and remove from lenses.... especially in the largest diameters. Worst case, a "filter wrench" or other help such as a rubberized strap wrench or kitchen "jar opener" might be needed at times! The brass frames that B+W uses helps, but doesn't entirely prevent problems such as this.

Overall B+W are typically a VERY good value... Their top of the line are among the very best made by anyone, but are far less expensive than most of comparable quality. For example, Heliopan filter are nearly identical in all respects, but commonly sell for around 3X as much. A relatively new brand, Breakthrough Photography's X4 C-Pol is very similar specification to B+W XS-Pro, but around twice the price. You can even end up getting "less" filter in certain respects (type and quality of glass, frame materials, multi-coatings, etc), while spending more in some cases.

So, unless you are on a really tight budget, I highly recommend B+W C-Pol of your choice. Do shop around... their relative prices are sometimes a bit "out of whack" with each other. In certain common sizes, I've sometimes seen the "lesser" MRC and old top of the line Kaesemann selling for more than the latest and greatest F-Pro or XS-Pro! Weird, but sometimes happens.

Personally I've got various size B+W MRC, Kaesemann and XS-Pro C-Pol and they all work very well. I've got other types of F-Pro, just don't happen to have any C-Pol in that line.

Yes, on very wide lenses the effect of a C-Pol can be uneven. This is simply because the filter's effect is strongest at 90 degree angle from the light source (i.e., the sun). Depending upon the location of the light source relative to the direction your are shooting, the broad angle of view of a lens may show this graduated fall-off of the filter's effect. But you can see it happening in the viewfinder and decide how to deal with it. It's not necessarily a bad thing. For example, the plain blue sky in the image below was rather boring, so I decided to use the filter's uneven effect....


Or, with more complex images, such as below, you may not even notice the uneven effect...


Or, when the light source is in other position relative to your shot, there won't be any uneven effect, such as this image where the midday sun was very close to the 90 degree angle, almost directly overhead and slightly behind me...


But there are other times when you shouldn't use a C-Pol (or any filter, for that matter), such as when directly shooting a sunset or sunrise...


For a shot like the sunset above, any filter... but especially C-Pol because of their multiple layers of glass.... will increase flare effects... probably cause ghost flare artifacts, as well as overall veiling flare that reduces contrast and color saturation.

Besides, for the sunset shot above the reflections off the wet sand, rocks and water were important to the image, and the last thing I wanted to do was reduce them. So no C-Pol or any other filter was used. I also dialed back the effect of the C-Pol for the shot of the fishing fleet at Morro Bay, because I didn't want to completely eliminate the reflections of the boats in the water. That would have looked odd, IMO.

FYI: While also very good quality, B+W's other types of filter don't seem to be nearly as competitively priced as their various C-Pol. In other types of filters, they're still a good value, jsut not priced all that differently from some other high quality brands. In other words, you won't get "burned" buying B+W's 010/UV, various strength Neutral Density, etc.... But you also won't see significant savings in comparison to other brands of similar quality.

P.S. It's can be a bit of a pain in the arse with a C-Pol, but I always recommend using a lens hood to protect both the lens and the filter from oblique light and physical bumps. Bayonet mount hoods that fit over the filter might need to be removed temporarily to adjust the filter. Round, screw-in hoods may be easier since the entire hood can be rotated along with the filter. However, that type hood is uncommon these days (might be able to find a generic round hood that's effective on a particular lens... though that can be difficult with wide angle zooms, especially).

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

Marumi

kb6kgx Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Why did this get posted THREE times?

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Assuming you have a non sharp edge ND grad, it is real easy to just drop the divining point below the treeline and you get the effect you want.

Photocraig

TIP: I bought my B&W Circular Polarizer used from KEH. excellent condition and about $65 in 72mm. Great results until somebody decided he needed it more than me.