Circular Polarizer

I'm in the process of replacing what few filters I still use.  I replaced my ND's with Breakthrough filters before EJ's recent excellent test article came out.  I'm also replacing my circular polarizers as they are now considerably older than the current model from all the mfg.  I was considering breakthrough but with the filter in place I'm having a hard time getting the lens hood on or in the alternative adjusting the filter with the lens hood on.  Based on the lenstip tests there does not seem to be much difference between the top Hoya, B+W, and Marumi exus filters.  I was surprised that the top B+W does not appear to be the nano in those tests although all the B+W fall close together.  There is enough subjectivity in the grading (#1 may be graded as #3 if same results were sorted by someone else) that optics may take a second seat to other considerations (cleaning, flare, getting stuck, etc.). The 6 of one half a dozen of the other results seems to be confirmed by the way I read EJ's article. 

Any thoughts?

I recently emailed back and forth with the founder of Breakthrough about the knurling on the polarizers interfering with some lens hoods, specifically in my case the Sony 24-70 f/2.8 GM - he promised to take a look at that.  If you go with top line filters as your note above suggests, the biggest difference is light transmission between them with Breakthrough being among the brightest and Tiffen the darkest.  Whether that matters depends a lot on what you shoot.  Most otheres are in between those.  I do like the Hoya EVO filters as they tend to stay a bit cleaner and clean up more easily but I interchangeably use Zeiss, Breakthrough, Singh-Ray, Hoya, B&W, Formatt-Hitech, and Heliopan.

P.S. Thanks for reading - that just came out this morning

Your article was a good read.

In my case, canon 24-105. I like the knurling but it is a problem and I need a filter that works with everything. I'll try and take a look at the evo. the filter connection recommended the Marumi several years ago and they work great where vignetting can be an issue. Can't really complain about the heliopan or B+W I've used over the years. With the high transmission foils and better coatings, I just figure it is time to upgrade.

E.J. Peiker wrote:I do like the Hoya EVO filters as they tend to stay a bit cleaner and clean up more easily but I interchangeably use Zeiss, Breakthrough, Hoya, B&W, Formatt-Hitech, and Heliopan.

E.J., I notice the conspicious absence of Singh Ray filters.  Is there a reason for that, other than their relative high price?  The reason I ask is that I've used Singh Ray GND's and Circ. Polarizer with the Cokin P holder for many years now and have always been pretty happy with the results of the GND's, so-so happy with the Circ. Polarizer.

Oh yeah, where can I find your report?  Is it on NSN?

Bill Chambers wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:I do like the Hoya EVO filters as they tend to stay a bit cleaner and clean up more easily but I interchangeably use Zeiss, Breakthrough, Hoya, B&W, Formatt-Hitech, and Heliopan.

E.J., I notice the conspicious absence of Singh Ray filters.  Is there a reason for that, other than their relative high price?  The reason I ask is that I've used Singh Ray GND's and Circ. Polarizer with the Cokin P holder for many years now and have always been pretty happy with the results of the GND's, so-so happy with the Circ. Polarizer.

Oh yeah, where can I find your report?  Is it on NSN?

It was just an omission on my part.  I actually use a lot of Singh-Ray filters and used to have a relationship with the company before people I knew inside the company left and passed away and repeated attempts to establish a relationship with their successors went unanswered.  It was purely brain fade on my part and I've edited my post.

In fact I have several articles on the Singh-Ray website including one that explains how polarizers actually work which they comissioned me to write:
https://www.singh-ray.com/author/epeiker/

Thanks E.J. I appreciate your comments re: Singh Ray. I've been looking at the Breakthrough filters with great interest for several months now but haven't pulled the switch because of lack of reports (authors) I know and trust. I would certainly like to read your filter report which you say came out yesterday. Would you be kind enough to post a link to that report?

As I mentioned, I'm pleased with my Singh Ray GND's, although I don't use them as much as I used to. I'm not so pleased with the SR Circ Polarizer. In YOUR opinion, how would you rate the Breakthrough CP versus the Singh Ray CP?

Wildflower-nut wrote:“having a hard time getting the lens hood on or in the alternative adjusting the filter with the lens hood on”

I keep a screw on collapsable rubber lens hood attached to the front of my polarizer and turn it, to adjust the filter. The front of the hood has threads and so accepts the lens cap, and it can also protrude at different lengths so to work with different lenses. The hood likely came from B&H Photo.
GL

The evo apparently is not a HTC foil so it is about a stop slower than some of the others.

Bill Chambers wrote:I would certainly like to read your filter report which you say came out yesterday. Would you be kind enough to post a link to that report?  

In YOUR opinion, how would you rate the Breakthrough CP versus the Singh Ray CP?

You can find it here, starting on page 6.  I mention polarizers at the end of the article.  But in short, any of the top polarizers are all excellent and will serve you well.  The Breakthrough filter is very bright, akin to the Sing-Ray LB Neutral Polarizer...
http://www.ejphoto.com/Quack%20PDF/Quac ... 202017.pdf

E.J. Peiker wrote: http://www.ejphoto.com/Quack%20PDF/Quack%20Winter%202017.pdf

Thanks again, E.J..  Excellent newsletter, thoroughly enjoyed the entire issue and learned several new things and, as always, enjoyed your beautiful images.  Also, looks like I might be swapping over to Breakthrough filters from Singh Ray after reading your test article.

Bill Chambers wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote: http://www.ejphoto.com/Quack%20PDF/Quack%20Winter%202017.pdf

Thanks again, E.J..  Excellent newsletter, thoroughly enjoyed the entire issue and learned several new things and, as always, enjoyed your beautiful images.  Also, looks like I might be swapping over to Breakthrough filters from Singh Ray after reading your test article.

The only place where that makes sense, IMHO is with the strong ND's like 6 and 10 stop.  If you need something stronger like 15 stop, you are pretty much limited to Lee and Singh-Ray.  Singh-Ray even has a 20 stop filter.  I can't for the life of me come up with anything that I would use something like that for - 20 stop...

E.J. Peiker wrote:

Bill Chambers wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote: http://www.ejphoto.com/Quack%20PDF/Quack%20Winter%202017.pdf

Thanks again, E.J..  Excellent newsletter, thoroughly enjoyed the entire issue and learned several new things and, as always, enjoyed your beautiful images.  Also, looks like I might be swapping over to Breakthrough filters from Singh Ray after reading your test article.

The only place where that makes sense, IMHO is with the strong ND's like 6 and 10 stop.  If you need something stronger like 15 stop, you are pretty much limited to Lee and Singh-Ray. 

You can stack Breakthrough's 6 and 10 stop together, right?

Anyhow, if Breakthrough filters have practically no impact on sharpness while other filters do, wouldn't that still make sense to switch even for 3 stop ND?

Singh-Ray even has a 20 stop filter.  I can't for the life of me come up with anything that I would use something like that for - 20 stop...

Probably for when you want longer than 5 minute shutter time under bright sunlight.

Not sure there is enough quantitative data to make a conclusion that Breakthrough filters are sharper than other premium brands. The discussion is mostly around color shift.

Bright sunlight using the sunny 16 rule at ISO 100 is 1/100s is 2 hours and 55 minutes!!! Even at f/4 and 1/1600 (sunny 16 equivalent) you are at 11 minutes so yes, I guess if you need a shallow DOF in full sun, it could be useful.

Apparently breakthrough is making a polarizer with the nd built in. Eliminates glass surfaces if you need both in a particular shot and if stacking causes vignetting problems. Short supply and $$$

E.J. Peiker wrote: Bright sunlight using the sunny 16 rule at ISO 100 is 1/100s is 2 hours and 55 minutes!!!  Even at f/4 and 1/1600 (sunny 16 equivalent) you are at 11 minutes so yes, I guess if you need a shallow DOF in full sun, it could be useful.

Or if you want to record "movement" of something moving slowly, such as clouds on a not-so-windy day. It'd certainly be better not to shoot at as low an ISO as available and to open up as necessary if you don't want to wait for an hour or more. A couple of days ago I was testing the live-bulb mode of Olympus and so I stacked a 6 and a 10 together. Shot taken at 11:44 am on a sunny day by the sea. Using ISO 64 at F 7.1. Total exposure time about 12.2 mins including noise reduction. Have to say I was not used to waiting that long for a shot

Wildflower-nut wrote:Apparently breakthrough is making a polarizer with the nd built in.  Eliminates glass surfaces if you need both in a particular shot and if stacking causes vignetting problems.  Short supply and $$$

Yes, the potential problem I see with that in certain situation is compromising the capability of the AF system.  But for me the biggest deterrent is that they don't make them in the filter sizes I would need (yet?)

E.J. Peiker wrote:I do like the Hoya EVO filters as they tend to stay a bit cleaner and clean up more easily but I interchangeably use Zeiss, Breakthrough, Singh-Ray, Hoya, B&W, Formatt-Hitech, and Heliopan.

Hi EJ.  Another informative issue.  Wondering what your take is on the Heliopan filters. One of my distributors handles them and makes them a logical choice for me but not if there's a compromise.  This would be an 82mm for the newest Canon 16-35mm.  Thanks.

Hi Jim - polarizers are fine and of very high quality - no hesitation whatsoever. I use a couple of Heliopan polarizers. ND filters exhibit a significant color shift though and I would shy away from them.