Jump to content

Polarizer muting colors?


Recommended Posts

I noticed some recent shots with a polarizer seemed to have slightly muted colors and a bit of a veil over the whole thing. Filter was a bit hazy- cleaned it and still wasn't happy with the colors. Still works fine for killing reflections and bringing out blue skies, but the images are unsatisfactory. Now, my filter is old, probably a few decades old. It's not a circular polarizer, but I thought that only affected autofocus and exposure. My D200 doesn't seem to be affected by it, and I'm shooting manually anyway.

 

Has anybody ever seen a problem with polarizers? Is circular important for more than just focus and exposure? I have both Hoya (Tiffan-marked) and Vivitar, but haven't checked all of them. Can they go bad over the years? Is it time to buy a new one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Polarizers consist of a polarizing foil between two pieces of optical glass. A circular polarizer has an additional foil to scramble the plane of polarization, called a quarter wave plate.

 

If contaminants get inside the layers, it cannot be removed nor its deposits, and the filter is ruined. Loss of contrast and any milky appearance of the filter would be typical symptoms.

 

Kaesemann filters are sealed at the edges, and much less likely to become contaminated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stopped using polarizers decades ago for just this reason. Mine was circular, but not one of the $300+ ones. I tried ND filters about 10 years ago, Cokin P system, and once again stopped using them as soon as I realized it softened images drastically. I am once again considering filters again but fear that even the $300 ones may not perform to my standards.

 

 

It could be that pixel peeping now, brings out the inherent flaws in your filter, which you may not have noticed before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't say that filters can't go bad over time, though I've had non-Kaesemann polarisers for decades that haven't, so its not universal. I was intrigued by your term "some recent shots" having been affected which might mean that some aren't. If so , is it possible that your problem is caused primarily by flare? Flare has caused me many more problems when using filters, than issues with the filters themselves. It would cause reductions in colour saturation and would be worse if the filter wasn't entirely clean. Using a filter does increase the chances of flare.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I often have used a polarizer of the right sort (linear or circular, depending LINK) to increase saturation by eliminating the reflection off the surface. Of course, not all surfaces reflect polarized light, so you have to play around a little.

 

Back in prehistoric times (pre AF. digital) shooting ISO 25 Kodachrome as ISO 32 and using a polarizer would really make for intense colors

 

e.g.,

Balloon-Meet-hires-81C13-21.thumb.jpg.7ab5f404865771f9876683cfa23f08d9.jpg

as it came out of the camera in 1981

Edited by JDMvW
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I got very similar results with K25, K64 and K200. Polarizers would eliminate reflections, enrich colours, but absolutely kill contrast and resolution. Even when correctly exposed the polarized shots always looked underexposed. As soon as I started replacing my third party zooms with manufacturers primes the colour was like using polarizers, so the polarizer went in the garbage.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...