Circular Polariser with Digital cameras:

Hi

Can anyone give me some pointers for using a circular polarising filter with a digital SLR, I previously used one very

successfully with my old film SLR's, however the results I have had so far with my Nikon D200 are disappointing, I

would welcome any suggestions as to where I may be going wrong, my camera is used mainly in aperture priority

mode with the white balance set to auto. Regards

 

Mike

What focal lengths are we talking about?

[[however the results I have had so far with my Nikon D200 are disappointing]]

 

It would be helpful if you actually described the problem you have with the images.

The lens I was using was a Nikon 24-70 f 2.8 zoom, the problem I seem to have is that as I turn the polariser there does not appear to be a real visible darkening of the sky, when I used my F100 with a Nikon 35-70 f2.8 zoom lens I seemed better able to see a positive darkening and lightening through the viewfinder and found I was able to create pleasingly saturated blue skies, having spent two weeks with the new set up I find some skies have saturated really well and other are very bland, this is why I posted to see if I should be doing something with white balance settings, thanks for the responses, and apologies for not being more descriptive, regards

I suspect it's the tiny dim veiw finder inherent to most mid level dslr. What camera?

"if I should be doing something with white balance settings" - Yes,

 

If you use a circular polarizer, and rotate it to obtain your satisifed effect in the viewfinder, then perhaps you do not want the Auto White Balance setting to spoil your fun, right ?

I agree with Frank. Be sure to set your white balance to daylight when using the polarizer or the camera may "outthink" you and "fix" the effects of the polarization, with unpredictable results.

Mike, I was having exactly the same problem. Thank you Frank and Pen for the answer! I had been using auto white balance. Tomorrow I'll try it with daylight.

 

That's why we lurk in these forums, eh? I never would have thought to ask the question, even though I was experiencing the problem. Like Mike, I couldn't figure out why my 35mm experience was so dramatically different.

 

Thanks again...

 

Will

Ditto - I was getting some but not full effect from my CP on my recent holidays. The suggestion regarding WB is appreciated and as it is nice and sunny in Sydney I will test it later today.

The impact of polarization depends on the angle of the sun. The maximum effect is at 90 degrees to the sun. That means if you have the sun at your back or you are shooting toward the sun there will be little impact.

 

The CP cuts the light, but as others have mentioned the camerea takes the reduction in light into consideration in calculating the exposure. Set at minimum polarization, you lose almost a stop. At full polarization you lose about 2 stops. This means you can use your CP as a mild neutral density filter.

 

Auto WB should still work without adjustment. This assumes your CP is of sufficient quality to be neutral in color. Some filters introduce a slight tint, and the camera would try to overcome that with white balance changes. It is possible you get some reflections that could impact white balance, so a manual white balance is an alternative. Generally the Auto WB is pretty good but it is an area that Nikon continues to refine.

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments and feedback, I intend to follow the advice regarding daylight white balance, and hopefully by ensuring I am at the correct angle to the sun should see some nicely saturated skies, again thanks for your responses, regards

Mike

~ camera may "outthink" you and "fix" the effects of the polarization ~

 

Thanks Pen! I, also, couldn't figure out why I got so little effect from my CP. I'm anxious to get out there and try your suggestion. Jim

Another thought perhaps - you can always increase sky saturation in Photoshop.

Hi

 

which polarizer is it? I had a similar problem - I went on a days shoot with a pro. I was using a Nikon CPII Thin

polarizer. He let me use his Lee for some shots. In comparison my shots with the Nikon looked like there was no

polarizer in use. All settings were the same.

 

A week later I bought the Lee - difference for my is literally night and day.

Can't you get around the white balance issue by shooting RAW?