filter for Minolta MC telephoto

[david_degilio]

I recently bought a Minolta MC tele-rokkor HF f4.5 telephoto lens

for my Minolta XG-M SLR. I want to get a polarizing filter, but

these seem very expensive in the 72MM thread size of this lens.

 

Are there any cheaper alternatives to achieve the polarizing effect?

I prefer B&W but these were in the $100.00 range

 

 

Thanks,

Dave

[clinton_abe]

Dave- You were looking at the prices for a circular polarizer, which you would need if the camera had auto-focusing. As the XG-M doesn't have AF, you can get the regular linear polarizing filter which runs about $40 less if you buy the B+W one.

[fmueller]

Unfortunately there is no other way to achieve the effect of using a polarizing filter than to actually do so. Good advice from Cliton regarding the linear polarizer. Some manual focus cameras actually need a circular polarizer as well as to not confuse their metering (those with a beam splitter), but no manual focus Minolta falls into this category. So, as long as you stay in the manual focus Minolta system, you will be safe with a cheaper, linear polarizer. Also, while B+W might be 'the best', I'd doubt that you would ever notice a difference in results if you used a Tiffen polarizer ($37.40 at B&H in 72mm size). You might also want to go to some local photo stores to look for second hand filters. They often have a box full of used filters that you can search through for anything that might be of use. That's where I picked up a 72mm Tamron C-PL for A$5 that still had the original price label of A$89 on the box :-)

[clinton_abe]

Frank- There is a difference in the quality of different polarizing filters. A lot of the less expensive ones tend to give a cooler looking picture. The better ones don't shift the color towards the cooler part of the spectrum. The B+W filter has a very neutral effect on color.