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swiftflo

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Peter
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What is the difference between a linear polarising filter and a Circular polarising filter ?. I have noticed they are both Lee ones and one is much much dearer than the other.
 
Linear polarizing filters are for manual focus lenses.

Circular are for AF lenses.

Having said that I use a linear polarizer on my AF lenses and they focus no problem.
 
Linear polarizing filters are for manual focus lenses.

Circular are for AF lenses.

Having said that I use a linear polarizer on my AF lenses and they focus no problem.

Thanks
 
I've used a cheap linear PL a while ago. AF was fine. The effect was stronger and it looked a little bit darker. In some cases this could be used to your advantage.

P.S. I'd just buy a normal screw in CPL for your biggest lens and not waste money on lee type. You really shouldn't stack it with anything else, and it is likely to degrade image quality anyway. If you need a grad like once in a year just bracket and merge.
 
A circular polarising filter is just a linear polarising filter with a 1/4 wave plate stuck on the back. It has nothing to do with the shape of the filter, but it 'circularises' the light so it doesn't upset the metering and AF systems of some cameras. I've never had any problems in that area with linear, and others report the same, but that's the theory.

It's actually quite hard to find a linear polariser in the average camera shop these days (usually special order) but there is no practical downside to a circular polariser. I've tested dozens of polarising filters for my work, including linear, and while there are lots of differences between them (flare and ghosting, overall density, colour, sharpness with longer lenses etc) they are all identical in terms of polarising ability.
 
I use a B&W 105mm Linear as part of my Hitech kit and it produces good results. Autofocus doesn't seem to struggle, but I always zoom in and check manually anyway.
 
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