Polarising Filter

larryslord · 18 Sep 2009

Good Morning all, I would be grateful for a little bit of advice.

I am lucky enough to have a Goldfinch or two visit the garden and have been trying to get a few pics.

Unfortunately I am having to take all the shots through a window and despite a good clean I am still not getting the image I want - they seem a little foggy?

I have been reading up and come to the conclusiuon that a polarising filter might help.

Can anyone confirm if I am thinking along the right lines.

Thx in advance & apols if I don't respond to posters straight away but am just off to work

strobemonkey · 18 Sep 2009

Polarising filter will help reduce reflections, but it will not remove the fogginess (though i might be wrong) by shooting through a window. Your best bet is to open the window.

idkb · 18 Sep 2009

Are you having trouble with reflections from the window glass? If so a circular polarising filter may help somewhat.

erding · 18 Sep 2009

Never tried using a Poloriser through glass. My own experience is that you will loose light, and will acquire a green caste. These issues can to a point be overcome/reduced with camera settings for the former and attention to your WB in the later. The issue however is further compounded if:

1. the glass is a sealed beam unit where you are shooting through 2 glass surfaces t
2. you are not shooting at 90 deg. to the glass

CT has experimented with this problem in the past and suggest that you search on some of his posts in the bird forum - look back about 6 to 12 months back.

HoppyUK · 18 Sep 2009

You can probably get around problems with reflections by moving the lens close to the glass, touching it even. But the problem is you are shooting though a thick glass window. maybe two pains, probably at an angle. That's the problem, and a polarising filter will not help, while the loss of light will make things more difficult.

V8burble · 18 Sep 2009

As a bit of a side step answer... is there a possibility that you can set the camera on a tripod outside pre-focused on the feeder/branch that he visits and operate remotely? As HoppyUK mentions, double glazing especially will cause all sorts of problems with IQ.

HoppyUK · 18 Sep 2009

V8burble said:
As a bit of a side step answer... is there a possibility that you can set the camera on a tripod outside pre-focused on the feeder/branch that he visits and operate remotely? As HoppyUK mentions, double glazing especially will cause all sorts of problems with IQ.

Good idea

You can usually pre-focus on a spot where they perch regularly.

I have found in the past though that small birds move incredibly quickly, and they will be off at the slightest sound, even moving on the sound of the mirror going up before the shutter opens. Try mirror-lock up if that happens, and maybe flash to freeze the movement? Not as easy as just putting the camera up to a window though!

raider2727 · 18 Sep 2009

i had the same problem and found the Filter did not get rid of the softness created by the window.

larryslord · 19 Sep 2009

Many Thanks to everyone who has posted & sorry I am so late replying.

The points made by Erding & Hoppy totally sum up the issue, shooting through double glazing at an angle and there is definite softness.

I will review things over the weekend but the majority view seems to be the polarising filter wont help.

Thanks again for all contributions