Using Circular Polarising Filters

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SuperCNJ

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How do you find the best rotation angle for the CP filter?

I've been trying to take a few landscape shots over the weekend but can't seem to see much difference as I rotate the filter. There is hardly any difference in the saturation of the blue sky or anything else looking through the viewfinder? But when I look at the photos on the laptop I can see the colour of the sky has changed marginally, but this is purely luck as I had no idea what was the optimum angle for the lighting for the shot I was taking.

How do you guys tell whether you have rotate the CP filter to the "best" or "near best" angle to filter the unwanted light and also do you have to compensate the reduced exposure in anyway?

I have a Hoya Pro1D 72mm CP filter with Nikon 18-200mm lens.

Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
first of all.. make sure you are always turning the filter clockwise,turn it anti and it may come unscrewed and fall of:nono: now from what i know having used one for a while you have to make sure the sun is 45deg to you and the lens or it will not work:shrug:...hope this helps:thumbs: hope im right too:lol:
 
I agree the sun must be in the right place in order for the effect to be seen. It works better in some situations than others.
 
if you have an LCD TV, point your camera at it and you'll see the effect, in real world though, as stated above, a CP work best with the sun side on to the way you point your camera.
 
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it with the sun in a different location next time. I can't remember where it was when I took the shot but I have a feeling it was behind me?

Yeah, I've tried the trick with the LCD telly, it blacks out the screen which was pretty cool.

Do you have to compensate for the exposure in some way due to the reduced light from the CP filter?
 
didnt I read somewhere it allows a quicker shutter speed?? really not sure but keen to know
 
The polariser is going to reduce the amount of light getting through to the sensor so the shutter speed is going to decrease to allow the sensor to pick up the image, if you increase the shutter speed you'll find the image is underexposed most likely but as its on the end of the lens the camera should compensate for this automatically or tell you to decrease the shutter speed. Thats my take on it any way.
 
I use the Hoya Pro 1 D & with the right lighting/sun angle it produces very nice effects...

Mine has an arrow indicating the "zero" polarisation position, polarisation increases the more you turn it away from this point

simon
 
hi there
go outside and look at a pond or river (from a low angle) and turn until your see the shine on the surface disappear then you can put a marker on the lens at different stages of filtration ...try the small stickers that you can get from smiths until you can remember the points on the lens.
hope this helps
mickytwoknives
ps
if you have ttl you are ok for metering.
 
A polariser is most effective at 90 degrees to the angle of the sun. Full stop.

And when the sun is high in the sky (eg from 10am to 4pm during the summer - ie now) it won't give the most pleasing results either. Get up early or go out after work!

You lose 1.5 to 2 stops as it cuts out light reaching the sensor. But TTL metering will sort this for you.
 
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