Polarizers, who's using them?

starcentral

starcentral

Veteran
At nearly 2 stops loss is anyone here using polarizers for "regular" shooting or just select occasions?

I really like the effect it and look it brings but while eating 2 stops I'm hard pressed to use it.
 
The only time I really use a polarizer is outside and the sky is in the shot and the sun is out, so 2 stops doesn't usually "hurt" me and in fact helps me, because on my ENG cameras I am then able to essentially have about 8 stops of ND to control exposure(2, 4, and 6 stops of ND in-camera plus the polarizer and then about 1/3 stop dropping the gain all the way down). Now if you're in a darker environment and trying to use it to cut glare or reflections, then I could see you running into problems. I believe there are some polarizes out there that are supposed to be only !-stop.
 
My rule of thumb is that if there is any visible human skin in the shot, the polarizer stays in my camera bag. The exception to this would be shooting through a window or windshield.

Even then, I'm not a big fan of them.
 
35 years ago when I was first learning the ropes, and shooting about equal measures of film and video, we were always advised never to use polarizers on 3-tube (now 3-chip) cameras. The theory was that the prism beamsplitter also had a polarizing effect which varied in angle between the three channels, and adding an external polarizer over the lens would cause wild shifts in color as you adjusted it.

So, I learned to avoid them for video work, but there are certainly times when their sky brightness and reflection control would be valuable in my current work. Is it still a concern, using a polarizer with a modern video camera? (I have a mix of single- and 3-chip models now.)

- Greg
 
I would never want to go on an exterior shoot without a pola in the kit. You just have to evaluate each situation on its own merit to decide whether the effect is valuable or not. Knocking down glaring asphalt may be a great way to control contrast, but losing the sheen on the trees at the same time may not be worth it. Something that is not always obvious is that you don't always have to maximize its effect; sometimes it's great just to take out a percentage of the reflections, such as shooting through a windshield where the effect of passing trees overhead is nice, but you need to see just enough of the subject's face as well, so you dial in the precise balance.

I generally carry the Schneider Tru-Pol which we have in 138 for certain matteboxes and as a rota-pola for others.

Usually when polas are discussed there is a certain amount of confusion over circular vs linear, which has nothing to do with the shape of the filter. Circular polas have an extra layer that de-polarizes the light rays passing through, to avoid any issues with metering systems or prisms (Greg Smith, this would answer your concerns). For single sensor systems, there's no advantage to using a circular pola.
 
I like the typical exterior applications for pola but wondering what people's thoughts are for using on skin to minimize reflection or on car interiors for example. I remember using pola once on a BMW interior shot and it was a great way to dial in the light contours on the leather and interior trim.
 
starcentral said:
I like the typical exterior applications for pola but wondering what people's thoughts are for using on skin to minimize reflection or on car interiors for example. I remember using pola once on a BMW interior shot and it was a great way to dial in the light contours on the leather and interior trim.
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Well, it is a special effect and should be used for special purposes. You will get a distinct pola effect on skin, it will look overly matte (obviously, depends on how much polarization you will dial). Ancient cinematographer wisdom has it to avoid polas on people altogether, if possible.
Aronofsky's Noah is a good recent reference example. They shot night for day in artifical rain. Libatique had to use polarizers when shooting the battle for the ark to hide the multiple reflections from the top lights on the wet faces. The result looks peculiar.
 
starcentral said:
I like the typical exterior applications for pola but wondering what people's thoughts are for using on skin to minimize reflection or on car interiors for example.
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Skin with little to no reflectivity looks pretty unnatural to my eye. But I seem to remember Shane Hurlbut once saying that he used polarizers extensively on The Greatest Game Ever Played because he was looking for that aesthetic. Might be worth checking out.
 
starcentral said:
difference between circular and linear again?
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See my post above, Dennis.

I can't recall a single time in my career that I required a circular pola. There have been many reported stories of unscrupulous photo store salespersons insisting "buy the circular polarizer, it's better!" There is no visual difference except for beam splitter/prism issues in certain cameras.
 
CharlesPapert said:
Usually when polas are discussed there is a certain amount of confusion over circular vs linear, which has nothing to do with the shape of the filter. Circular polas have an extra layer that de-polarizes the light rays passing through, to avoid any issues with metering systems or prisms (Greg Smith, this would answer your concerns). For single sensor systems, there's no advantage to using a circular pola.
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Ah awesome, not sure how I missed that. Probably have to blame my phone screen size.


By chance does anyone have a 114mm clamp on front to 4.5" filter holder for sale? A Schneider is $350 Canadian dollars right now which is absurd. I might almost be included to electrical tape it on my lens fronts at this point. I can buy a lot of electrical tape for $350.
 
Ah, a fellow collector of series 9 filters too huh? :)

I have 4x5.65 filters but I wouldn't mind a clamp on directly for the lens. I will keep an eye out for one on ebay, dvx and reduser.

cheers,
 
mnewxcv said:
can someone explain why a polarizer is useful for in vehicle shooting?
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Outside the vehicle so you can see through the window without getting a reflection.

ie..

Car-Comparison.jpg
 
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