Howdy, I have read the threads for these lens and I know their major differences. But what has not been discussed very much is filter applications. One of the main reasons I am leaning toward purchasing the Tokina is the ability to more easily mount filters. I am mainly interested in shooting landscapes/seascapes and was wondering if anyone has had any experience using a polarizer and grad filters with the Tokina. I have read that a polarizer used on the Tokina produces banding. Has anyone experienced this? Has anyone tried grad filters to knock down the sky a bit?
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Tokina 11-16/Lumix 7-14
- Thread starter gbadgley
- Start date
Barry_Green
Moderator
Polarizers don't work well with wide-angle lenses at all. The wider the field of view, the worse a polarizer would work.
Think about what a polarizer does, and how you use it: a polarizer darkens blue skies, right? And it has its most effect at an angle 90 degrees from the sun, and has zero effect when pointed into or directly away from the sun... so at 90 or 270 degrees it will darken the sky the most, and at 0 or 180 degrees it won't do a thing. Well, on a wide angle lens that's seeing, say, a 120-degree field of view, what'll happen? If you point away from the sun you'll have a bright sky right in the middle of your frame, but the edges will be seeing about 60 degrees from that angle, and that's 2/3 of the way towards the darkest a polarizer will do! So you'll see the darkening effect on the left and right edges, and no darkening in the center. Then as you pan around, those bands will move across the frame depending on what angle you're at from the sun.
So, yeah, polarizers on wide angle lenses are a terrible idea, and the wider the field of view, the worse of an idea it is.
Think about what a polarizer does, and how you use it: a polarizer darkens blue skies, right? And it has its most effect at an angle 90 degrees from the sun, and has zero effect when pointed into or directly away from the sun... so at 90 or 270 degrees it will darken the sky the most, and at 0 or 180 degrees it won't do a thing. Well, on a wide angle lens that's seeing, say, a 120-degree field of view, what'll happen? If you point away from the sun you'll have a bright sky right in the middle of your frame, but the edges will be seeing about 60 degrees from that angle, and that's 2/3 of the way towards the darkest a polarizer will do! So you'll see the darkening effect on the left and right edges, and no darkening in the center. Then as you pan around, those bands will move across the frame depending on what angle you're at from the sun.
So, yeah, polarizers on wide angle lenses are a terrible idea, and the wider the field of view, the worse of an idea it is.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Well, again, the polarizing effect will only happen in portions of the frame, depending on how wide angle the field of view is...