Using a Polarizer Filter On Your DVX200

M

Mike Mas

Active member
Since 90% of my work is outside, using as Polarizer filters on my cameras is common place to get what I call "Blue Skies & Green Grass" Shots.

Myself, I use the Hoya brand which sell for around $35 on my GH5 (62mm) and DVX200 (72mm). Just curious how many guys use them and what brand filters your getting the best results from.

For those who don't use a polarizer, here's a short video I found that best illustrates their advantages to remove refracted light haze from the sky, reflection from cars and most important pretty water.

Regards - Mike


https://youtu.be/vhkL1l2C1ew
 
I did a lot of still work before I started shooting video. When I moved over to video, a guy that I was working with who had been in the business nearly as long as I'd been alive took me under his wing. One of the first things that I asked him was "do you ever use a polarizer". He quickly replied "no, we want everything we do to look natural".

While I agree with him for ENG work there have been times when I was shooting in a moving vehicle that I really wanted to reach for a polarizer to cancel out a reflection but instead I recomposed the shot to eliminate what a polarizer may have helped me with. Although I secretly still have polarizers in my kit I can honestly say that I've never used one for video just because the guy that took me under his wing would have probably shamed me for using one.

I still believe deep down that they may come in handy in the right situation. I watched your video because the title of your post really intrigued me being that I was a polarizer user when I shot a lot of stills. It was interesting to see the difference. Maybe in travel videos they would be useful because you are trying to accentuate the surroundings and get the clouds to pop out but for ENG work I can't see myself using one.

Thanks for posting.
 
I have one and use it occasionally. The time I used it the most was a shoot of some safety videos for a local trash hauler. We did a ton of shooting in and around a trash truck, outside, mid-day. The filter was great for removing glares/reflections. Extra helpful when we had to shoot through windows. Downside....can't use the standard lens hood because it makes rotating the filter almost impossible.
 
I use a B+W CPL for stills, for video I have a Cavision 4x4 CPL, or I use an SLR Magic variable ND and just rotate it to dial in the amount of polarization.

I think CPLs almost always make things look better, you just don't wan't to use them on ultra wide lenses or on certain panning shots.

B+W, Hoya, and Tiffen make good filters, I'm not sure if one has an edge over another though. Get a rubber lens hood if you use a screw-on CPL.
 
I'm sure most of you guys have been doing this for a while can appreciate the beauty of shooting outdoors right after a cold front goes through, where you have this beautiful clean air and sky with no refracted light, just deep blue skies where you can have the subject and the sky in the shot with no compromises.

Essentially with a polarizer it helps to take all that reflected light away so your not trying to stop out the sky or add more light to the subject. We published a magazine for R/C helicopters and drones for 19 years which required most every shot to be in the sky and a polarize filter was a bare necessity. Not saying you can't live without one but well worth keeping on in your bag.

Here's a video capture of a drone shot for a job we did with a polarizer - that sky made the shot!

Regards - Mike


merciers.jpg
 
Been using the Hoya CPL for a few years. I like em'. Relatively cheap so if it gets buggered up protecting the lens I won't cry (too much). They don't seem to mess up the image like some other dirt cheap CPL's can. More recently I've started using Schneider Optics filters and have been really impressed with them. They do cost about 4 times as much as the Hoya's, but you can see a difference (not that the Hoya's are bad, they are probably the best at that price so I'm not knocking them). I can get it under the stock DVX hood, but rotating it is a *****. Usually set up the shot, take hood off, rotate filter, stick hood back on, fine tune with finger tip.
 
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Oh, as a total aside.... the older Hoya filters seem better than the new ones. The older ones were made in Japan. The newer ones are made in Chindia, or someplace. I've had good luck finding new old stock Hoya's on e-bay. As another aside... I found my box of Cokin filters from the 70's and 80's (my 35mm days). The adapter happened to fit the DVX (with hood off). The old Cokin straight polarizer can create some lovely even sky colors, nice and deep, rich looking, but you pretty much have to use manual focus (I guess the CPL gets around that by being focus sensor friendly) so it takes more time to set up. Seems like the older filters I have or have come across create a nicer look than the new ones....
 
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