hawk911

I know there are a few of you shooting DSLRs, and yes even those damn Noink guys are included so here's a tip for you. Buy a polarizing filter for your car shots. Here's 2 shots; the top is without the filter, the bottom is with. Notice the detail now present in the seats.

hawk911

Second tip is try to find a spot not cluttered by houses, trees, light poles, etc. A tip I got from a guy that shot cars for CM High performance magazine told me to shoot a car in a natural habitat- like concrete or asphalt. Cars aren't normally on grass or sand, unless it's a 4-wheeler in a mud bog He also told me to try getting all 4 tires in the shot, so get low. Now this last one depends on the angle you are after, and what you are focusing on for the shot; just something to tuck away as a suggestion.

Wachuko

I am teaching that to my daughter... she loves using the camera

hawk911

so who was shooting whom? Wait!!!!!! There's like 3 cameras involved in that shot!!

jimq

Jaime was that a recent picture? Are they doing the get togethers at the village again?

tbennett017

I concur about the polarizer, especially on a dark car. You can get some striking effects out of good paint that way. (it filters reflected light)

I have a circular polarizer, which can be rotated to see different effects.

ilko

My wife's not around to ask her, so let me ask you guys - what's the difference between a UV and a polarizing filter?

kthxbai!

hawk911

I throw UVs away, and the polarizer is used to eliminate glare off reflective surfaces. It's like fishing glasses so you can see the fishies in the water. it works on angles; angle of the glass or water to the sun. I'm sure their's a more informative explanation on the net somewhere; I'll find it for you.

UV filters are like sunscreen- they block certain types of light rays, but they do nothing for reflections.

ilko

Got it, thanks. I started looking on ebay and there are different sizes from 30mm to 80mm and beyond. What does this number mean? Not the diameter of the lens I assume.

Edit: Figured it out. That's the filter thread measurement. Mine's 58mm.

hawk911

it's the size of the front element on your lens. There's a number, usually stamped, on the front of the lens. the bigger the front element, the more $$ they are. I need an 82mm filter for my 24-70 f2.8. I had planned to get a step-down so I can just use one filter, but since this one is okay, I'll just get a second. Makes for swapping lenses faster to have both filter sizes.

jimq

Will a polarized lense fit on my Kodak brownie box camera?

hawk911

yes it will Jim, just use a REALLY big hammer

hawk911

From the B&H website for a CPL: Light rays which are reflected become polarized. Polarizing filters are used to select which light rays enter your camera lens. They can remove unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water or glass and also saturate colors providing better contrast. The effect can be seen through the viewfinder and changed by rotating the filter. The filter factor varies according to how the filter is rotated and its orientation to the sun.

NOTE: Circular polarizers are specifically designed for use with auto-focus SLR cameras (They will also work on manual systems and video cameras without problems).

• This filter eliminates ultraviolet rays to remove haze from outdoor shots as well as polarizing the light to remove reflections, and increase color saturation, without affecting the overall color balance

Indycam

Yes .
http://www.kenko-tokina.co.jp/news/0110161.html

http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/...Polarizer.html

Indycam

All pola filters rotate .
Non circular pola filters rotate .

A circular pola filter is a new type of pola filter that was made because some new cameras had sensors placed behind a mirror that had a pola affect on the light passing through the mirror . When the old linear pola filter was used on this type of camera the two crossed pole filters would become a N.D. (neutral density) filter . The light that would pass the first pola would only pass the 2nd pola if they were lined up . As soon as the 1st pola was rotated the polarized light would no longer pass the 2nd pola filter . So the sensor would be "in the dark" .

A circular polarizer is a old linear pola filter that has a "phase shift" filter behind it . The light passes through the pola filter , becomes "polarized" . And then the light goes through the phase shift filter , the phase shift filter takes the light that gets passed the pola and rotates the light rays so that the light coming out is no longer polarised .

http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Ex...age?appendix=C
"Circular Polarizing Filter
Converts linear polarized light waves to circular polarized light waves. Required whenever polarizing is desired using autofocus cameras and cameras that have semi-silvered reflex mirrors."

http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/...dbook12_15.pdf
"Highly efficient standard circular polarizing filter for all cameras with beam splitters in the light paths of their TTL exposure meter and with autofocus lenses. Circular polarization has the same pictorial effect as linear polarization, but allows for proper exposure metering and/or autofocus distance settings."