Cost effective Circular Polariser Options?

Hi,

I'm wanting to get a new circular polariser filter for the 52mm Pentax kit lens.

There's a fairly recent thread one the Marumi here but I'm after ideas/leads on any of those options.

Ebay has a few, the likes of the Hoya HD / Kenko Zeta around the £34 mark from Hong Kong etc. The Hoya Pro1 line is cheaper at roughly £26 and gets good reviews, but a few suggesting it's very hard to keep clean.

I'd like to have a reasonable filter, but I won't be using it much. Not sure if the extra money is worth it over the much cheaper options? Opinions much appreciated

I have Hoya Pro1 CPs and don't have an issue with cleaning - they never get dirty except the occasional fleck of dust which can be blown odd.

I haven't noticed that the Pro 1 filters get dirtier than any others or are harder to clean, I have two and find them pretty good. I also have two Pentax cpl filters but I don't think they come in 58mm.

i read a test review a couple of years ago and Marumi were placed 2nd and 3rd and their standard one was the higher rated . i have 77mm slim one and it performs well ,no detrment to iq on DA*16-50, going to buy another for my 49mm lenses

Whatever you buy, buy a big one and use step down rings so you only have to buy once and can use the same filter on different size lenses. I use Marumi. I like it.

Thanks guys, lots to mull over there.

Yeah the Marumi's featured well here but they seem quite a bit more expensive now, maybe because of it?!

There was a supplementary article follow up here in which the Hoya HD was tested along with a few other recent releases at the time, (the Hoya did ok, but not necessarily as well as some were expecting). This was all a we while ago now though, so I'd just wondered if anyone had stumbled across a special performance to cost filter on their travels.

I'd considered the larger polariser with step down rings, I actually have a larger filter around here somewhere too!, but I think I'd prefer to match this to the lens. At least that's what I'm thinking at the moment. Cheers!

also if using wide or ultra wide lens you need the slim bodied version of the filter to avoid vignetting and Marumi are very slim

Well I've just got a lead on a different option, a Calumet photos 'own brand' polariser, so will try this out for the price:

One of these for roughly £12.

A bit of googling tends to hint that these are rebadged/cheaper versions of B&W units, so hopefully that means it will be ok. For the price I'm willing to give it a go

how does $69.99 roughly convert to £12.00 ,
$69.99 is what is quoted on your link.

I bought a £3.50 'cheapie' from Hong Kong to fit my DA 16-45 (67mm thread) as a 'try out' before buying a more expensive one. The reason for this is that I've had problems with circular polarisers (even decent branded ones) on some lenses.

I have to say I've been amazed by what £3.50 buys on ebay! The polariser has never been off my 16-45 since I bought it. It's made of optical glass, is very slim, gives me just the right amount of polarising effect (not too dark), shows no visible loss of sharpness or IQ and works exceptionally well in combination with my Hitech ND Grads. All in all, I cannot find a fault with it and I do own several other branded CPL's, none of which are any better and some of which are nowhere near as good.

I think the vendor was 'fotocola' or something similar. For £3.50, there's not much of a risk and a lot to gain if it suits you.

Regards
David

Mine will be a 2nd hand purchase, so the price is less than if being purchased new.

Thanks David.

I ordered something similar (I hope, they all look the same at that price) for my DA 16-45.

Whats it like at the wide end using the polariser, any banding or vignetting?

Your picture of Victorian Pier at Colwyn Bay using both is amazing.

EDIT - After looking through your gallery they all look fantastic using that combo (and ND filters).

Neil

If you include sky then the degree of polarisation changes acroos the field, so there will be a marked gradation in the blue.

Wide angles tend to vignette slightly anyway, leading to a darkening of the corners of an image, so in general I don't used polarisers on wide angle lenses. Not for landscapes anyway.

Thanks for the info John.

Regards Neil

Good advice that, I eventually stopped using polarisers because of this but then I'm terribly forgetful and didn't always check!
The wider end of your zoom will be most prone as John points out and it's not always easy to see in the viewfinder but far easier on the rear LCD, you can get away with it as long as you go for a minimal effect on extreme wide angles of your zoom, it differs for every lens of course, just saying to watch out for it, my own lack of care ruined many a potential good shot I'm afraid...