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Circular vs Linear Polarizer on m4/3 Camera

Started Jun 7, 2016 | Discussions thread
kenw
kenw Veteran Member • Posts: 7,095
Re: Update. I purchased two polarizers (37mm and 46mm).

Charley123 wrote:

Linear will work better than circular because linear polarizes more strongly.

No, they polarize exactly the same. The circular just adds a second layer after the linear which is a bifringent material to convert linear polarized light to circularly polarized light.

There is some variation in the polarizing effect from different manufacturers but this is usually the degree to which they still polarize effectively into the red and infrared spectrum. LensTip has an extensive review and measurements of many different polarizers.

Though my question stands... Does lens coating (or lack of) on a linear polarizer matter more for digital than for film? Cause on film I was getting great results with cheap uncoated linear polarizers like Tiffen and Hoya.

Reflections from the sensor glass are higher than for film. End result you'll get "ghost" reflections when shooting digital worse than with film if you use an uncoated filter. In general I've always found the flare from uncoated filters unacceptable with film or digital while modern coated filters are almost as good as no filter at all.

My own testing of coated vs. uncoated from many years back:

http://www.kenandchristine.com/Other/Equipment-Tests/Filter-Tests/

Sadly despite all the effort I put into my photos these ugly test shots are still the most viewed on my site every month

A good write up specifically on flare and reflections from filters by someone else:

http://toothwalker.org/optics/filterflare.html

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Ken W
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