To DanMcG - Re CPL filters
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DanMcG wrote:
Just wanted to add that the 32 is actually a tough little lens too. I managed to drop mine while the front and rear caps were off, was swapping it for the 22. It landed on the edge of the manual focus ring and bounced a couple times on asphalt. I freaked out because that lens cost more than my refurbished M6 body, but turns out it's still perfectly functional and suffered no ill effects other than a bit of scuffing.
I smacked mine against a couple of cement walls recently but the lens hood I was using caught and deflected any damage. One of those impacts was quite hard. I've also had people smack up against the camera lens several times in just the last two weeks while walking through crowds with the camera in my hand. Again, the lens hood I'm using (which isn't the OEM hood) did a marvelous job of protecting the lens from impact damage with the rings on the hand of the offending party.
For the other 32mm owners... what ND filter do you use? I got a cheap one on Amazon to allow me to shoot at 1.4 while out in bright daylight, but the color cast that it gives my photos is unpleasant and I can't seem to edit away the issue with WB tweaks.
I've elected to use a Circular Polarizer instead of an ND filter. It should be noted that most ND filters of any quality ought to be color neutral. Less expensive ND filters are often prone to strange color castes... with excessive magenta bias being common. Circular Polarizers can cut down on light much the same way as an ND 2-Stop filter (possibly 4-stop) can. But they too can affect color... usually by increasing saturation and by warming colors up (again, with a stronger magenta/yellow saturation). The better quality the filter, the more likely you are to be pleased with the results.
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There's a lot of alternatives out there. I tend to shoot near beaches on occasion so I thought I'd try my luck with the HOYA 'Fusion' anti-static CPL filters. So far they're performing well.
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Most of what I've written here is for the benefit of others who might encounter this post. You seem to have experience with filters to much of what I'm saying may already be known to you.
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I've started using the new HOYA "Fusion" CPL filters on the 32mm lens. These are also known as the "EVO" series in parts of North America. This new series of filters also includes a UV filter with exceptionally high light transmission. All have a new anti-static coating which repels dirt, dust and other particulates, making them much easier to clean in the field. I've always been fond of cutting down the glare with wide open apertures on fast lenses in sunlight and use CPL filters on my f/2 and f/1.4 and even my f/1.2 lenses in bright sunlight. One obvious benefit of the 43mm filter size of the 32mm lens is that the same filters can be swapped over to the 22mm or the 28mm Macro lenses.
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I also used a VERY cheap CPL filter with the brand name of 'INCA' for the first day that I used the 32mm lens. The results were just fine. Even though INCA is cheaper brand filter (sold in Australasia), it usually produces a very similar result to a standard HOYA CPL filter.
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32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL - this beach actually has warm colored sand from iron deposits.
32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL - softer (diffused) background, still visible at 30+ feet.
32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL
32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL
32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL
32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL
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Like yourself, I find it hard to edit poor color in an image if it's wrong straight out of the camera. It's not impossible but the results are not always exactly what I'd like to see... so I try to get the colors right with the correct White Balance and personal User Defined Settings on the camera. One thing I've found is important with CPL filters (and may or may not apply to ND filters) is that the White Balance should sometimes be shifted to "Daylight" when shooting in bright sunlight. Failure to do so appears to add a little more magenta to my shots. I usually forget to do this although the samples above from my own camera were mostly taken with Auto WB.
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There are photographers who use CPL filter just to embolden skies and make the clouds appear crisper and more defined. I've noticed that shooting flowers with a CPL filter can cut down on glare but that colors may become much warmer.
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CPL filter (with PP color-correction) used below.
CPL filter - turning the filter whilst shooting at the ground while walking resulted in a variety of tones and a reduction of specular reflections. The same applies to buildings and also to laminated surfaces indoors and especially window reflections.
Probably the most profound result from using a CPL filter is the ability to remove reflections in daylight from windows on vehicles and buildings.
Taken with an older camera.
32mm + HOYA 'Fusion' CPL - I saw this bright little mini parked in a car park (my car is the deep-red one in the distance behind it) and used the CPL filter to cut down on glare, increase warmth and saturation and then to eliminate reflections from the window as best as I could with a single exposure. Multiple shots would gave allowed more selective results on the chrome and paintwork.
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Of course, you may prefer to use the much more neutral ND filters since they are NOT supposed to affect color at all, just the transmission of light. They can actually age and cause discoloration if old and that's something a lot of experienced photographers either forget or don't take into consideration. I've purchased a Variable-Density ND filter for use on the 11-22mm lens but on a wide lens like that it produces truly HIDEOUS banding of the worst possible kind. However, since the 32mm lens has a much narrower FOV, I'm thinking I might try digging that filter out and using a step ring to mount it to the 32mm lens.
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Something worth mentioning before I go is that the 32mm lens has had issues with some filters not locking down on the lens. I believe B&W and several types of step-rings were unable to lock down and would continue to turn due to their own thread thickness being slightly different in protrusion (even though they are 43mm). Since my own step-rings (sourced online on Ebay) also don't lock down, I've taken to mounting them directly to the UV filter's outward threads (the UV filters from HOYA are threaded on both sides).
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Regards,
Marco Nero.
