Hoya Circular
Polarizing Filter
In short, Hoya's circular polarizing filter has turned
me away from even thinking of using a polarizer, until I see the Nikon's.
Generally, a circular polarizing filter, a.k.a. circular polarizer, is one of most
useful filters. It not only reduces the reflection over non-metallic surfaces, but also
increases color saturation. I bought a Hyoa's circular polarizer while I was mainly
shooting print films. I used it mainly over the 24mm f/2.8 lens the landscape shots.
At the beginning, I indeed saw the blue sky turns bluer, and the reflections are indeed
reduced. However, when a person is included in the picture, the person's skin turns
unhealthily pale. The Hoya circular polarizer has a blue tint!
Later I shoot slides. In one early morning in the winter, I did a "before-and-
after" comparison. I shot a snow landscape under warn early morning Sun (about 1
hour after sunrise). I was shooting toward the Sun. Without the filter, the iced snow
surface had a very interesting mixture of slight-yellowish Sun lit areas and bluish
reflection of the sky. The sun (in the picture behind trees) cause slight flare in a small
area around the sun. With the filter, the subtle yellowish warn tone of the sun light
was completely destroyed, and the flare was much worst and the Sun generated
several big ghost images, as well the contrast of even wider an area.
That almost ends my relationship with any polarizer, until one day I tried a
friend's Nikon's. I didn't have the snow scene to shoot any more, and the films hasn't
came back yet. But, I see through the viewfinder that the color is very neutral. The
effect of darkening the sky is much more significant. For the washed-out looks of tree
leaves and stones, it really clears the reflections and reveals their truer color. The
most important thing is: it maintains (if not warms) the color tone of things,
especially human skins.
Although I am not really "brand-loyal" to Nikon (otherwise I wouldn’t have
been bothered with Hoya at the first place), this time I have to say: Thanks, Nikon!
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Last updated: July 21, 1997.