Circular Polarizer...on older lenses

[Hibbs]

I remember reading somewhere that you will get better results using a conventional polarizer on an older lens rather than a circular one,

Anyone have such experience? I recently bought a circular in new condition to fit some of my lenses. Is it really as big an issue as using a conventional polarizer on a modern autofocus lens?

Thanks in advance!

~hibbs

 

[pvdhaar]

My incidental experience is that a linear polarizer indeed gives a ever so slightly more pronounced effect than a circular one (both B+W brand), and gives just a tad less loss of sharpness. And that's all there is to it.

Still this may not be caused by circular vs. linear. Different brands and models of polarizers differ in the polarizer foil grating inside the filter. They also differ in quality; a good multicoated circular polarizer will certainly do better than a cheap linear one..

 

[Hibbs]

Thanks for the info...I'm not too worried as my is B&W (I think). Just wondered what others experienced.

 

[djon]

Circular was introduced to deal with zoom lenses...had something to do with whether or not the front element group revolved while zooming...ordinarily you'd want maximum polarizing capability at your disposal so you wouldn't want circular polarizer unless you were using the particular type of zooms for which they were intended....I think that's right, somebody correct me otherwise!

FYI a CC10Magenta cut and inserted inside a polarizer will help color accuracy...they usually shift Green otherwise. This is especially helpful if you're using a polarizer when copying art.

 

[zpuskas]

My understanding was to use a circular polarizer with an autofocus camera only..I aussume linear polarizers had some negative effect on autofocus capabilities.

 

[djon]

I think circular-for-autofocus observation is correct, and I was wrong about zoom.