Feeling Polarized

Hoya HRT Polarizer. A “protection” filter with an edge

Of all the filters you could possible own, the polarizer is the most significant as it actually does something that you can’t do in photoshop. And as much as I go on about them, all too often I find myself caught without one. I am seeking to solve that problem with this product…

I just received this in 72mm from Amazon for the new 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 G. It’s a circular polarizer which uses “High Rate Transparency” polarizing film, so it’s 25% faster than standard polarizers. And although it claims to also filter UV, my experience has taught me that all polarizers do this. It’s about half the price of the higher-end polarizers, making it an excellent replacement for the typical UV, Skylight, or Clear protective filter. I think it’s going to be my new go-to protection filter.

Color Balance In L*a*b* terms, this filter is about 2% more yellow and less that 1% more green than neutral. In degrees Kelvin, that’s about 50 degrees warmer. It gives a slight warming effect, although a 1% magenta shift would have been preferable to a 1% green shift. Still, it’s virtually insignificant, and all of this is very easily corrected through post-processing in seconds.

Coatings Although I have not read any solid claims on this, I’m almost certain it’s single-coated as have been the majority of standard Hoya filters in the past. It’s certainly very easy to keep clean. 

Light Loss It has only a one stop light loss, which is very easy to work with and to compensate for. In the outdoor applications it would be mostly used for, this is mostly insignificant. For indoor use, where there is less likelihood of damage from the environment it can simply be removed for existing-light photography, or kept on for flash.

The build quality is excellent, and it’s made in Japan, as opposed to the entry-level filters which are made in the Phillipines. Nothing against them mind you, it’s just that these days, “Made in Japan” seems to give the impression of higher quality, which is not necessarily true, but carries social currency. It’s all black anodized aluminum, the knurling on the base ring makes it easy to install and remove, and the tampo is very clean. Speaking of tampo this filter has a tampo’ed triangle at one of the cardinal points of the filter, which allows you to adjust it if your using a non-SLR or non-mirrorless camera.

I suspect this will work very well with other filters due to its speed advantage. For example, with black and white photography, you can darken the sky, and darken it even further with a polarizer. Its use in infrared photography should prove equally beneficial, as it alters the image without having any impact on exposure. Infrared rays pass right through polarizers and ND filters with virtually no impedance. But because any traces of visible light are further reduced, interesting effects are achievable.

I’m going to be using this pretty much exclusively from now on. I also have one in 67mm for my DX 16-85mm, so I will be able do the same for my D90 and D50. I’m looking forward to sharing my findings in future posts.