Do I need a thin polarizer for a Minolta 17-35mm lens?

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would like to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA

With such a wide lens a polarizer is of little use.


David Farber wrote:
I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would like to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA

Why?

wrote:
With such a wide lens a polarizer is of little use.


David Farber wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would like to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
Why?

wrote:
With such a wide lens a polarizer is of little use.


David Farber wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would like
to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA



Without going into great detail, you can only tune the polarizer to work on
light coming at you from certain directions at a time. With a long
telephoto lens the angle of view is narrow, thus the whole frame can be
filled with light coming essentially from the same direction, but with a
wide angle, the angle of view is much greater, and as you rotate your
polarizer some parts of the image will be effected much more than others,
some not at all.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

The coverage angle is wider than is desirable. Polarization occurs in
the sky over a small angle at a time. The 'polarizer' that fits over
your lens is not a 'polarizer' at all, but an analyzer. The
polarization occurs in the atmosphere, but only over a limited angle.


Paul Furman wrote:
Why?

wrote:
With such a wide lens a polarizer is of little use.


David Farber wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would like to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA

"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
Why?

wrote:
With such a wide lens a polarizer is of little use.


David Farber wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide
angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would
like
to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA



Without going into great detail, you can only tune the polarizer to work
on
light coming at you from certain directions at a time. With a long
telephoto lens the angle of view is narrow, thus the whole frame can be
filled with light coming essentially from the same direction, but with a
wide angle, the angle of view is much greater, and as you rotate your
polarizer some parts of the image will be effected much more than others,
some not at all.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com



So I guess you're saying that a polarizing filter affects only a narrow
angle of reflected light and therefore a wide angle lens is not a good match
for it. Makes sense to me. I can save my money for something else now.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA

wrote in message
ups.com...
The coverage angle is wider than is desirable. Polarization occurs in
the sky over a small angle at a time. The 'polarizer' that fits over
your lens is not a 'polarizer' at all, but an analyzer. The
polarization occurs in the atmosphere, but only over a limited angle.


Paul Furman wrote:
Why?

wrote:
With such a wide lens a polarizer is of little use.


David Farber wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide
angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using
a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would
like to
avoid this problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA


Can you please elaborate about the analyzer part?

--
David Farber
L.A., CA

Paul Furman wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide
angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would
like to
avoid this problem.


While Matt is correct, it can still be used. But care is needed to
avoid really dark areas in one part of the frame and quite light in the
other. I *do* use a circ pol with a 20mm lens, but I'm careful about
where the light is coming from.

Rule of thumb: Make a pistol with your fingers, thumb up. (90°).
Point finger at subject. (Pretty big at 20mm!)
If you can rotate your wrist so that the thumb points at the sun
(while finger points at subject), then you will get maximum
polarization. (eg: light source 90° to lens axis is maximum).

Now imaging the diminishing polarization effect on the rest of the image.

Then, consider reorienting (and shoot at a different time of day) such
that the max pol occurs in the sky and not on subject, foreground ...

Takes some wierd thinking ... but can work well. Of course at 35mm it
will be less difficult than at 17mm.

If you shoot slide film, then it will be most difficult to get a
pleasing result.

If you get a Max 7D (one day) then the angle of view is narrower so
you'll be less impacted in any case.

In closing, at smaller apertures you are at less risk of vignetting than
at larger apertures. If you can find a thinner pol than the Minolta one
(mine, anyway, is quite thick and I do vignette on my FFL 20mm at large
apertures) then get the thinner ones.

Have fun.

Cheers,
Alan


--
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-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

A polarizer filter 'works' best at 28mm and narrower lenses (35mm,
50mm, 85mm, etc.)

A un-even sky effect will be what you will end up with if you use a
polarizer filter on a 17mm lens, so the 'corners' that are a bit darker
with a regular polarizer filter will not matter much __ nor will your
image be improved by getting a thin filter.
= = =

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
Paul Furman wrote:

I'm thinking of buying a Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4 (77mm filter) wide
angle
zoom lens for my Maxxum 7. I've already had vignetting problems using
a
standard circular polarizer with my Minolta 24-105mm zoom and would
like to
avoid this problem.


While Matt is correct, it can still be used. But care is needed to
avoid really dark areas in one part of the frame and quite light in the
other. I *do* use a circ pol with a 20mm lens, but I'm careful about
where the light is coming from.

Rule of thumb: Make a pistol with your fingers, thumb up. (90°).
Point finger at subject. (Pretty big at 20mm!)
If you can rotate your wrist so that the thumb points at the sun
(while finger points at subject), then you will get maximum
polarization. (eg: light source 90° to lens axis is maximum).


Good trick to know!

Now imaging the diminishing polarization effect on the rest of the image.

Then, consider reorienting (and shoot at a different time of day) such
that the max pol occurs in the sky and not on subject, foreground ...

Takes some wierd thinking ... but can work well. Of course at 35mm it
will be less difficult than at 17mm.

If you shoot slide film, then it will be most difficult to get a
pleasing result.

If you get a Max 7D (one day) then the angle of view is narrower so
you'll be less impacted in any case.

In closing, at smaller apertures you are at less risk of vignetting than
at larger apertures.

I found a tutorial at
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...larizers.shtml

It says, "If the lens is wider than about 24mm, when used at small apertures
the edge of the ring can cause vignetting at the corners of the frame."

So do they mean small aperture numbers or small lens openings?

If you can find a thinner pol than the Minolta one
(mine, anyway, is quite thick and I do vignette on my FFL 20mm at large
apertures) then get the thinner ones.

Have fun.

Cheers,
Alan



Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
L.A., CA