Mark E
New member
Should I use a circular polarizer on photographing birds in the water? I'm very new to this and need all the help I can get. Thanks.
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I have and occasionally use one of those drop in's and Nikon is really the only choice there. The OP doesn't say what gear he's using which would help narrow the advice. I'll agree with you for wildlife use.Hi, I just joined the forum and came across this one. Some time ago I had a Nikon 200-400 f4 VR and used it on D610 and D7100 for wildlife. I spent a lot of time and quite a bit of money to get hold of one of these drop-in polarizers (original Nikon). It certainly helped under psecial circumstances to make the photo look better, but at the price of loosing some sharpness and having an AF that is slower and less reliable due to loosing light. In the end I had it sitting in the drawer and finally sold it. Since then I have never used a CPOL on a Super-Tele or Zoom again. But this is only my personal view ;-)
If you have reflections in the water that are distracting from the shot or the birds are wet and their true colors aren't showing through, then, yes, a polarizer can help. There are definitely downsides (AF takes a hit, you lose a stop and a half of light which you'll have to accommodate with slower speed, shorter DoF or higher ISO) which prev posters covered.Should I use a circular polarizer on photographing birds in the water? I'm very new to this and need all the help I can get. Thanks.
Thanks Bob. Diving ducks can definitely have water on them, so knowing this will help. Assuming they'll stay still long enough for the shot.If you have reflections in the water that are distracting from the shot or the birds are wet and their true colors aren't showing through, then, yes, a polarizer can help. There are definitely downsides (AF takes a hit, you lose a stop and a half of light which you'll have to accommodate with slower speed, shorter DoF or higher ISO) which prev posters covered.
Yep. it'll work fine.I purchased the Nikon PL2 Circular Polarizing Filter , does it work with Matrix Metering on the Z8?
24-70mm /2.8 S lens
Thank you, I had remembered, reading somewhere that a polarized filter doesn't work with MATRIX metering. Made no sense to me but I just wanted to verify. Thank you very much for the response.
Used to be a thing when there were non circular polarizer. These days it's hard to find anything but Circular
IIRC linear polorisers stopped the AF working where circular ones are OK with AF.
Thank you for the reply. and the link to LensRentals.com, very informative. I have already purchased the Nikon PL2 Circular polarizing filter. The Nikon PLC is not mentioned in the article. I now must search for comparisons .......Polarizers eliminate reflections, which for your scenario I would NOT want to do because I like seeing the bird's reflection in the water. I use a polarizer for landscape shots often, but almost never for wildlife.
As far as which one to get, Roger Cicala from LensRentals is a scientist who does extensive tests. His test of polarizing filters showed in terms of quality and polarizing effect they are more or less equal: https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/20...tertaining-circular-polarizer-filter-article/