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Some help with my Cokin P filters and a Kood Circ Polarizing
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I am currently using a Cokin P filter system. I am generally using Kood filters with the Cokin adapter. I just bought a Kood Circular Polarizing filter yesterday. When fitting the filter, it only fits in one position on the Cokin P adapter. It fits at the rear of the adapter (closest to the lens) and seems to only go in back to front due to the lip on the filter. Does this sound right? It won’t fit in any of the 3 guides that the sqaure filters generally fit into. It just seems too big to go into the standard guides… is this normal?
Cheers
Sounds right to me. Bear in mind that the effect of a polarising filter varies as you rotate it. Also bear in mind that you may have other filters in the holder at the same time (perhaps a graduated neutral density filter). So you don’t really want to rotate the entire filter holder, just the polarizing filter. The design of the filter holder and the polarizing filter allows you to do this.
I know that the LEE system puts the CP filter at the front, rather than the back – ie lens/ND filters/CP filter. I was attempting to use mine for the first time on Saturday morning, and I was like a duck out of water. I always thought a CP filter was used purely to enhance colour, but in fact its main purpose is to remove reflections, particularly from rocks and greenery. And it definitely needs to be used at an angle to the sun – I found myself shooting more or less directly at a sunrise, and the CP filter had virtually no effect. 90 degrees to the sun seems to be the optimum angle.
Ross
Ross, you’re spot on about removing reflections. When you think about it, it’s reflections that result in a loss of colour contrast and saturation, which is why using a polarizing filter to reduce reflections results in increased colour saturation, giving you richer greens and darker blue skies for example.
There’s a simple rule of thumb you can use to determine how to use a filter and it is quite literally a rule of thumb because you use your thumb :wink: Make a fist with your hand and then extend both your thumb and forefinger straight out. Now point your thumb at the sun and your forefinger will point in the direction in which you need to point your polarizer in order to get the maximum effect from it. Of course, you shouldn’t always be using it to it’s max which is a mistake a lot of people make, but that’s where creative interpretation comes in.
The other things to bear in mind is that a polarizing filter will result in an exposure increase of anywhere between one and two stops and that it cannot remove specular reflections (such as from polished metal or a mirror).
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