Polarizing filters + Wide Angle lenses?
 

I REALLY like my Canon .8 wide angle lens hanging off the front of my Sony HDR-FX1, but there seems to be a lot of guys who like using a polarizing filter for outdoor shooting.

I do a lot of that, sometimes over water, which can be reflective. Can anyone advise on combing the two, if it is ill-advised, and polarizing filter techniques etc?

Dave it's not ill advised at all. You'll need to find a matte box that fits your W/A lens and then you'll be able to put a polarizer in front of the lens. If your W/A lens is threaded then you can buy a cheaper screw on polarizer. Polarizer use is pretty easy. Just rotate the pola until you get the glare reduction you want.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that a really wide angle adapter has the potential for making depth of field so deep any dust or specks on the polarizer will be very, very visible.

Make sure you keep that polarizer scrupulously clean and you should be O.K.

I take it since you can't rotate the polarizing filter on the video cam lens with the wide angle in front of that, the polarizer always has to go outside of the wide angle lens...that would be a pretty large lens!

You certainly should be able to rotate the polarising filter on the front of your zoom lens Dave. But of course this will also turn your Canon wideangle. If you have a petal hood on it that won't be too clever.

Take note of what Brian says - I back him 100%. And remember that polarizers can cause insurmountable continuity headaches as well as rendering the talent's hair lifeless and her skin dull.

tom.

Dave a screw on polarizer is the same size as a haze or clear filter and if your cannon W/A has threads on the front then it would screw on there and only extend your lens by about 4 mm. The screw on polarizers I have rotate independently of the threads and don't affect your wideangle mounting. A matte box also attaches to your W/A lens and the filter holder rotates independently of the mounting point. Also in 25 years in the broadcast business I've never had a problem with "lifeless hair" or "dull skin" while using a Pola.

Be careful with polarisers and wide angles. You can overdo it and get uneven polarisation which looks horrible, with the centre of the frame darker than the edges.
Steve

My Canon .8 wide angle does have threads on the front, but the rectangular matt box precludes its use, as there is a top and bottom plastic tab system that limits how far backwards the matt box slides back on the wide angle.

I am quite enamored with that wide angle lens, as even though there is some slight barreling, it isn't noticeable unless you have vertical or horizontal lines, and you have to be looking for it. Hell, I just watched Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino and twice I saw the boom mike in the top of the screen at the theater!

But since I am often doing inside a room or on a scenic outdoor setting, the wide angle footage rocks, and if Clint can screw up a little, so can I! ;)

That's actually a mistake of the projectionist of the theatre, not the cinematographer.

That sounds a bit tough on the projectionist Ben. You mean the film frame has to be masked for DVD production as well - as nowadays may TVs show the full frame with no overscan at all.

Hola guys; 2 days ago i was in Barca and i saw a videoguy from a spanish channel that was cleaning the lens and i saw that he was mounting on the Z1 the filter(a cokin ) and on the filter the wide angle (i guess the hg0872)....Ami missing anything or is a mistake to mount the filters before the wide angle?

Do Cokin make screw-in filters? I only know their square ones. But it is indeed a mistake to have filters between wide-angle and zoom, It's adding two air to glass surfaces and increasing the chance of vignetting as the w/angle has been moved further from the zoom's front element.

So wich Matte box(not very expensive) do you suggest to use the filters with a wide?

You can mount the wide angle on top of the filters though I've read folks recommending not to. One thing you have to be careful of using it this way is unwanted flaring. But I've read where plenty of folks use their cams in this way successfully.