Photoclubalpha

Hi All - this may sound like a stupid question but when taking wide angle landscape shots where an ND Grad is used (I use Cokin Z filters now) Can I put the polariser on first and then the grad or will this cause problems with the edge of the photo. Is it better to buy a Cokin Z polariser (and choke on the cost!!) and fit that . Hoya seem to do a slim line polariser.

Confused all of a sudden from Plymouth!

Any advice is apprecaited.

I think I'll put the ND Grad first and then the Polarized -but I never use both combined...

pakodominguez wrote:I think I'll put the ND Grad first and then the Polarized -but I never use both combined...

The time I would is when photographing water. Sometimes I have daylight at the top of the shot which needs a grad. Oh and I've recently done some mountain shots which would have benefited from a polariser to lift the clouds a little. Maybe I should just re look at how I compose.

Hi ACI, I have in the past used a CPL directly on the lens, then a Cokin holder with ND grad on top of that. It is fiddley as you have to readjust the Cokin holder after the polariser. Vignetting is the big problem once you're doing any sort of Heath Robinson affair like this. As you have said, once you go up to Z Pro (Lee) size the CPL are the same cost as a cheap lens. I can get away without ND grads to some degree with PPing different exposures, but there is no alternative to the CPL. For me, I can see that I will get the Lee (or hi tech) set up at some point. At the moment I'm never very happy with CPL on uwa anyway so no hurry

I'm in no hurry to spend a lot of money - sometimes I think it's all a big con. I think I'll buy a CPL and Heath Robinson away. I've missed having one since I bought the Sony 24 -70 lens and there is no substitute really. When I was using my Cokin P set I bought one for that as it was the same price as any other polariser but the Z Pro is a ridiculous cost.

Sorry about this very late reply but if you are still wondering what to do here are my thoughts. If you are talking about anything wider than 24mm full frame, 16mm APSC, a polariser is of limited use. It will give more saturated foliage colours in sunlight and cut reflections in water but you will find that skies are not so good. The amount of polarisation depends upon the angle with the sun which with a very wide lens varies across the frame, resulting in a patchy sky. Grads are useful - always better to get it right in camera but are also a pesky nuisance to use, especially with a polariser. I often take two or more exposures and combine them in Photoshop using layer masks. Very easy for a sky.