[DSLR] Which lens UV/Polarizer filter should I get?

My goodness, you need to work on expressing yourself better. Did you bother to proof read your question?

It is not clear what you really want to know?

So you don’t want my opinion? OK…

Digital SLRs are not susceptible to UV light, so a UV-filter doesn’t / shouldn’t have any other function than to protect your lens. You may rather consider buying a nice hood. That will keep unwanted light out of your lens and protect it (somewhat).

They sell plain “protection” filters for digital, it is all you need for that purpose. UV is of no value. As for polarising lenses, maybe you should learn a little about them before buying one. There are two distinctly different types and they serve different purposes. Does the front element on the lenses that you intend to use it on rotate? If so a rotating filter – a circular polariser – the most common type, will be difficult to use.

@x3m I would go for the Hoya polarizer. If it really is thinner than the Sunpack, it will have less chance of vignetting with a very wide angle lens. (It may not really be thinner, there’s not a whole lot of options in the way they are assembled).

Linear polarizers do not work with the meters and autofocus of most cameras. The photographic effect of linear and circular is the same.

@DarkScribe All photographic polarizers rotate.

I’m really sorry if the beginning came out unclear. What I meant with all of that is that I don’t want to start a discussion about if filters are needed, if it’s worth spending more, if I should not buy filters etc. Enthusiasts can get carried away, you know.. [I do that some times to]. Anyway, I just wanted to know what brand was suggested.
But I had a bit of trouble here with Fluther (it’s my first question!) and I took a while to get the question posted. And now I already ordered (got the Hoya UV and didn’t get any Polarizer, because of my budget).

But thanks a lot for the help everyone!

@DarkScribe DarkScribe All photographic polarizers rotate.

And you raise this (incorrect response) because?

I said that if the front element rotates any rotating filter will be difficult to use. Do you disagree with this?

I said that there are two types of polarising filters. circular and linear. Do you disagree with this?

There are linear polarising filters that are not circular – I use one regularly when on the water – it has a slide-in slot for various graduated linear filters. A quick change for sky/horizon positions depending what I am shooting and how I am framing.

@DarkScribe There are linear polarising filters that are not circular – I use one regularly when on the water – it has a slide-in slot for various graduated linear filters

When discussing polarizers, “circular” and “linear” are not referring to shape or gradation. Maybe you are confusing polarizers with neutral density filters.

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~scdiroff/lds/LightOptics/CircularPolarization/CircularPolarization.html

@jaytkay When discussing polarizers, “circular” and “linear” are not referring to shape or gradation. Maybe you are confusing polarizers with neutral density filters.

And maybe I am not.

You might not have experience of graduated polarisers, but I have been using them for more than thirty years. Started with large format camera and modified for 35mm. A quick search just found several places selling the graduated strips – they are still used, particularly with movie cameras. The reason they are graduated is for the opposite of ND filtering. Polarisers attenuate light, just like ND filters – something that you sometimes don’t want in a full image. The only downside is that you need to have a number of strips on hand as you cannot vary the “polarising” effect. Which is why I tend to only use them – as I mentioned – when shooting on water and in a fixed direction. Surfing contests and yacht races.

@DarkScribe
Care to share a link to graduated polarizers/polarisers?

@jaytkay Care to share a link to graduated polarizers/polarisers?

Nor a link, but the company – Photo-Continental in Brisbane, Australia. They have several available sources of film (the strips are semi-flexible film, not lenses – similar to the early Polaroid glasses. ) but no strip holders for 35mm, only large format or movie. The strip holders for 35mm would have to be special order. They tell me that they have very little demand in the past ten years other than from studios.

@DarkScribe Thanks for no links as expected.

@jaytkay @DarkScribe Thanks for no links as expected.

Do your own searches – it isn’t hard. I don’t know what your problem is, the techniques has been around for decades, my first was before I got my first conventional linear polarising filter. Like a graduated ND filter, sometimes you want to have a polarising effect above or below the horizon, but not in the rest of the frame.

So far you have responded negatively to every post that I have made, although NONE were in any way incorrect. I initially pointed out that a lens with a rotating front element was difficult to use with a polariser, but you seemed to take exception. You then claimed that all polarising filters rotate – where the truth is that most rotate. The ones that I sometimes use are rectangular and use strips of polarising thick film with various graduation cut-off points. They are used in situations where you cannot play with a filter and know beforehand what you are going to need. When you are hanging off the rigging or fly-bridge of a violently moving chase boat you don’t play with variable filters.

Even Wiki gives information – is that too hard for you to find?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarising_filter#Square_filters

Square filters
For square filters, 2” x 2”, 3” x 3” and 4” x 4” were historically very common and are still made by some manufacturers. 100 mm x 100 mm is very close to 4“x4”, allowing use of many of the same holders, and is one of the more popular sizes currently (2006) in use; it is virtually a standard in the motion picture industry. 75 mm x 75 mm is very close to 3” x 3” and while less common today, was much in vogue in the 1990s.

@DarkScribe:

It’s not round vs. square when discussing circular vs. linear polarizers. “Circular” is a term of physics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_polarization

@jaytkay It’s not round vs. square when discussing circular vs. linear polarizers.

The only mention of “square” is in a direct quote from Wicki. Read the links before making foolish comments. Nobody discussed how polarisers work, until you start with yet another segue into an area not under discussion. You claimed that all polarising filters rotate. You were wrong. End of story.

@DarkScribe The only mention of “square” is in a direct quote from Wicki.

Which you quoted as an authority. Sorry. I was taking you seriously. My mistake.