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Luminous Landscape Forum > Equipment & Techniques > Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear
MarkKay
On occassion I want to stack my 4x4 and 4x6 ND or graduated ND filters with a polarizer. Since i am using a thin circular polarizer there is no thread or way to attach both to the lens. Has anyone had any experience with a 4x4 square polarizer?
Henrik Paul
I'm not sure if your text was unintentionally misleading, but just to set the terminology straight for everyone, there's no "square polarizer" in the sense that there is a "circular polarizer". There, however, might be a square circular polarizer. As far as polarizers go, there are circular polarizers and then there are linear polarizers. I found a nice article about this topic on http://www.photofilter.com/cir_lin.html

But to answer your question (a bit), at least the circular polarizer found in Cokin's filter system is a round one, that fits in the square filter slots.

As a curiosity, I tried to use my screw-in polarizer (mounted between the lens and the filter system) with Cokin's system and a ND grad, but it was more trouble than what it was worth as the polarizer rotated when I tried to align the horizon with the grad filter.
MarkKay
Lee makes a square circular polarizer and that is what I meant. It is a Lee PLCG. 100x100mm square..

QUOTE (Henrik Paul @ Sep 23 2007, 03:26 PM)
I'm not sure if your text was unintentionally misleading, but just to set the terminology straight for everyone, there's no "square polarizer" in the sense that there is a "circular polarizer". There, however, might be a square circular polarizer. As far as polarizers go, there are circular polarizers and then there are linear polarizers. I found a nice article about this topic on http://www.photofilter.com/cir_lin.html

But to answer your question (a bit), at least the circular polarizer found in Cokin's filter system is a round one, that fits in the square filter slots.

As a curiosity, I tried to use my screw-in polarizer (mounted between the lens and the filter system) with Cokin's system and a ND grad, but it was more trouble than what it was worth as the polarizer rotated when I tried to align the horizon with the grad filter.
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Kevin W Smith
QUOTE (MarkKay @ Sep 22 2007, 12:25 PM)
On occassion I want to stack my 4x4 and 4x6 ND or graduated ND filters with a polarizer. Since i am using a thin circular polarizer there is no thread or way to attach both to the lens.  Has anyone had any experience with a 4x4 square polarizer?
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For the 4x4 filters you can use the Lee Gel Snap (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/186726-REG/LEE_Filters__Gel_Snap_3x3_4x4_Filter.html) and slip it over the lens once you have the polarizer set where you want it.

You can also kludge a 4x6 grad filter in there by not snapping the holder shut, but it's a bit unstable. In either case, having some photo tape on hand both to keep the polarizer from rotating, keep the grad filter from slipping and the holder in place, is useful.
Kevin W Smith
QUOTE (MarkKay @ Sep 23 2007, 05:13 PM)
Lee makes a square circular polarizer and that is what I meant.  It is a Lee PLCG.  100x100mm square..
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The problem with the square polarizer filter that slides into the holder is that you can't rotate it independently from the grad filter.

BTW, another thing you can do is use a thicker, threaded polarizer on the lens with a thread on the outside, then mount the Lee holder to that for the ND filter. You'll have to tape the polarizer into position to keep it from rotating, but it'll work better than the Gel Snap holder I linked to above.
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