polarizer filter at stadiums?

[abel]

has anyone tried a cir polarizer at night sporting events held in well lit stadiums?

im going to a baseball game tonight and was curious to see if i should carry it along to try it out... thanks

[robertwgross]

Trying to use a circular polarizer at a night sporting event is a moderately bad idea.

First of all, the filter will drop two stops of light for you. That's not very good.

Second, what is it going to do that is good? Just about nothing.

The primary purpose of a circular polarizer is to "fix up the sky" with sunlight and clouds on a sunny day. It tends to cut out a lot of haze and add more contrast between blue sky and white clouds. But it works the most is when you are shooting 90 degrees off from the axis of the sun.

At the night sporting event, there is no sun unless you are in Helsinki or Anchorage or someplace.

---Bob Gross---

[kb244]

The only reason I can see using a polarizer at a sports event, would be like Hockey where you have to shoot thru the glass, and need to reduce some of the reflections from non-metalic objects.

[DaveG]

has anyone tried a cir polarizer at night sporting events held in well lit stadiums?

im going to a baseball game tonight and was curious to see if i should carry it along to try it out... thanks

Pro's spend thousands of dollars to get faster lenses and using a polarizing filter means that you've volunteered to use a two stop slower lens.

I think, that you think, that the P filter will enhance colours; and they will on a bright day with blue sky. But they won't at a night ball game. All they do is make the lens harder to see through, make auto fcousing harder or impossible for the camera, and they cost you those two stops.

So using a polarizing filter at night isn't even the beginning of a good idea.

[kb244]

Basically what the above is saying, The lens most professionals use at a sporting event, are typically 2.8 or faster. By using a polarizer, the stops slow down to what a typical lens speed would be, slower than that could mess with your autofocus, especially when zoomed in all the way. I'm planning to pick up a 50mm 1.8 canon when they ever become avalable and shoot mainly manual with it, the f/1.8 speed would be greatly beneficial over most other lens, but atlast not much zoom factor to work with. The only time I've used a polarizer was, landscapes that included alot of skies, water scene shots ( lakes, rivers, etc ) to get rid of glare, product photography ( again to remove glare, also when i'm shooting products i can control the light so I Can increase the light as needed ). If saturation or colors are main concern, this can be fixed in photoshop either applying warming filter, auto level, or even contrast tweaking ( to get rid of the gray film i've seen in some digital photos ).

[CoolToolGuy]

The primary purpose of a circular polarizer is to "fix up the sky" with sunlight and clouds on a sunny day. It tends to cut out a lot of haze and add more contrast between blue sky and white clouds. But it works the most is when you are shooting 90 degrees off from the axis of the sun.


For me, the main purpose of a polarizer is to reduce glare from non-metallic surfaces. "Fixing up the sky" is a side issue as far as I'm concerned. When you are shooting something with plants or cars (or other subjects), the polarizer can change a shiny leaf or a fender into the true color, or allow you to "see" through the windshield.

The two-stop penalty would be a big factor in a night game, but you may see an improvement. Let us know how it went!

[abel]

thanks for the replies guys... i opted not to use the filter last night and havent had a chance to sift thru pics yet. the game went into 12 innings!!! ugh that was a looooong night considering i dont think i have ever made it thru the 7th inning before... :)