52mm drop-in polarizers interchangeable?

[yomingjack]

I'm getting a 500mm f/4 and can hardly contain my excitement. I hope this is not a dumb question but, do any of you know if the drop-in circular polarizers of Canon's are the same as the 52mm version by Nikon? Simply, will the nikon fit the Canon lens or not? TIA

[robertwgross]

Pardon my curiosity here, but what are you going to shoot with that rig?

A polarizer tends to reduce the light by near two stops, and that is a big price to pay when you are out at 500mm.

The only subject that I could guess would be flying aircraft.

---Bob Gross---

[yomingjack]

Wet wildlife. Waterfowl, wading moose, beaver, otters, whitewater kayakers, etc., and ,yes ,the occasional airshow I hope ;-) After waiting a loooonng time to pull this trigger, I am , of course, looking at accessories. At the moment though, only research.

[DwightMcCann]

Yo, share with us whatever you learn about the polarizer, please.

[Belmondo]

The Canon drop-in CP filter is an accessory item (meaning you pay extra for it). It has a thumb wheel on it to turn the CP filter and it replaces the standard included drop-in filter holder that comes with the lens.

The standard drop in filter has two buttons on it that you squeeze to remove the filter from the lens. The CP filter has only one button, and the thumb wheel is located where the second button would otherwise be.

I haven't seen the Nikon CP filter so I can make no comparison between it and the Canon unit, but I would not expect them to be interchangeable. Not only would they have to share overall phisical dimensions, including lens diameter at the point where the filter goes, but they would also have to have the same latch mechanism. Very unlikely.

Canon does make a drop in holder for 52mm threaded filters, and you could use a CP in that, but adjusting it would be a pain in the neck because you'd have to repeatedly remove the filter/holder to turn the CP.

[robertwgross]

Wet wildlife. Waterfowl, wading moose, beaver, otters, whitewater kayakers, etc., and ,yes ,the occasional airshow I hope ;-)

I can envision your rig used for an airshow. I can also envision it for wildlife, maybe. I guess you want to get rid of water reflections when you are shooting into the sun.

I had a long lens like that, and the damned polarizer cost me $150. Then I discovered that the light loss from the polarizer was killing any good result.

---Bob Gross---