Filters and ultra wide lenses

I shoot allot of waterfalls and I'm often faced with tight quarters and big falls and my 17-50mm just isn't wide enough at times. So I've been thinking about one of the ultra wides, 10-22mm or so. Now I understand that these should only be used with slim filters to avoid vignetting but I assume that I'm limited to one filter ? I usually start with a CPL but then often end up stacking a ND or two on top. I haven't noticed any vignetting at 17mm when stacking regular filters so I'm wondering where this really becomes critical ? I don't think I would necessarily need 10-12mm but probably use the 12-17mm range the most.

Diver-Down wrote in post #14552762
I shoot allot of waterfalls and I'm often faced with tight quarters and big falls and my 17-50mm just isn't wide enough at times. So I've been thinking about one of the ultra wides, 10-22mm or so. Now I understand that these should only be used with slim filters to avoid vignetting but I assume that I'm limited to one filter ? I usually start with a CPL but then often end up stacking a ND or two on top. I haven't noticed any vignetting at 17mm when stacking regular filters so I'm wondering where this really becomes critical ? I don't think I would necessarily need 10-12mm but probably use the 12-17mm range the most.

First, as a general rule you shouldn't be using CPL filters on UWA lenses. Shots of blue sky wider than 20mm or so will usually show strong color variations from one end of the photo to the other with a CPL attached. Second, I personally never stack filters and find it hard to believe that you can place 2 ND filters in front of a CPL and not get noticeable vignetting.

On my Samyang 14mm f/2.8 and other lenses I use filter in the camera mount.
Nont on the lens back itself, there is no filter holder. I cut filter to the inner size of the mount. No problems up to now.

mwsilver wrote in post #14556155
First, as a general rule you shouldn't be using CPL filters on UWA lenses. Shots of blue sky wider than 20mm or so will usually show strong color variations from one end of the photo to the other with a CPL attached. Second, I personally never stack filters and find it hard to believe that you can place 2 ND filters in front of a CPL and not get noticeable vignetting.

He's shooting waterfalls so most likely he wants to saturate the foliage around the waterfall with the polarizer which works just fine with a polarizer. I shoot waterfalls quite often with a 17mm on full frame with a polarizer and have no issues at all.

mwsilver wrote in post #14556155
First, as a general rule you shouldn't be using CPL filters on UWA lenses. Shots of blue sky wider than 20mm or so will usually show strong color variations from one end of the photo to the other with a CPL attached. Second, I personally never stack filters and find it hard to believe that you can place 2 ND filters in front of a CPL and not get noticeable vignetting.

You are right about blue skies and CPLs on UWA lenses, but that doesn't make it a general rule that you shouldn't use them, just that you should be careful if there is a lot of sky in the shot. They are useful for a lot more than just blue skies, and in a waterfall shot with little or no sky visible they are great for taking glare off the water and foliage.

You are right though that there is no way to stack a CPL and ND filters at the short end of a 10-22mm without noticeable vignetting, although it "might" be possible towards the long end without problems.

Hogloff wrote in post #14556285
He's shooting waterfalls so most likely he wants to saturate the foliage around the waterfall with the polarizer which works just fine with a polarizer. I shoot waterfalls quite often with a 17mm on full frame with a polarizer and have no issues at all.

I guess I stand corrected wih regard to using CPLs and UWA lenses. I guess it depends on what you're shooting.

I don't stack 3 very often but have done it. I was probably on the wide end but don't remember for sure. The other thing about most of the waterfalls that I shoot is that it would be pretty hard to notice vignetting unless it's really bad since the corners are almost always in the shadows or trees and rock, almost never sky. I mostly use the CPL to cut the glare on the water but it also saturates very nicely too.

Sounds like I would be pretty limited with an ultra wide though.

mwsilver wrote in post #14556358
I guess I stand corrected wih regard to using CPLs and UWA lenses. I guess it depends on what you're shooting.

Yep, but in general, if there is sky in your image, a polarizer could really butcher up the sky when using a wide angle. Been there, done that.

Diver-Down wrote in post #14556430
I don't stack 3 very often but have done it. I was probably on the wide end but don't remember for sure. The other thing about most of the waterfalls that I shoot is that it would be pretty hard to notice vignetting unless it's really bad since the corners are almost always in the shadows or trees and rock, almost never sky. I mostly use the CPL to cut the glare on the water but it also saturates very nicely too.

Sounds like I would be pretty limited with an ultra wide though.

I regularly use a slim polarizer, a ND filter and I'll hand hold a GND filter with a 24mm on a full frame without vignetting.

Anyone have filter recommendations? Specifically for my Sigma 10-20mm. (77mm)

You can stack CPLs and NDs using the Lee kit, which accepts either a very expensive 105mm circular CPL or the Lee square CPL which is also quite expensive. But doing it that way will enable you to stack without any vignetting, and is far more flexible than stacking screw-ins.

Hogloff wrote in post #14556445
Yep, but in general, if there is sky in your image, a polarizer could really butcher up the sky when using a wide angle. Been there, done that.

Could, not would. As Sandpiper says, it's not a general rule. Knowing how a CPL works will help a lot in predicting whether or not it will be helpful or harmful in any particular situation.

Here's an image that shows how the degree of polarization changes with the sun behind one's back. If one were to shoot in the same direction, landscape orientation, then there would be no problem with uneven CPL effects.