HELP! Having trouble with new polarizer on my lenses

Hi Guys!

HELP! I bought a 77mm B+W Slim Polarizer to go on my 17-55 and my 10-22.

Now....I have a 58mm Hoya Polarizer....nothing special other then it is multicoated, and when I use this on my other lenses, I can really tell when rotating it the difference in how the sky looks, or shiny metal looks. The Hoya was only $65-$70

My new B+W was $165....and Im having a hard time telling any difference when I have it on my lenses! It just looks dark no matter how I turn it! When I aim towards a shiny surface and rotate it, I can tell sort-of, but I cant see any change when aiming at lanscape and trying to make the sky and trees a richer color like I can with my cheapo polarizer. This sucker is much darker too then the Hoya! It just all looks the same no matter how I rotate it.

Is this normal?

Does it look the same in actual pictures or just in your viewfinder? Use results, not premonitions.

No, not normal. I know this will sound weird, but I habe the exact same polarizers you do. My BW is so well made that many times I had a hard time turning it. Sometimes I thought I was turning it and wasn't.

Make sure when you test the differencebetween them that you are at mid-afternoon and facing 45 degrees from the sun.

OK guys.....Im gonna go run out and take some test shots......maybe its my puny viewfinder and my eye balls are deceiving me in full sun outside! it IS well made, for sure, and i have unscrewed it by mistake a few times instead of turning the actual rotating piece! LOL ok....be back....let me test this better! thanks guys!

OK....here is with polarizer

I am having issues as well

CPL's aren't exactly made for that. They're made to get rid of reflections off shiny surfaces, and due to their coating they make greens greener and blues bluer. If they're already vivid, I wouldn't expect much of a difference.

Right away, I see flare. This indicates that you will not see much polarizer effect. You are simply too close to the sun for them to work at maximum.

I look back and see I was a bit misleading. You need to be between 45 and 180 degrees for it to work best.

now, heres my cheapo Hoya

i can tell the difference right off the bat while using my view finder as i rotate it

with polarizer on darkest

well, i have a hood, but to rotate the polarizer, i have to take it off Im NOT good at angles LOL at all! The sun was to the right of me up over behind the house. Its 4pm east coast, so the sun is starting to work its way down......behind the houses......maybe Im using it in TOO much sun to get an effect? could that be my problem?

on the Hoya pics, the sun was on my left.....i aimed down the other side of the street since my neighbor parked in the drive way next store and blocked my testing view LMAO

yeah, with the hoya, ur also facing a completely different direction than the one with the b+w filter.

would that matter? the sun is still to my side, either way? let me take test shots in the same direction then with the B+W as i did the Hoya, just incase!

Mary, slow down.

You're testing for no good reason really. But if you need peace of mind do this.

Get out your tripod. Lok directly at the sun and stick you left arm out and point. See what you are pointing at. That will be the far right limit in your frame.

Mount camera on tripod. Test with both polarizers. Trun and back off, turn again and back off. Make sure you have them dead on at the darkest. Then take two pics with each lens/polarizer combo.

Now, really key to this is to shoot in M. Keep the settings between the two tests even.

ahhhhhhhhhhh OK! so I MUST be using it all wrong then.....not at the correct angle from the sun!