Customer Reviews

Opteka 52mm High Definition˛ Multi-Coated Circular Polarizing Glass Filter

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a bit new to digital SLR photography and was looking for an inexpensive circularpolarizing filter for the 55-200 Nikkor lens I use on my D40. The Opteka fits the bill well, and I have been happy with its performance. If you are a serious photographer you will want something better, but that is true for all glass both filters and lenses. For someone strictly amateur the Opteka filter is a great value.

This is NOT a professional quality circular polarizing filter. However, it's pretty darn close. It is in fact multi-coated, and does it's job pretty well. Obviously, it isn't going to stand up to those $100+ CPL filters. But you will have a tough time finding a true multi-coated circular filter for anywhere near this price. It has found it's way into regular use whenever doing shoots at the beach or anywhere outdoors. It's really a valuable piece to have.

PROS:
+ Multi-coated
+ Decent optical quality for amateur photography
+ Great product for the price

CONS:
- Not professional quality (if you even want to call that a "con" given the price)

I've actually got 4 circular polarizing filters. This one I bought, one came in a kit(Zeikos), one was given to me(1970's Tiffen), and one I actually did my research and bought (Marumi)...I have to say, this one is by far the worst. It does a really good job polarizing the light....slightly better than the Tiffen, however, it changes the hue, quite noticeably. This isn't it's biggest problem, though... I attached this to my 200mm with a 2x teleconverter just to try to bring out any flaws with it...the images were beyond blurry. I took it off an problem solved...These were daylight shots on top of a mountain, so it had nothing to do with the shutter being slowed. If you're a beginner or you don't really care about perfect focus or candid color in your shots, then go with this. It's cheap and does an excellent job as a polarizer. I have to say the Zeikos isn't much better and hardly polarizes, my old tiffen does great with very minimal distortion, if at all, but leaves just a little bit to be desired in terms of polarization....as for the Marumi just read the reviews. This polarizer and the Zeikos currently sit in a drawer and collect dust.

I was nervous purchasing this item online but it's really good! if you shoot in the dark, and shoot something very bright, it has a small glare but I imagine that would be with any lens. overall a really good product and its cheap!