24mm ts-e with a polarizer?

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I was lucky enough to acquire a 24mm ts-e for landscape work prior to a trip to Utah next month. I am curious if anyone has had good luck with a screw on polarizer for this lens or is the lens too wide to get nice results. If you have had good luck, what polarizer do you recommend? Any other advice for this lens is appreciated. Thanks
 
Yes, the slim one. But...I bought it before the XS-Pro mount CPL was available. Today, I'd buy the latter (has front threads, and it's actually even thinner than the Slim, 4mm vs 5mm).
 
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You want the B+W XS-Pro Kaesemann MRC Nano Filter in 82 mm. It's relatively slimline but still has filter threads on its front so you can use a lens cap or in conjunction with a Lee or Cokin filter holder (I prefer this approach to the Lee 105mm circular filter mounted to the front of the Lee and that costs even more - the B+W is better glass). The 'slim' non-XS-Pro variant doesn't have filter threads. Stupidly expensive in 82mm and you'll have to get onto B&H's waiting list to get one - in 82mm, they're still hard to come by. XS-Pro is B+W's top of the range filter; with this lens you should be using the best polarizer available. This is not one to compromise with.

With 24mm (on full frame), you're just about OK with a polarizer. Any wider (e.g. Zeiss 21mm), you'll have to contend with uneven skies. Vignetting will be an issue with extreme shift with or without a filter, but you won't have filter shadow if you keep the shift within reason with this one. When you get used to this lens, you'll find you don't need to use too much shift (or tilt) to get what you want. Less is more. In common with most B+W polarizers, I lose between 1 & 1.5 stops or so depending on strength of effect (i.e. rotation). Do play with the lens before you go away with it - it's not a beginner's lens. Be careful not to tighten the lock knobs too much. I don't tighten them at all. They're easily broken and expensive to fix.

If you stump up for this filter, you can at least use it on smaller diameter lenses with an appropriate adapter ring. Seems like 82 is the way of the future. It's a bitter pill, but you don't have to take it often. Hope this helps.
 
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Yes. All XS-Pros have MRC nano coating, slimline mount with front threads and brass mounts. The coatings are their most advanced (or at least their most recent) and do seem to be consistent and with good transmission. The Kaesemann foils I think are a bit of a marketing gimmick, but B+W do claim better resistance to foil delamination due to mould and moisture ingress with this. Kaesemann has nothing to do with the MRC nano coatings - it relates to the sealing. At their prices, I would hope that this would not be an issue, whatever they call it.

The OP seems as concerned about the practicalities of such a filter with a TS-E as with the quality of the glass, so I think he scores all ways, here. There are undoubtedly other brands that would work, but beyond the obvious contenders, it can be a bit of a lottery. You do rather get what you pay for with filters.
 
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jrda2 said:
I was lucky enough to acquire a 24mm ts-e for landscape work prior to a trip to Utah next month. I am curious if anyone has had good luck with a screw on polarizer for this lens or is the lens too wide to get nice results. If you have had good luck, what polarizer do you recommend? Any other advice for this lens is appreciated. Thanks

Another polarizer that you may consider is the Singh Ray LB Warming Polarizer. I use this polarizer in combination with stacking ND filters and/or ND Grad Filter/Reverse ND Filter together with the 5D3 + TS-E 24mm II + Cokin Z Pro Filter Holder. Here are some of my sample images which I believe I already have posted in the 5D MK III images forum:

Solitary
Canon EOS 5D Mark III ı Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II ı Singh Ray 0.9 Reverse ND Grad Filter ı Singh Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Solitary by shutterwideshut on Flickr

Tilting and Shifting Reflections
Canon EOS 5D Mark III ı Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II ı Singh Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Tilting and Shifting Reflections by shutterwideshut on Flickr

The day I saw the sun
Canon EOS 5D Mark III ı Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II ı Lee 1.2 ND Filter ı Singh Ray LB Warming Polarizer ı Lee 0.9 Soft ND Grad Filter

The day I saw the sun by shutterwideshut on Flickr

Slow
Canon EOS 5D Mark III ı Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II ı Lee Big Stopper ı Singh Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Slow by shutterwideshut on Flickr
 
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Great shots!

Should also mention that there's no need for a slim (or XS-Pro) mount for the TS-E lens. The image circle is huge, there's no need to worry about vignetting (the reason slim filters are used). At the extremes of movements, there will be vignetting (asymmetrical) but a standard filter won't make it any worse.
 
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I use a Lee filter polarizer/ND combination due to the range of movements that I employ with this excellent lens...

The other thing you should look into is the Adobe Flat field plug-in for Lightroom. This plug-in lets you calibrate the raw processing of images taken with shift to reduce/eliminate the CA and other optical issues that occur when using a lot of shift. Check it out at Adobe labs.

George Pappas
 
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