Filters for Ultra-wide Lenses

I recently got a 17-35mm after a lifetime of never using anything wider than my trusty 24mm. I got one of the new Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizers for it (in 77mm) and was surprised to see how thick it is. It vignettes at 22mm and wider, which was a pretty disappointing feature in a $210 filter. Is there such thing as a thin enough filter for ultra-wides?

I use a Tiffen slim polarizer on my 17-40. It doesn't vignette.

Guy

BW/Schneider makes them, and they're excellent. I've linked to the B&H page for the plain one. They're not cheap at $109 and $176 for MC, but worth the investment. To my knowledge BW/Schneider does not make a warming cp, The only hassle is the lack of a threaded front on the ring so you can use conventional lens caps. They are provided with a plastic slip-on cover which is good for protection in the case, but prone to falling off when carrying the lens mounted on a camera in the field.

Keep in mind that the warming effect is really more useful with film which has a pre-determined color temperature. With digital you can achieve the same effect by varying the white balance setting so a normal polarizer would work just as well.
In fact ifyou set your camera to auto white-balance it may lessen or completely eliminate the warming effect from the filter.

Guy

I have a slim Tiffen polarizer too...I used it on my 18-35mm when I was still shooting film and now on the 12-24 DX that I use with my digital bodies.

And, to echo Guy's comment re warming filters...I had a set of warming polarizers that I used when I was shooting film but I removed them from my bag when I made the digital conversion three years ago because the effect is negligible with Auto WB; it can be adjusted with far greater precision by tweaking the white balance during RAW file conversion.

I use both a B+W or a Hoya SMC thin (slim) polarizer on my Nikon 18-35mm all the time (F100 film body) and have never had an issue. They are very thin. Seems like Singh Ray or someone makes a VERY thin polarizer that's supposed to only take one stop of light. I don't worry about warm filtering either. I've learned how to do that almost well enough in PS.


Kent in SD

Singh-Ray also makes a thin mount LB Polarizer for $30 more. You might try calling them to see if you can make a trade. That would be cheaper than buying a new filter.
Buy the way, how do you like the extra light the LB lets through?

Yeah, I thought I was getting the thin mount, but I got my signals crossed somewhere. I've only used the filter on the 17-35, so the extra light hasn't been an issue. I think it'll be more handy on the 300/4, especially when I've got the 1.7X on it. I've never used a polarizer with long glass before (excluding a 200/Micro), so I'm getting off to a slow start....

By the way, I just called them and they don't take trades. They put me on hold but I got disconnected instead. They said they do have thin mount LB polarizers, but I can't find them on their web site, so maybe they have to be ordered by phone.

John they won't trade opened filters, but they will trade unopened filters. I know this because I recently exchanged a filter I received as a gift. It might take some workto convince them otherwise. Also I've found it best to reach them in the morning versus the afternoon. I hope the information helps. Also if you're around this weekend we shoudl cross paths. I'll try to email you.