No Need To Be Koi About It - Use A Polariser

The Japanese fish in this picture are pretty contented. They live at the Asakusa Temple in Tokyo and are cared for in the ornamental pond - there are a number of signs warning people not to feed them, so I suspect they are sometimes too well cared for. No matter - they are spectacular and friendly. Perfect subjects for a picture.

Except when the skylight blocks out the surface of the water. Then you see whatever is bouncing off that surface. It is the same with shop windows and other shiny surfaces.

Answer is, and always has been, to use a polarising filter on your lens. The older types were known as linear polarisers and did a very good job of seeing down into water surfaces. The newer types are called circular polarisers and may be a little less effective in actually penetrating the surface, but do give a more accurate light meter reading. The Circ Pol's are the ones most often supplied for modern digital cameras.

We've got 'em from Kenko, Hoya, Promaster, and B+W. They are not as cheap as UV filters - never could be - but they are a pretty essential tool for landscape and marine photographers. Useful, too for correcting colours under trees in open sunshine - you can lose the blue fill from Western Australian skies. particularly recommended for bridal work in these circumstances.

Studio? Well there are times when you need to see into things and these can help. You can also use them with sheets of polarising film and studio lights if you are going to copy glossy or textured flat art work. a little more complex than just twirling it in front of the lens when you are out at the beach, but essential to capture the true colours of some canvases.

Note for newbies: Either put a UV on the lens or a Polariser. Not together. Too many glass surfaces, and sometimes you start to unscrew the UV when you think you are turning the Circ Pol.

The Fred Astaire Of Filters

The French.

It's always the French. Every time.

I bought a Renault R 10 motor car in 1966. 4-wheel disc brakes. 4-wheel independent suspension. Most wonderful seats in any car short of a Rolls Royce. And a 998cc engine and no radio...A set of design decisions on the dashboard that left you indecisive...for the six years that I drove it I was never entirely certain what several of the lights meant. I just put oil in the tiny crankcase and hoped for the best...

That said, I contemplated the new line of Cokin filters on the wall. These are round screw-in types - not the square plastic ones that the brand is famous for. They come in a retailer's nightmare of a box - 20% bigger than any other box on the wall and consequently nothing stacks next to it. The French.

Inside the improbably big but undoubtedly stylish packaging is the thinnest UV filter in the universe. See heading picture. These screw onto 77mm and 82mm fittings and then, quite frankly, seem to disappear into the lens itself. Certainly no chance of vignetting on even the widest lenses.

The really good thing for the user is that after purchasing this fine product, screwing it onto the lens, and cleaning it with a Hoodman Lens Cleanse...you can throw the box away. Or use it to store Renault R10 motor cars.

Purity and Harmony In Your Camera Bag - A New Age Dawns

Arise, ye downtrodden. No, wait, that's a different sales pitch. May Day is over...

Peace, brothers and sisters. We are here to bring you pure harmony and a clear view of the world. We are here to protect you. We are here to help you resist atmospheric haze, oil, dust, and soil.

Yes, soil.

And all this in the thinnest possible way. We have just taken delivery of a number of Cokin round screw-in filters for various lens sizes.

We've got UV and circular polariser filters that can attach to the fussiest wide angle lenses without creating any vignetting. All the way up from 37mm to 77. They are especially coated and packed in enormous filter cases.

Ask for the Pure Harmonie model of filter.