When PolarPro sent me their new Arctic circular polarizer, I was quite excited. This new polarizer has been designed specifically for winter photography in cold, harsh conditions.<\/p>\n
As luck would have it, they sent the filter to the right person. I know a thing or two about shooting in harsh winter conditions, living in Canada. A typical winter often sees me out shooting in minus 26 degrees Celsius. I\u2019ve been on photographic assignments to the Arctic and shot in as low as minus 62 degrees Celsius on occasion. Cold is my photographic collaborator.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s how this review is going to work. I\u2019ll reproduce what PolarPro has written about the PolarPro Arctic CP Filter<\/a> on their website and respond to each point, one at a time. I have a couple of PolarPro\u2019s CP filters, including the fairly new PolarPro 135 Series Chroma PL<\/a>. It\u2019s incredibly good\u2014there\u2019s no color cast at all\u2014so that\u2019s the one I\u2019ll use for a direct comparison. Here we go then.<\/p>\n \tHigh Transmission Polarizer (45%) \u2013 Half a stop brighter than standard polarizers for low-light environments. The biggest downside to polarizers is they cost you between 1 to 2 stops of light. To save a half stop of light when shooting in low light would be useful and is the single biggest reason I\u2019m interested in the Arctic CP.<\/p>\n We have well-below-freezing temperatures outside right now, and snow everywhere\u2014perfect conditions, then. I headed out and shot a group of trees without a filter, and then put on my Chroma PL. One stop of light lost. Next, the Arctic CP, and one stop of light lost. Hmm\u2014no difference. I tried shooting mostly snow, so very bright, and got the same results: both filters lost me one stop of light. I tried a shot with a darker scene and a lot less snow. Same results.<\/p>\n This is no scientific bench test; it\u2019s me out photographing in the snow, which is what you\u2019d be doing too, right? Does it perform differently on a sunny beach with blue skies? No idea. It\u2019s marketed as a filter for this weather, so that\u2019s the environment I\u2019m testing it in.<\/p>\n No filter<\/p>\n PolarPro 135 Series Chroma PL \u2013 minus one stop<\/p>\n PolarPro Arctic CP \u2013 minus one stop<\/p>\n When I compared the PolarPro CPL to the 135 Series Chroma PL earlier this year, the results were pretty much the same. If I did the nerdy pixel-peeper thing, I could argue the CPL has an oh-so-slight color cast. To clarify, the Chroma PL had no color cast. It was very good.<\/p>\n So how does the Arctic PL compare? I can\u2019t see a difference at all. And shooting snow is when a color cast is going to be the most obvious.<\/p>\n Here I stand, in the cold, freezing to death, for you, dear reader\u2014so you better be paying attention. The short throw of 110 \u00b0 was noticeable, and good. There were hard stops at each end of the rotation, unlike the Chroma PL, where there were no hard stops; it just kept rotating. One could argue, however, that unless you\u2019re going from horizontal to vertical shooting, you really don\u2019t need to be turning the filter much once adjusted\u2014especially in snowy winter conditions.<\/p>\n I have my Arctic gloves out with me, and my comfy alpaca wool gloves too. Both pairs turned the Arctic CP a little easier than the Chroma PL. Check.<\/p>\n Ah-ha\u2014yes, the Arctic can be used with a lens hood. But so can the Chroma PL. Of course, this only works if your filter is the same size as your lens. Both of the filters in this test are 82mm, as was my lens, so all good.\u00a0<\/p>\n These were tested by Benjamin Hardman on a grueling Arctic trip. A sailing voyage through Greenland, huh? A Monty Python sketch comes to mind: \u201cLuxury! What I\u2019d give to go on a sailing cruise through Greenland. We have to get up while it\u2019s still dark, trudge through waist-deep snow in minus 50 degrees while keeping one eye peeled for polar bears.\u201d I paraphrase, and jest. Benjamin has a fabulous body of work and has been on some pretty sweet adventures; it\u2019s worth taking a look around his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both filters lost me one stop of light, but notice how the color on all three images are the same. The lack of color casting on these filters is impressive.<\/p>\n PolarPro Arctic CP and the 135 Series Chroma PL<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/p>\n I think the question on your mind, and mine too, is whether the $150 Arctic CP filter is worth buying instead of the $140 135 Series Chroma PL, or PolarPro\u2019s $140 regular CPL filter. Is the extra $10 worth it?<\/p>\n The answer is yes in theory, for that extra half stop of light alone\u2014but there was no extra half stop of light. Both Arctic CP and 135 Series Chroma PL filters performed exactly the same. They both cost me one stop of light in the overcast, snowy conditions I tested them in. I shot a variety of winter landscape scenes over multiple days, and a couple of times the Arctic CP image did look very slightly lighter than the Chroma PL. But half a stop? Not even close.<\/p>\n If you want to go deeper on landscape shooting and post work beyond filter choice, Fstoppers\u2019 Photographing the World: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing<\/a> is a solid companion.<\/p>\n Positives<\/p>\n I liked that the Arctic CP filter had a very useful short rotation with hard stops.<\/p>\n I liked that it was a little more grippy.<\/p>\n I liked that it was white\u2014there\u2019s no confusion about what you have attached to your lens at a glance.<\/p>\n And it looks rather cool, too.<\/p>\n Negatives<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t deliver that extra half stop of light, as promised.<\/p>\n It would have been nice if it were made with brass instead of aluminum\u2014but this is a criticism of most filters, not just this one.<\/p>\n Bottom Line<\/p>\n Had the PolarPro Arctic CP given me that extra half stop, this would easily rate as a 9.5\/10\u2014maybe even a 10\/10.<\/p>\n But it didn\u2019t. Despite this, it\u2019s an incredibly good filter\u2014one of the best CP filters you can buy\u2014so I can\u2019t not give it an 8.5\/10.<\/p>\n You can buy it here<\/a> for $150 or buy the 135 Series Chroma PL here<\/a> for $10 less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When PolarPro sent me their new Arctic circular polarizer, I was quite excited. This new polarizer has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-493317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tChroma Polarization Technology \u2013 Perfect color rendition with zero color shift.
\n\tShort Throw Rotation (110 \u00b0) \u2013 Covers the full polarization range, 5x faster than traditional designs.
\n\tGlove-Friendly Surface \u2013 Enlarged grip surface for smooth adjustments in cold conditions.
\n\tLens Hood Compatible \u2013 Slim frame design works seamlessly with lens hoods.
\n\tHelix MagLock + Standard Thread Sizes \u2013 Available in quick-swap Helix MagLock<\/a> or standard 49 mm, 67 mm, 77 mm, 82 mm, 86 mm, 95 mm thread sizes.
\n\tField-Tested in Greenland \u2013 Proven by Benjamin Hardman on a sailing voyage through Arctic ice fields.<\/p>\n