A lot of people have caught on the trend of shooting your smartphone through polarized sunglasses for the benefits that they offer our eyes. Starting today you can leave those glasses on your head and pick up a new clip on polarizer for your phone from Photojojo. The advantages that you get out of a filter like this is that it cuts down glare and makes things around you just a bit more saturated.
Although the demo images feature an iPhone this clip on filter will actually work with all mobile electronics with a camera, including all iOS and Android devices. The clip will sell for $20 and will be available from the Photojojo store starting today!
It’s rare for me that a product shot of an item will make me want it. Even though I am a huge filter naysayer, there are definitely benefits to using a high quality filter. So here comes Cokin with a brand new set of filters that claim to be the thinnest and lightest filters in the world. Although I don’t think I have ever cared before now about the size and weight of a filter, Cokin sure has made me reconsider after seeing the Pure Harmonie set. There are three new filters under the new branding and they are the Anti-UV Multi-Coated (UV MC), Circular Polarizer (C PL), and the Variable Density Neutral Gray (ND X).
The UV MC filter (above) is only 3.3mm thick and Cokin says that it’s nearly invisible when on your lens and I believe them. The C PL is 4.5mm thin and was made with no compromise. It has a rotating ring to adjust polarization. From ND2 to ND400, the Variable Neutral Density filter will give you a range of eight f stops without affecting the color rendition.
At the least you should mozy over to their website to check out the details. If you do and you find yourself wanting one you can check them out on Amazon: Anti-UV Multi Coated, Circular Polarizer and Variable Neutral Density Gray Filter. They range from $50 all the way up to $200 for the largest variable ND filter.
When I saw this I thought…not another Olloclip! The Trygger is all about leaving your iPhone’s lens at its normal focal length but add a polarizer over it to make your images more natural. The polarizer will block unwanted reflections and make the color pop without the need of some lousy filter.
The two guys behind the project have already had a successful Kickstarter for previous phones and are now looking to create a snug attachment for your iPhone 5. The product is selling for $30 now while it is getting funded and will cost a bit more at $40 when it’s available for retail. Head over to their new Kickstarter page to check out the video and examples with the lens.
The flow of water captured at 1/13 sec thanks to a makedo sunglasses ND-filter
During this year’s summer vacations in the Austrian Alps, I found myself in need of an ND or polarizer filter a couple times. Wandering the mountains of the Alps, I often encountered beautiful mountain streams and small waterfalls that I desired to photograph. However, in the bright sunlight of the day, even with the lens stopped down to f/16, it was impossible to capture the flow of the water. At 1/125th of a second, the water would still look almost frozen. I would need at least 1/20th of a second to have the water appear flowing in the picture. In order to achieve this, I would have needed an ND or a polarizer filter. (A polarizer filter also “swallows” some light, making the resulting image darker.) Not having either with me, nor finding one in the right size in the various camera and electronics stores of Innsbruck, Tyrolia, I had to improvise.
[click to continue…]
