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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today to give you a look at a filter line that I've become acquainted with in 2019
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I've been using a trio filters from the company Polar Pro over the last three months
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And so I'm here to give you my findings on these premium filters that really are extremely well made and also very, very high performing
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But they also cost a little bit. And we'll circle back to that at the end
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The filters that I've been using are from their Cinema Series quartz line
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And Polar Pro, they specialize in making filters and then also making filters and accessories for aerial photography, drone footage as well
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I'm focusing on the more traditional circular filters for regular camera lenses
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In this case, I've been looking at a trio of 67-millimeter filters from the quartz line
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and I've used them primarily on Sony. You use them on the Sam Yang 35 millimeter F1.4 AF lens
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also on the Tamron 28 to 75 millimeter F2.8. Two lenses that I use a lot
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and so I knew that having filters for these lenses and to use on them would be really useful for evaluating
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And so let's take a look first at some of the physical attributes of these lenses
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and I'll start with the presentation. As you can see, they come in a little bit more ornate presentation
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certainly beyond anything that what I've seen before. Inside the box for each lens, you'll find four different items
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three extra excluding the filters themselves. But inside, they actually have a soft touch, premium hard case for each filter
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And so inside, it is custom molded foam with a nice pinch areas to make them easy to come out
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as well as a mounted foam protection point at the top. And so these are going to receive really, really premium protection
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Another really, really nice feature about this is that if you have, obviously, a number of these that look alike, basically
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Each one of them has a nameplate, a badge on it that tells you what filter is inside, which obviously is really helpful
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If you're in the field and you're wanting a specific filter. Beyond that, there is also a very nice nylon case, which is a good alternative if you're going to be out in weather
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And in fact, obviously you can layer up both. You could slip that inside. Or you could put the filter itself right down in the nylon case
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And I should note that like the hard case, there is actually a designation of what filter goes in each one
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And so a very nice touch there as well. Each one of the filters also comes with a nice cleaning cloth that's got a photo scene
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I see that this one is Iers Rock from Australia. And so, you know, a nice little photography type touch there
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Now, one of the thing that before I look at the actual filters themselves that I think is really, really cool
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is that PolarPro also with these filters, you get access to an app that they have developed
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which is actually just a very cool photography app in general. And so once you've entered location information on it, for one thing
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it gives you a lot of information that useful to you as a photographer For example it tells you like right now I can see a countdown going to when sunset is going to take place And so it helps you to evaluate when golden hour is going to be
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And so it actually has a zone. In this case, it tells me that today that sunset and is going to be
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from 759 until 838. Excuse me, I should say from 659 to 738. And so it tells me the window
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it will tell you, you know, clicking in on that, it will tell you when the sun
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rises, it will tell you how much sunshine there's going to be throughout the course of the day
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A lot of really cool things. It's got updated weather, including, you know, obviously, it will actually send you notifications
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if you allow it to let you know what kind of unique weather patterns are coming through
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Tells you how fast the wind is blowing. And then also it even gives you information on the risk of lightning and a thunderstorm
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It'll give you information on that. But even more helpful for photographers is that it can
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some really nicely made calculators here as well. So for example, if you are wanting to do video work
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and say you're wanting to get a certain target speed of your shutter to match your actual recording
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it will tell you what your target shutter and frames per second would be, what you're currently set at
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and then it would tell you either what filter to use or if you have a filter installed
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what settings to get to get to your target zone. Beyond that, also there is a similar one
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for using filters like an ND filter exposure. So, you know, you could set if you meter for a scene
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and you get a certain amount, it can then tell you if whatever, if you're going to add in an ND filter
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and you can select which Indy filter you're going to use. You know, so let's say if I was using that ND 1000 filter
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it would tell me that if my shutter speed was one eight thousandth of a second
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with no filter attached, that my proper shutter speed would be one eighth of a second with an Indy 1000 filter
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And of course it allows you to select, you know, other filter options as well
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So just a really, really useful piece of software. And you know how that you've probably found like myself that a lot of photography
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apps, they tend to feel very beta and that they're not all that polished
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This is actually a surprisingly polished app that I've been very impressed by
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So something to consider as a part of this. Moving on to the filters themselves, these are extraordinary
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extraordinarily nicely made filters. And they'll immediately stand out because unlike most filters that are all black
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they actually have kind of a copper or brass color tone to them and, you know
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kind of copper on black that, you know, you'll either love it or not love it
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but it certainly sets it apart from other filters. Beyond that, however, it's appropriate because these filters are made out of a premium
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brass instead of a less expensive building material. All these materials in here are very much premium
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I also noted that the depth of the nerling and thus the amount of grip on this filter surpasses anything that I've seen before
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I have been in situations where I've had a stuck filter before and it can be a real pain to get that filter loose
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I think it would be an extraordinarily rare circumstance. You would have that issue with these filters because they are very very easy to get a lot of grip on Very very nice touch there Beyond that the glass is made of the basically highest in glass you could This is actually 99 pure quartz The glass is only one millimeter thick and it has the
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lowest refractive index of any filter glass that's currently available, according to their advertising
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How that plays out in real life is that I have found zero issues with color cast, even with the ND-1000
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For example, I took a shot without the filter attached. This is with the Tamron underneath this pier in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
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And then I took it with the ND-1000 filter attached. You can see that the color balance is basically identical between the two shots
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I've used cheap indie filters in the past and had issues with color cast, either typically magenta or cyan
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No such issue here. Color fidelity stays really, really good. And that comes down to the quality of the glass
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Furthermore, images are really, really sharp with this attached, and so it's also not causing
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optical degradation when it comes to that. In fact, I found when using the circular polarizer on the Samyang that I actually felt
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like images, they had more apparent sharpness. It's impossible that they're actually sharper
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What I saw was that the increased contrast from the circular polarizer combined with the
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fact that image quality was not being adversely affected meant that the, you know
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appearance of images actually had more punch than the bare lens itself
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Pretty cool. Beyond that, to further help that is to alleviate a secondary issue that I've run in
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Again with cheap filters, I have had an issue before where they introduce a lot of additional
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flare artifacts when you're shooting into the sun or with a backlit subject
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But the Polar Pro filters actually have laser spectral layers to reduce reflections in them
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They are 16 layers thick of these coatings that are put on there, which helps, number one
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these are extremely scratch resistance because there are so many different layers in there
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but also they are allowing you to have far fewer internal type reflections resulting from that
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And so byproduct is, you can point it into the sun with less concerns about it, adversely
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affecting the image. Beyond that, the coatings also give you extreme water
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and oil protection as well. So it helps to protect your lens itself
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Beyond that, it'll also help to make it easier to clean. I should also note that like the cases
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there's very clear designations on what kind of filter it is, what the filter size in
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And that's apparent not only on the side, but there's a little badge on the front of the filter
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that helps you to see what type of filter is there as well
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So really, really nicely made filters. Here's a few of the photos that I have been taking with these along here, both long exposures
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and then the third filter that I used here, I've mentioned an ND-1000, I've mentioned also a circular polarizer
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but they actually make a full lineup of combo circular polarizing ND filters
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and you can get them in a variety of different neutral density designations. I elected for an ND kind of a moderate six filter B will allow me you know for example a little bit more control if I shooting video outside and I want to maintain both a larger aperture
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combined with a lower shutter speed to help to match my video recording
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Useful for that. It's also a useful filter if you want to get a longer
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but not, you know, the look of a long exposure. So, for example, a lot of times shooting either at sunset or sunrise
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you know, enough to add a little. a little bit of creativity into there
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But then, of course, when you stack filters, you know, in Times Pass, I have, you know
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stacked an ND filter with a circular polarizer. But of course, you run the risk of having more mechanical vignette
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due to the fact that the filters, your stacking filters, and it may cause more vignette
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onto the image itself. These filters are nice and slim, so there's not a problem with that
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But of course, having the combination, ND slash circular polarizer, means that you're not stacking filters and you can get the benefit of both
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Now, to conclude, looking at the price, basically I have a small medium and a little bit more medium
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price. And so starting with the circular polarizer, it runs $179 US. So certainly
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you know, far from the cheapest filter on the market, but also far from the most expensive on the
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market, I would say looking at the design, and of course I've only been using them for about three months
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but using them fairly extensively, I would say that there is a lot of durability there
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and so I suspect these are filters that will last me for a very, very long time
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And so certainly that's, you know, positive and helps to alleviate the price a little bit
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But these are more expensive. They're going to be less expensive options
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And, of course, there are more expensive options as well, but fewer of those. Beyond that, the ND-1000 filter comes in at $229
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And again, these are 67-millimeter filter sizes. And then beyond that, the combo ND-64 circular polarizer, it comes in at $239
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And so it is the most expensive, though, obviously not by a large margin
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So that gives you an idea of price. You can determine whether or not you're ready to make that kind of investment
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But I can say this. These have impressed me as filters more than any that I've personally used before
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and they will be getting regular use for me moving forward from here
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I'm Dustin Abbott. and if you'll look in the description down below, you can find a few things
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First of all, there are buying links there if you'd like to research these further and purchase
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some for yourself. Also, I have created an image gallery, and so you can take a little bit closer look and
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look at more of the photos that I've taken with these various filters attached and get a look
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at that. And then beyond that, of course, there are the typical links there where you can follow me
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on social media, including now on Instagram. You can also become a patron and get sneak previews of upcoming content
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content, as well as, you know, a chance to interact with me before anyone else does on a given piece of content
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You can also find a linkage to sign up for my newsletter, to stay a prize, everything that's going on
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And of course, if you haven't already, please click that subscribe button right here on YouTube
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Thanks for watching. Have a great day
