Amazon Basics Circular Polarizer 16 Multi-Layer Coatings Camera Lens Filter with 360° Rotatable Frame - 82 mm

Works well. Good value for the money. Good anti reflection multi coatings, front portion turns easily, the polarizer and the retarder in the filter work well together, no noticeable fog, strong extinctions / good transmission (depending on the filter orientation) without major color shifts. All you need for most cases.

I am a bargain hunter. I love to find good quality merch at a very good price. I also have the strange affliction that I want the things I own to do the best that they can do. I can understand when the headphones I bought for $99 do not perform like the noise-canceling world-class brand which sells at $599, but I do want them to suit my needs. In the case of this CPL filter, it way over-performs. I could bore you to death about how CPL filters work and what kind you might need. Nobody needs to die for this to be a good review. If you know what a CPL is for, and you need one that isn't going to cause you to spend your child's college fund in order to take decent photos at their next soccer game, the filters on this listing are for you. These are very effecting CPLs, and they are priced as if they fell off the back of a truck. Buy the one that fits your camera, and use it every day. It's cheap enough to almost be disposable. You could buy 2 and still be more than $150 ahead of the classy German CPL your DSLR hobbyist web site told you to buy.

I purchased this filter primarily for motorsport photography on a long lens (Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6L). The purpose was to cut through windshields and reduce reflections on foliage in a lot of my scenery. With that in mind, here are my thoughts: Pros: Does all the wonderful things you want a CPL to do (cuts through the glass, reduces flaring) & at an incredibly cheap price (look at high end CPL's approaching 10x the cost). Cons: Does all the negative things CPL's do (such as reducing light reaching the sensor - which will require higher ISO at the same camera settings) AND also produces very soft images. There is some ghosting/nervous bokeh when stopped down on the long end of the zoom (300mm + lenses seem to be more susceptible to these issues with cheap filters). I would not expect these issues if you bought it for landscape photography with a wide lens - but I haven't tried it. I suspect the softness will remain present. So, if it deteriorates the images so much, why 4 stars instead of 2-3? Price! This filter is so cheap it's practically free. It's perfect for someone getting into photography that wants to play with and learn how to use different filters. If your media is being shrunk to be posted on social media sites like FB or IG - this filter works great. It's 1/3 the price of the cheapest used 'pro grade' filter I've found. You can't beat that. Personally, I won't be using it after extensive testing in my use case. When you are pixel peeping, chasing perfection, and making money off your photography - this filter won't do... I will be handing it down to a friend learning how to use a camera.

In the past, I used the Cokin creative filter system, which was a system for stacking filters in front of your lens. That system was bulky and used a traditional linear polarizer. This Circular Polarizer screws onto the front of the camera lens yet still allows you to rotate the filter. I tried testing this by stacking it with the linear polarizer I had but that's not right. But once you figure it out it's quite cool. Unlike a linear polarizers, Circular Polarizers contains a Linear Polarizer component that does the main work of polarization, as well as a second layer inside the filter called a Quarter Wave Plate, which “spins” the light after it goes through the linear layer and before it enters the camera lens. This extra spin eliminates a problem with some cameras where the polarized light from a linear filter messes with the camera optics and occasionally makes your picture go black. So this is convenient in that it fits right on your lens and doesn't introduce any complications that might make your image go black as it would with a linear polarizer.

This thing works well. I can’t say I’ve done too much scientific testing on it but it does its job and the image quality is good enough for most. Always good to keep a couple of these around.

This CPL is way better than than the asking price. I normally tried to avoid using filter as much as possible because of added time and complexity. Polarizer is the only filter that I carry. I normally gravitate towards better brands such as B+W and Hoya if I have to buy. This AmazonBasics CPL is so cheap that I have to get one just to test it out. It is very well constructed. The coating is visually flawless. Rotating the polarizer is smooth. So far so good. I tested it for removing unwanted reflection and compared it to a B+W multicoated and a Hoya uncoated. I could not tell the difference between this AmazonBasics and the B+W. Visually, not much difference in the end result when compared to the Hoya. However, shutter speed was faster for the same end result, meaning the AmazonBasics transmitted more light which was the result of better coating. This is very good initial result for something that cost almost next to nothing for a multi-coated CPL. I am still testing it and will update with more results. The pictures attached are comparison of 1) no CPL filter, 2) AmazonBasics CPL filter, 3) top brand name CPL filter. It is quite clear that the AmazonBasics CPL filter performed equally well as the brand name CPL filter.

Great for tattoo artists filming their progress/taking result pictures. Works best with polarized light source.

When I've managed to turn the filter to change how much it polarizes, it works well. But it's difficult to turn it, and more often, I end up just loosening it. On the positive side, it was the least expensive one. I'll probably upgrade when I have moer experience with outdoor photography.