Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/06/12

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: Swing-out polarizer
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@gp.magick.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 1996 23:46:34 -0700

At 07:14 PM 6/12/96 -0400, you wrote:

>	You could also use circular polarizers. But I have to
>	think about this a bit longer, whether the orientation
>	of the polarizer axis (normal to the polarizer) would
>	matter. Does anybody know whether the Leitz polarizer
>	is a circular polarizer or a linear one?

Most current, and for quite some time, Leica polarizers for the SLRs are
circular polarizers. There's a very good reason. Any system that uses beam
splitters (i.e. all R cameras, and any AF system too, which sends the light
through a beam splitter to a secondary mirror) has to work with circular
polarizers, because you will get bad meter readings from a linear polarizer.
There's a way to avoid the problem manually, but it's not worth the money
savings.

With M cameras, that's not a problem, since there's no beam splitter. So I
suspect they use linear polarizers there, because they are less expensive to
manufacture.

==========================
Eric Welch
Grants Pass Daily Courier