K&F Concept Polarising and UV Filter Review
K&F sent me some of their new filters to review. They included a polarising filter, a UV filter and two different Variable ND filters. In this post, I’m going to look at the first two, a circular polariser and a UV filter.
Build Quality & Design
Both of these filters come in a fairly minimal packeting but they do come with a rather interesting case. The hard plastic shell case is pretty much like most other filter cases, but inside is an interesting design I hadn’t seen before. There is a series of rubberised rings, corresponding to different filter sizes, and this holds the filter in place in the middle of the case. This is quite clever as it stops the filters from rattling around inside the case. Both of the filters I was using in this test were for a 77mm filter thread, but they also come in a variety of other sizes.
I have filters form other manufactures and they usually just include a foam backing which invariably gets lost. This is a much better idea. To be fair, I haven’t bought a filter in a while, so maybe this is a new thing, but I hadn’t seen it before.
In terms of the actual filters, they are well built. The metal frame is light but strong and the glass has a scratch proof coating. I know they’re strong too, because I dropped the polariser twice onto concrete and there wasn’t a scratch on it.
UV filter
I’ll be honest up front, I’m not a huge fan of using a UV filter to protect my lens. And while that isn’t the only case for using one of these, that’s why most people use them. The filter itself has the words “protection” on the side of it. But, I wanted to be fair and give it a go, so I tried it on my cameras lens, a Nikon 28-300mm for a few days and to be honest, I never really noticed a difference.
That of course is the point.
Which kind of makes it a hard thing to review. But I never noticed any colour shifts, and it was a pretty secure fit, which are the main things you want in a protection filter. The other use of a UV filter is to reduce case, but unfortunately, the conditions just haven’t been right here in Ireland for the last while to actually test this. Most people will primarily use this as a protection filter though, and for that purpose it seems to work as advertised.
Circular Polariser
K&F Polariser on a Nikon 24-120mm lems
A circular polariser is one of those things that every photographer should have. It is also probably one of the most misunderstood. Some people think it’s really only for use in landscape photography for darkening skies, but it actually has far more uses than that. In fact darkening skies with a polariser is a little trickier than it sounds.
So what is a polariser exactly?
Without getting too technical, a polariser only lets light of a certain polarisation, or phase through the glass. When light bounces off objects, or is scattered in the atmosphere, it affects the phase of the light waves, and so by only letting light through that is of a certain phase, it can cut down on reflections and alter colours in an image.
To demonstrate this effect, and test out the filter, I set out with my trusty but ageing Nikon D700 and my 24-120mm Nikon lens to take some images to showcase the effects.
To use the polariser, if you’ve never used a circular polariser before, you attach it to your lens. You then have a rotating front element of the polariser, and by turning this you control the phase of the light being let through. So, in effect, as you turn the polariser you increase the effect.
When you use it to cut down on reflections, the effect on something like water is pretty profound. In this example, I used it on the water of a canal I was walking by and it completely cut the reflections out.
All of the images below were taken using this filter.
But the ability to cut reflections has another, more widespread use. It cuts reflections on foliage, and in turn enhances their colours. If you’ve ever taken an image of rich foliage only to get the photos back and find that they contain a lot of pale colour on the leaves or almost white in parts, this is due to the reflections, and a polariser will cut this down significantly. Here is an example of some autumn leaves, before and after the polarising filter. It significantly enhances the colours while also cutting down on the reflectance.
A polariser will also effect skies, but this isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. It seems to work best when the sun is behind you, when the effect will be at its strongest. If you use it with the Sun at an oblique angle, you may find that you get a darkening effect also at an angle.
There is also an issue when shooting with a wide angle and a circular polariser, in that you sometimes get the effect in a spot or a section of the image. This isn’t the fault of the polariser, but the way that they work. Because you’re capturing a larger area of sky, and the fact that light is coming form all different angles, only light of a certain angle and phase will pass through, and so you end up with the effect in a large area but not all. It depends on a lot of factors, and you really need to be aware of this when shooting with a wide-angle lens.
Note: Images are pretty much straight out of the camera. Minimal processing only to convert raw files.
The K&F polariser performed as expected for a polariser. It’s one of those things that’s hard to review, as it pretty much does what it says. I didn’t notice any undue colour shifts, outside of what you would get with a polariser. It did reduce the amount of light getting through, but that is also normal for a polariser. The only minor issue that I had was getting it to stay on the lens, but that is something that I’ve had with every filter I’ve ever used on this lens, so its not a fault of the filter. In fact, I actually dropped it because of this, but that only went to demonstrate how tough they are, because it wasn’t even scratched.
Conclusion
The K&F filters are well made and work as expected. I could go into scientific tests, running them through a battery of measurements and produce some charts and graphs, but I suspect that only a handful of people would be interested in that. If you’re in the market for a polariser or a UV filter, you would do well to consider these. They are pretty inexpensive too. The Polariser retails for $37 on Amazon. The UV filter is a little more expensive at £60 (I don’t have dollar pricing right now) In fact K&F have kindly offered a discount to my readers who order these from Amazon. Just use the codes below. (Note, they are not an affiliate or a sponsor. I don’t get anything from these links, and I’m not even using my Amazon affiliate code on these - just to make that clear)
- Circular Polariser - Amazon UK (Use the code: Thomasuk to get 10% off. Valid until until 20/11/2019)
- Circular Polariser - Amazon US (Use the code: KFCPL077 to get 10% off. Valid until until 30/12/2019)
- UV filter- Amazon UK (Use the code: Thomasuk to get 10% off. Valid until 20/11/2019)
Note: These promotional codes are supplied by K&F concept and I have no control over their use and application.
They also sent me a couple of Variable ND filters to test and I will have a review of those up soon, so stay tuned.
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