A circular polarization filter is part of any serious landscape photographers kit. It does a great job of removing glares from water and wet rocks, cut through the haze, add contrast to the sky and make the colours in those forest scenes pop. NiSi have made a CPL especially suited for landscape photography. Is it the perfect match?
The build
NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
This CPL is really slim to avoid vignette and works perfectly with the genius V5 Pro system. The build quality is supreme. The filter got a sturdy aluminum frame. The filter is really easy to clean thanks to the Nano coating that NiSi have applied. This is of a big importance to me as I do a lot of seascapes and waterfalls. The CPL got polarizing film with a polarization efficiency of 95%, that is actually the best in the world. So it is safe to say that the build quality of this filter is top notch.
The V5 Pro system
The CPL is placed behind the slots for other filters.
With the NiSi V5 Pro system you are able to place the CPL behind the slots for other filters. This is a genius solution. I always attach the CPL to the adapter on my lens, so it is quick to set up for a shoot. I can easily adjust the polarization effect using two small knobs on the side of the adapter. Then it is easy to add your ND filters of choice if needed. This is really a free system.
Natural look
The filter provides no strange color cast and gives a neutral color balance with a slightly cooler look. Since it gives your images that natural look, you don’t have to readjust for color casts in post. A great starting point for your processing. Depending on how much polarization effect you use the filter can darken the image up to about 2 steps, so take that into consideration when you are shooting with it. It removes glare of water and wet rocks effectively, and is perfect for my kind of photography as I do a lot of shots with moving water.
Below you can see some ‘before and after’ shots using NiSi landscape enhanced CPL, you get a better impression of the effect it has on your images. The images shown are raw files with only basic adjustments in Lightroom.
Without NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
With NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
You can see that you achieve an overall richer look to your images, and check out how the reflection is affected. You also get more pop in the sky.
Without NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
With NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
Without NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
With NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
In this group, you can easily find that not only NiSi landscape enhanced CPL removes the glare of the water, but also enhances the color of the rocks, that is the update point of the normal version.
Without NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
With NiSi landscape enhanced CPL.
Photos taken with With NiSi landscape enhanced CPL
I would not have been able to achieve such a smooth result without being able to remove the glare from the water using the CPL.
The CPL effectively took the glare off the wet rocks.
In this shot I was able to make the reflection in the pond stand out with carefully adjusting the CPL.
by Hans Gunnar Aslaksen
