Today’s Question: When you use a circular polarizer filter is there anything you do special to make sure it’s easy to remove? Most of my polarizer lenses are the screw on type that screw directly into the front of the lens. However, those can sometimes be problematic when removing since the piece with the threads can be quite small.
Tim’s Quick Answer: I use magnetic filter adapters for my filters, so they can be very easily attached to or removed from a lens.
More Detail: Screw-on filters can be a real challenge to attach to or remove from a lens. If the threads don’t actually engage when attaching the filter you might assume it is attached when it isn’t, resulting in dropping the filter and possibly damaging it. Removing the filter can be a hassle because the filter is so thin it is difficult to get a good grip.
The best solution I’ve found is to use magnetic filter adapters. I had been using Xume adapters for a long time, but they were acquired by Manfrotto and then somewhat recently discontinued. I loved these filter adapters and wish they were still in production.
Fortunately, another solution exists in the way of magnetic filters and adapters from Kase. They offer both a Wolverine and Revolution lineup, with the latter being the newer and overall more expensive options.
With these Kase filters (https://timgrey.me/magneticfilters) and adapters (https://timgrey.me/magneticadapters) you screw the adapter onto the lens once, and never really need to remove it. You can then attach a Kase magnetic filter simply by placing it onto the adapter. This is very similar to the Xume products I originally used for this purpose, with the difference being that with the Kase system you use a magnetic filter rather than a screw-on filter.
I strongly believe that any photographer who uses a magnetic filter adapter system will immediately agree that this is an ideal solution for attaching and removing filters.
You can learn more about the Kase Wolverine filters and adapters here:
Filters: https://timgrey.me/magneticfilters
Adapters: https://timgrey.me/magneticadapters
