Considering a Polarising filter for your wide angle lens? - think twice.

I've had a Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens for a while now and use it quite a lot, for the type of photography I've been trying to do it's a great lens for getting close to the action. (be careful not to get to close!) And of course, if you want to get those big sky landscape shots on a cropped sensor body you need a lens like the 10-22.

For as long as I've had the lens I've considered getting a circular polariser for it, it has a 77mm filter size, and we all know those filters are expensive! But I saw a Hoya Pro filter on sale in Amazon, so took the plunge.

I'd researched different brands and suppliers, but I missed one important piece of information, a polariser fitted to wide angle lens can create some dark bands in the image. I only discovered this after I'd bought the filter and spent a gloriously sunny Autumn day photographing some castles.

As you can see from the shot below, there is a dark 'cone' in the sky at the top centre of the image. You can alter the effect on the image, based on your position, lens zoom and the rotation of the filter.