Blurry images - 70-300mm lens or polarizing filter causing the problem?

[mikeB]

Hi there,

I recently picked up a polarizing filter for one of my lenses as I knew I would be doing some shooting out at the lake. The kids were in the water and I had my canon 70-300 with the filter on. When I got back to the cottage I noticed that the photos were not as sharp as usual. Would a polarizing filter cause this? The colours were perfect but the images are not good for printing.

I will admit that the filter was not an expensive one. But will that really make the difference?

Any comments would be great! Thanks

[Tronhard]

Putting any filter in front of an expensive optic demands that such a lens be of good quality, otherwise it degrades the image.   So, a cheap filter can really ruin a lens native performance. 

[stevet1]

Also, with a polarizer, you lose about 1 1/2 stops of light. If you were trying to record motion, perhaps the shutter speed had dropped and was not fast enough to freeze that motion.

Steve Thomas

[David151]

I did lots of tests with still subjects and in good light. Statues monuments, people. As mentioned in my post above none of those cameras I used apart from the two the two that worked with the polarizing filters gave sharp images. I should add that even very inexspensive filters gave good results on those two cameras.