Polarizer filter

[koraks]

I also notice there are couple of sellers on fleabay offering newest B+W polarizer at amazingly low price. Could it be counterfeit products?

Lots of plastic filters are being sold from Chinese sources; no doubt they find their way onto eBay as well. It wouldn't surprise me if some cocky sellers offer "B+\/\/", "8+W", "B&W" etc. filters, - or even just plastic fakes with the actual B+W logo/brand name printed on.

"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is".

 

[Sirius Glass]

Correct.
You need a circular polarizer if the camera you are using incorporates any beam splitters - used commonly in a lot of in-camera metering systems.

I too have found this to be necessary for my Nikon and Hasselblad cameras. All polarizers are good for removing window reflections and darkening skies while whitening clouds for color [slide and prints] and black and white films. With wide and very wide angle lenses the sky will darken to different levels dependent on the sun angle.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Vivitar (formerly known as Ponder & Best) never made anything. They simply stuck their name on things -- a very common practice of distributors, marketers & sellers around the world.

As with most photo gear, polarizers vary in their features. That's what you should look for. Polarizers vary in how thick the rim is (some don't have front filter threads), the type of grip it has for rotating the front (some are rubber, some ribbed metal, some smooth metal), some have index marks (usually white or silver dots), or a pin/tab (for easier rotation).

So don't simply buy because of the brand name -- look at the features (and the price, of course).

Thank you, I did not know that Vivitar was Ponder & Best.

 

[xkaes]

Similarly BHMC (short for "Bell & Howell / Mamiya Corporation") became OSAWA when Bell & Howell went belly-up. Later, OSAWA also declared bankruptcy -- the largest Japanese bankruptcy until Takata (of airbag infamy) CRASHED!!!

And Mamiya declared bankruptcy too, was restructured, and got out of the 35mm camera business.

The Vivitar and Bell & Howell names have been bought by other firms -- so they still live on in some ways -- similar to Yashica, Minolta, and?????????????????????????

 

[AnselMortensen]

...and Kodak, Polaroid, Meyer-Görlitz,

 

[MattKing]

It is helpful to differentiate between the products that had names of distributors attached to them - e.g. anything badged Vivitar, Beseler-Topcon and Bell & Howell badged Mamiya cameras - and the products that have badging that relates directly to the manufacturer.