Can I use a 72mm circular polarizer on a 62mm lens with a step-up ring?
Asked 6/21/2014
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I want one circular polarizer for two Nikon lenses: a 24–70mm with a 72mm filter thread and a 20mm f/2.8 with a 62mm thread. Can I buy a 72mm CPL and use it on the 62mm lens with a 62-to-72mm step-up ring? Are there any drawbacks, such as vignetting on the 20mm lens?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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You got it backwards. What you need is a step-up ring. This lets you use the largest size of filters on lens with smaller thread diameter.
It works just as expected and is that is exactly what I do most of the time. There are two downsides to doing this:
- Lens hood no longer fits. This is really the big one, particularly for polarizers which are generally used in bright light.
- Lens cap no longer fits. Easily fixed by buying an extra lens-cap of the right filter size. It works for all except the slim filters which are recommended for ultra-wide angle lenses.
What I did is standardize on 77mm and 62mm filters. I have full sets with both sizes and step-up rings for 72->77 & 67->77, plus 55->62, 52->62, 49->62 ones. My ultra-wide lens is coincidentally 77mm so it does not need a step-up ring. This is the only case I can imagine there might be some vignetting potential. Sadly, I standardized too soon and had to buy a few 86mm filters when I got a larger lens.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes — that’s the normal approach. Use a 62-to-72mm step-up ring so the larger 72mm CPL can fit the 62mm-thread lens.
Main drawbacks:
- The lens hood usually won’t fit once the step-up ring and filter are attached.
- The original lens cap usually won’t fit either; a 72mm cap can solve that.
- On a wide lens, the added thickness of the ring + filter can sometimes cause mechanical vignetting in the corners.
A larger filter on a smaller lens is generally fine, but the ring and filter stack can push the filter farther forward, which matters more on wide-angle lenses like 20mm. The practical way to check is to test it: make a photo at the smallest aperture (for example f/22) and inspect the corners, since the viewfinder may not show the full frame.
So: yes, buy the 72mm CPL and a step-up ring, just be aware of hood/cap issues and possible corner vignetting on the 20mm.
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