Point & Shoot camera and polarizer

Okay I want to know if I can use a screw in polarizer with my point & shoot Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N1 held in my hand in front of my lens?

I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of expensive photo equipment/cameras before I have learned everything I can with this point & shoot.

I have seen several that are in various sizes and prices. It's so freakin' confusing to figure out which one I would use for a more expensive camera already!

Anyone have any advice that would help?

The short answer is yes, you can hand hold a polarizer in front of your P&S lens. I did a quick search for your camera, and it doesn't look like therea are any threads on the lens, so handholding is your only option, unless Sony makes an attachment for it.

As far as what size filter to get, I would take your camera to a store and hold some differnet sized filters up in front of it. Make sure it's big enough so you can cover the enitre front part of your lens, without your fingers getting into the image and you should be good to go. I have even done this with a pair of sunglasses before.

Try getting a flat cokin filter and taping it onto the camers, watch out for the extension of the lense when it focuses and make sure you take it off before the lens goes back in.

Roger

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Originally Posted by MrParts

Okay I want to know if I can use a screw in polarizer with my point & shoot Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N1 held in my hand in front of my lens?

I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of expensive photo equipment/cameras before I have learned everything I can with this point & shoot.

I have seen several that are in various sizes and prices. It's so freakin' confusing to figure out which one I would use for a more expensive camera already!

Anyone have any advice that would help?

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You can get a thread adapter for most P&S cameras. This allows regular screw-in devices to be used as you normally would. Look on B&H or Adorama or some of the other sites who advertise here.

I'm trying to picture you trying to shoot with one hand and hold the polarizer with the other.
:crazy: in a stiff breeze

Thank you everyone! I went to BestBuy (couldn't find CircuitCity) and bought a screw-in type 'SunPak 58mm Circular Polarizer' for $21.00 after tax. It works pretty good. I'm noticing it is helping but not like I thought it would. I can almost get the same thing by manual settings. I'm going out again today to see what I can find to shoot.

I have this plastic magnifying glass handle (glass removed) that it fits in pretty snuggly so I may have a better time using it in the wind. LOL!

Good to hear that you found something that works for you. I'm curious tho, to know what you are using it for since you said you can almost duplicate the same thing with your settings? What isn't the polarizer doing that you thought it would?

Make sure to hold the polarizer as close to the lens as you can so that light doesn't reflect off the back of it into the lens and cause flare.

I don't know how familiar you are with polarizers, but for the maximum effect you need a strong directional light source, such as a sunny day. The filter will be at maximum effect at 90 degrees to the sun, and rotated until you see the sky at its darkest. If you pointed your index finger at the sun and held your thumb out at a 90 degree angle (like you're shooting a make-believe gun), your thumb will point to the area with maximum effect. Rotate your wrist to see where that spot is - from horizon to horizon. Note that you might not always want the maximum effect of the polarizer... This is the one filter that really can't be duplicated in post processing, at least according to conventional wisdom.