One Polarizer for Lenses With Different Filter Threads

Buy the polarizer for the largest front thread among the lenses you will use it on, then add one step-up ring per smaller size. Below: where each maker prints the size, why the thread pitch has to match too, and what to check on your widest lenses, hood and cap.

The short answer

Buy the polarizer in the largest filter thread among the lenses you will use it on. Add one step-up ring for each smaller thread, from that lens's size up to the polarizer's. Avoid planning it the other way, with a smaller filter stepped down onto a larger lens.

Example: the NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S takes 82 mm, the Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S 77 mm, the Z 24-70mm f/4 S 72 mm and the Z 85mm f/1.8 S 67 mm, all with a 0.75 mm thread pitch. That kit needs an 82 mm polarizer and three rings: 77–82, 72–82 and 67–82 mm. B+W's notes on its adapter rings give the same advice: check the largest diameter you need before buying filters.

Why the largest size, not the most common one

A step-up ring fits a larger filter to a smaller lens thread. A step-down ring does the reverse. Filter maker Marumi says step-down rings are used less often because, in most cases, the smaller filter causes vignetting, and it urges caution with wide-angle lenses in particular.

Nikon's own lineup shows how the trap forms. Several Z zooms share 77 mm; the Z 14-30mm f/4 S wide zoom does not.

Take the 14-30mm and three 77 mm zooms. Buy for the common size, 77 mm, and the 14-30mm would need an 82–77 mm step-down ring: the direction Marumi warns about, on the widest lens in the bag. Buy 82 mm and the 14-30mm takes the polarizer directly, while the 77 mm lenses use a 77–82 mm ring.

Find the size on your own lenses

Nikon, Canon, Sony and Fujifilm print the size on each lens's spec page, under different field names. On the lens itself, Marumi says to look on the front or side of the barrel for "XX mm" or a diameter symbol followed by the number, or inside the lens cap. For an adapted lens, look up that lens's own spec page (adapting EF and F lenses).

A dash, "None" or "not attachable" in that field means the lens takes no screw-in front filter. Sony spells it out, and Canon points to a gelatin filter holder at the rear. Leave that lens out of the count and plan its filters separately.

The Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S: plan it on its own

Nikon lists a filter-attachment size of 112 mm (P = 0.75 mm) for the NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, but its lens page says the 112 mm screw-on filter attaches when the HB-97 Lens Hood is used. The lens also has a slot at the rear mount for trimmable filter sheets, such as gel filters. A footnote to the 112 mm sentence names Nikon's own Neutral Color NC Filter 112mm and Circular Polarizing Filter II 112mm, released together with the lens.

Leave this lens out of the count for a shared polarizer. Counting it would mean stepping every other lens up to 112 mm, and neither B+W's nor Marumi's ring list has a ring for 112 mm filters: Marumi's largest is 82–86 mm, and B+W's largest take 95 mm filters on 82 or 86 mm lenses. Pick the shared size from your other lenses. If you want a polarizer on the 14-24mm, it needs its own 112 mm filter, used with the HB-97 hood.

Match the pitch as well as the diameter

A filter thread has a diameter and a pitch, written as diameter x pitch, such as 77 x 0.75 mm. A step-up ring's lens side has to match your lens in both, and its filter side has to match the polarizer. Nikon prints the pitch next to the diameter: P = 0.75 mm for every lens in the first table, though for the 24-120mm it appears only in the manual, not on the product page.

Pitch does not simply follow size. B+W's thread table lists 0.5 mm for its 30.5, 39 and 40.5 mm filters, 0.75 mm for 37 mm and for every size from 43 to 82 mm, 1.0 mm for 86, 95 and 105 mm, and 1.5 mm for 112 mm. Thread-tool maker BAER lists some diameters in two pitches: 30.5 and 37 mm in both 0.5 and 0.75 mm, and 100 mm in both 0.75 and 1.0 mm. BAER also notes that filters are often specified by diameter alone, which in most cases is enough to identify the thread.

Makers can also publish different pitches for the same diameter. Nikon gives the Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S's thread as 112 mm (P = 0.75 mm); B+W's table gives its 112 mm filters as 112 x 1.5 mm. Confirm with the filter maker before buying a 112 mm filter for that lens.

So check the pitch at every size, not only on large or unusual threads. Where your lens maker prints it, compare it with the ring or filter maker's figure. Where either side prints none (Marumi's step-up list, for one, gives diameters only), ask that maker before you order.

Check the widest lenses, with and without a ring

A ring moves the filter forward by its own depth. Whether that darkens the corners depends on how wide a cone of light the lens takes in, which is why makers tie their warnings to wide-angle lenses and short focal lengths. The same ring can pass unnoticed on a telephoto and show on a wide angle. B+W notes that combining several mounts adds thickness that can lead to vignetting; Nikon's Z 14-30mm and Z 24-120mm manuals say to use only one filter at a time.

No single focal-length cutoff applies to every ring or filter. The figures makers publish cover their own products. Hoya flags a vignetting risk for its magnetic adapter and conversion ring used together below 20 mm on full frame and below 14 mm on APS-C.

The polarizer's own frame matters too, even on a lens that takes it without a ring. B+W's filter-mount overview lists its T-Pro and MASTER lines for full frame from 17 mm and its BASIC line from 24 mm (on APS-C, from 10 mm and from 18 mm). In each line the polarizer frame is thicker than the line's standard filters: for 0.75 mm threads, 3.7 against 2.9 mm (T-Pro), 4.2 against 3.4 mm (MASTER) and 6.7 against 4.4 mm (BASIC), not counting the thread. On full frame, the Z 14-30mm goes down to 14 mm, shorter than B+W's full-frame figures. For a lens that wide, look for a wide-angle figure from the maker of any polarizer you consider, and test it.

Two setups need a test once the parts arrive: the widest lens overall with the polarizer screwed on directly, and the widest lens that wears a ring. In the example kit, those are the Z 14-30mm at 14 mm (114° on FX) and the Z 24-70mm f/4 S at 24 mm (84° on FX); the Z 100-400mm is no wider than 24°20′. Set each lens to its shortest focal length and check the corners at the apertures you use. On DX the same lenses cover narrower angles (Nikon lists 90° for the 14-30mm and 61° for the 24-70mm f/4 S), so test on the body you shoot with (how a lens spec changes between sensor formats).

The hood and the cap

Nikon's manuals for the Z 14-30mm and Z 24-120mm say to remove the lens hood before attaching filters and before rotating a circular polarizing filter. They do not say whether the hood mounts over a step-up ring. With the ring and polarizer fitted, check that it still does.

A snap-on cap clips into the front thread, so it has to match that thread's size. B+W describes its Snap-Cap's claws as engaging the front thread of the lens or filter, and Nikon names its caps by size: the Z 24-70mm f/4 S comes with the LC-72B, a 72 mm snap-on cap. With a 72–82 mm ring left on, the front becomes an 82 mm thread, so you need an 82 mm snap-on cap. Check that it clips securely onto the ring.

Check that each ring exists as one piece

Ring makers do not make every pair. B+W's adapter-ring table lists rings for 82 mm filters on 72 mm and 77 mm lenses only; Marumi's step-up list adds 67–82 mm. Neither list shows a 62–82 mm ring, the pair a 62 mm lens such as the Z 50mm f/1.8 S would need in an 82 mm kit. Check other ring makers' lists for your exact pair before settling on two stacked rings, which adds the thickness B+W warns about.

A polarizer catch on ultra-wide lenses

B+W advises staying at 28 mm or longer on 35 mm format for an even polarizing effect, because skylight polarization is uneven. The Z 14-30mm meets that only between 28 and 30 mm. The Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S stops at 24 mm, so it never does. This concerns the effect, not the filter size, but it may change which lenses you count.

Before you order

1. List each lens's filter size and pitch from its spec page, or read the size off the barrel or the inside of the cap.
2. Drop any lens whose spec page shows a dash, "None" or "not attachable". Plan the Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S on its own: its 112 mm filter attaches when the HB-97 hood is used.
3. The largest remaining size is the polarizer size.
4. For each smaller size, find one ring for that exact pair on a ring maker's list. Its lens side must match your lens's pitch, and its filter side the polarizer's.
5. Add a snap-on cap in the polarizer's size for each lens that keeps its ring on.
6. Compare your widest lens's shortest focal length with any wide-angle figure the polarizer's maker publishes for your sensor format.

When the ring and polarizer arrive, run the two corner tests described above, on the body you use, before relying on them.

Check it on your own equipment

These take you to the manufacturers and standards bodies the page draws on, so you can look up your exact model.

• Manufacturer specification
  Marumi step-up ring sizes (opens in a new tab)Marumi's list of step-up ring sizes, written lens thread to filter thread, from 27–37 mm to 82–86 mm. It includes 67–82, 72–82 and 77–82 mm, the three rings in the example kit, and a note on why step-down rings tend to vignette. The list gives diameters only, not pitch. — www.marumi-global.com
• Manufacturer specification
  B+W adapter rings: filter size against lens size (opens in a new tab)B+W's adapter-ring notes, including the tip to check the largest diameter you need first, its Snap-Cap and the sizes it comes in, and a table of brass rings by filter and lens diameter. For 82 mm filters the table lists 72 mm and 77 mm lenses only; its largest rings take 95 mm filters on 82 or 86 mm lenses. — schneiderkreuznach.com
• Manufacturer specification
  B+W filter mounts: pitch, thickness and wide-angle figures (opens in a new tab)Each B+W filter size with its thread designation (0.5 mm pitch at 30.5, 39 and 40.5 mm; 0.75 mm at 37 mm and from 43 to 82 mm; 1.0 mm at 86, 95 and 105 mm; 1.5 mm at 112 mm), the shortest full-frame and APS-C focal length listed for each line, and frame thickness by filter type. — schneiderkreuznach.com
• Manufacturer specification
  NIKKOR Z lens lineup (opens in a new tab)Links to each NIKKOR Z lens page; the Specifications table on each lens page prints the Filter-attachment size, usually with the thread pitch. — imaging.nikon.com