X4 CPL 95mm Circular Polarizer Filter - Schott B270 - MRC16 - Nano Coating - Weather Sealed - 25 Year Support by Breakthrough Photography

TL;DR: X4 if you have the money or NEED the best. Gobe if you're willing to correct white balance in post. After recently deciding to buy a CPL for my camera, I whittled the available options down to two -- Gobe 3 Peak (Schott), and Breakthrough Photography X4. On paper, the Gobe has the same specifications as the X4: Schott B270 Glass and 16 layers of coating. The X4 boasts that it's coatings are unlike any other, and that it is able to capture the highest level of sharpness while maintaining perfectly neutral colors. Many comparisons have shown that the X4 is top dog against all the major players. However, I could not find a direct comparison against Gobe and hence decided to give both of them a shot myself. Sharpness: I could not find any significant difference in sharpness between the Gobe and the X4. They are both spot on and do not appear to affect sharpness in the least. Colors: The Gobe definitely shoots "warmer" than the X4. The X4 comes out neutral as advertised. If you seeking out-of-camera accuracy, the X4 wins hands down. However, the Gobe is only SLIGHTLY off, and it can be corrected in a single Spot White Balance click in your post processor of choice. Since most serious photographs will do some amount of post processing anyway, this is not a huge deal. I don't think the average amateur would even notice the difference without a side by side comparison, anyway. Polarization: Both filters were very effective in removing glare in my tests. I could not find a significant difference between the two. Production quality: Both filters are quality products, but the X4 wins here again. The grip portion of the X4 sticks out much further and it easier to screw on and off as a result. The Gobe is much more likely to get stuck on a lens with its design. Extras: The packaging of the X4 was surprisingly hard to open and seems that they tried too hard to make it seem "nice". The amount of jostling that it took to separate the box parts was excessive considering that there is a $160 piece of glass inside it. Gobe on the other hand uses modest packaging and also plants trees with the money they make from their products. Final opinion: The X4 is the better product but, for me, it is not worth the extra $100 that I could instead spend on adding ND filters to my collection. If money is no object or you demand the best, get the X4. If you don't mind a touch of white balance correction and a slightly lesser product in general, get the Gobe. I have included some pictures of my tests. In all pictures, the order is: No filter, Gobe, X4. The car is demonstrating the polarization, and the text is a 100% crop to compare the sharpness.

This is a very well-made circular polarizer, covered by a 25-year manufacturer's warranty if you register it online. I've already played with it some, and it functions flawlessly. The markings on the frame make it easy to go from horizontal to vertical framing and quickly switch the filter to the same setting. Maybe someday they'll come out with filters with built-in nanite robots that will automatically adjust the orientation for you, but for now, it is still manual. I would highly recommend any of Breakthrough Photography filters.

Great polarizer! (For those who thinks it doesn’t work, it doesn’t reduce light as much as cheaper ones, so it *appears* to be “not working”. Try standing in front of a mirror with the polarizer and flip it around a few times and you will see in the mirror that it is blocking light just fine.) Like other polarizers, it is quite thin, and not trivial to get back off your lens unless you use a rubber band around it to get a good grip. Before you say it, yes, I agree, they should provide that with the filter (and probably with GND filters too). Check the results with and without the polarizer in water, sun at a cross-angle to you, snow, and so on. You will be very pleased with the results!

Made in U.S. based out of San Fran. 25 year warranty Specialty neutral coated Schott glass. On the inside of the fiterl & the outside of the filter. No color cast. No vignetting. Images stay sharp. Excellent, SUPERIOR quality. *** From their website - READ *** The X4 CPL features SCHOTT Superwhite B270® optical glass, which is an ultra clear crown glass. It is produced by melting high purity raw materials and then made using the continuous draw process. The result is excellent transmission in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrums, and a high surface quality that accepts our state-of-the-art MRC and nanotec® coatings exceptionally well. Our state-of-the-art multi-resistant coating (MRC) is an optical coating applied to both surfaces of the glass disk to reduce reflection and to increase surface durability. Our proprietary MRC coating is structurally harder than the glass itself and the reduced reflections improve the efficiency since less light is lost. The reduction of reflections also improves the contrast of the image by elimination of stray light. The real world result? Better contrast and color. Low light transmission and green flaring are common problems with uncoated glass. As MRC coatings are added to each side of the optical disk light transmission steadily increases with flaring steadily decreasing. In our lab tests light transmission apexes at about 16-layers of MRC, and slowly decreasing in transmission at 18 and above. 8-layers of MRC are applied evenly to both sides of each optical disk resulting in MRC16.

The packaging was amazing and It works very well, if your looking for a good quality Cpl filter for taking car pictures outside, it works perfect! It makes the color of the car pop, take out most of that shine in the glass, and allows you to see interior. I wouldn’t recommend this for people who are planning to use this inside, it doesn’t work as well, and it was made for best results outside. The two pictures of the white car show how well it works when it’s on vs. off!

I usually go with B+W when it comes to filters but I decided to try Breakthrough after hearing about them recently and I’m sold on this brand. Everything including the packaging is top notch. The CPL filter doesn’t impart any weird hues to your image and I really like how it has the highest light transference in industry. I believe you only lose 1 stop of light vs 1.5-2 on others. As an everyday filter this is excellent. I shot a few test images this weekend and on my a7CR there is no visible sharpness impact and colors and contrast look incredible. Will be ordering their ND as well next.

This was my introduction to circular polarizers, and the beginning of my fascination with camera filters. I got it because I wanted to shoot birds on water without the sun's glare ruining my photos, and it's been great for that. It also helps shiny metallic objects stand out by cutting the glare on all non-metallic objects, which I suspect is why these are so popular for car photography. I've attached 3 photos that demonstrate what I'm saying. The photos of the Great Egret and the Dragonfly were taken during the daytime while the sun was directly overhead, and both photos would have been full of blown-out highlights on the water without this filter. In the photo of the knight, the shine on his metallic armor stands out because the polarizer cuts out the sunlight that was bouncing off the trees and grass, and all that green looks nicer (to me) without all the highlights it would normally have. I've bought two of these so far (a 77mm and an 82mm), and image quality is consistent between them. The only difference I've noticed is that the symbols on the adjustment rings are oriented differently – on the 77mm, I have to set it to the symbol with diagonal lines to get the full effect; on the 82mm, I have to set it to the triangle symbol. This is admittedly a minor gripe, but also a notable hiccup in my workflow. Personally, I would prefer it to have numeric values rather than symbols for filtration settings. This is my only complaint and it has nothing to do with image quality, so don't let it dissuade you. I'm not experienced enough to rant about the differences between this circular polarizer and all the other ones; all I can say is that this one exceeded my expectations enough that I find myself using it for almost everything outside of low light scenarios.

So far very impressed. As advertised, color neutral, at least within bounds of what you might change in Lightroom anyhow. What I really like is the mounting threads. So smooth, and then the filter spins freely. Nice finish, a little pop of color. Just a well made product. Buy once cry once if you want quality.

The imaging is top notch, and the threads are metal that fit perfectly. Adjusting the filter is smooth and has just the right amount of resistance.

Colour neutrality is phenomenal. Most other CPL impart some “warming” to the image

Incredibly well built polarising filter. I had a K&F filter before and constantly had slightly out of focus pictures. I have a Sony A7CR which means I have a lot of crop capability and whenever I cropped in everything would seem slightly blurry. Initially I thought it might be the lens and I would have to buy a new lens as a result but thought before I do that I should try a different high-quality CPL. After a lot of research, I decided to go for this one. My wife has the polar pro and this is as good if not better. The photos are crisp and shop and now I don’t need to buy a new lens.

Very smooth, well designed!

Excellent quality filter. Colors are accurate. Shipping was quick and product arrived early.