Received my CPL filter and this is what I observed:
- When I opened the package, the information card said to remove the protective film from the lens. I did not have any protective film on my filter. i thought it was a thin layer that I couldn't see, so I used a thin blade utility knife to pick at the edge of the lens to see if a film edge would come loose. Nothing was coming loose, so I'm assuming there was no lens film protector on my filter. Plus, there was an oily or greasy film on the inside lens and a bit on the outer lens surface. I cleaned it off as best I could with some alcohol wipes. Obviously, I couldn't get right to the edges of where the lens meets the filter's housing.
- The filter looks well made. It is not made of plastic, but actually made out of metal. Smooth finish and shaped to fit right over the B1W lens.
- As for the function of the lens, for the most part, sometimes I couldn't tell any difference between not using the lens and using the lens when viewing recorded videos. I still get the reflections from the dash and artifacts. I even tried rotating the filter 180 degrees to see if that would make a difference, but it didn't. I do see, to my eyes, a sharper image with the filter though. However, when comparing still images of the same spot using and not using the filter, I do see a reduction, but not an elimination, of the reflections.
- Overall, I think the filter does help a bit in some situations, but it won't make your videos perfect.
- Uploaded a couple of photos without and with the filter. Tried to upload a comparison video, but it wouldn't accept it because it said my file was too big (about 2 minutes each file). I gave up on this because I don't know how to crop a 30 second segment from each video.