PolarPro is an interesting company.   Unlike many camera accessory companies, they’re actually based here in the US in Costa Mesa, CA.  The company was founded in 2011, but I think one of the first products I ever purchased from them was an accessory cage for the first generation DJI Osmo Pocket – in the 2018/2019 time frame.  Since then they’ve really tightened their product focus to camera lens filters, and even some lenses with a really creator centered focus to their products and marketing.  Make no mistake, they manufacture and market premium products – partnering with recognized creators like Peter McKinnon, Alex Strohl, Michael Shainblum, and Benjamin Hardman.

To be honest, many if not most of their past lens filter offerings didn’t make sense to me at their premium pricing.  Those photo industry celebrity branding deals cost money which get passed to the consumer.  Most of my lens filters are from K&F Concepts.  Even premium line examples from K&F Concepts tend to be considerably less expensive than similar offerings from PolarPro.  I have combination ND/CPL filters I have for nearly every lens I own and have been more than happy with them.  But PolarPro makes many “specialty” lens filters – mist filters, shift diopter filters, center split filters…you name it.  To their credit, many PolarPro lens filterdo try to offer something new and innovative, which other brands don’t provide. But to me, many of their products looked like items I wouldn’t use nearly enough to justify the price.  That is until I saw their announcement about the new PolarPro CineFlow filter.  The motion blur look which the initial marketing materials showcased was both fascinating and unique.  The effect would clearly be of interest to anyone doing car photography, which I do a lot.  But I also saw potential for street photography…product photography…maybe even portraits.  Here’s a description from PolarPro:

Our engineer Esteban is the real chef behind this filter. He saw the creative team experimenting with shutter dragging and wanted to turn that idea into a physical optical element that delivers a dynamic sense of motion, but only across half the frame.

Promotional photo from PolarPro

Intrigued, I decided I wanted to give the CineFlow filter a try.  But for which lens?  Or lenses?  As of this writing, PolarPro didn’t offer the CineFlow in every possible filter size.  Here’s some guidance PolarPro provides on the CineFlow:

Based on this guidance I decided to order my first filter in 77 mm diameter.  This would allow me to test not only a couple of different lenses, but also what impact if any using a step up ring would have with the filter.  77mm would natively fit my RF 70-200mm f2.8, but also my EF 35mm f1.4 using a 72mm to 77mm step up ring.

I was anxious to open the shipping box when the filter arrived – I fully expected “premium packaging.”  On the plus side, the velcro pouch for the filter is top notch, and features identifying labels incorporated into the pouch, including the size of the filter.  It’s fantastic – my K&F filters include a somewhat similar pouch but I always have to use my label maker to properly identify the filter in the pouch.  The box also included what could loosely be described as a cleaning cloth.  I say “loosely” because there’s no way I’d use it on any expensive glass.  Maybe it’s microfiber, but it feels like no other microfiber cloth I own.  But at least it has the PolarPro logo.

Getting on to the filter itself, the first thing you notice is that the glass element on this filter is thicker than Mr. Magoo’s glasses (Google Mr. Magoo if you’re under 45 years old).  It’s got some definite heft too it as well – it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.  The quality of construction of the CineFlow filters is excellent – It’s extremely well machined and has anodized metal elements for aesthetic appeal.

SPEED BLUR?

The first test shots I took were with a 77mm CineFlow filter on my Canon 70-200 f2.8.  As it’s currently January and below zero with nearly two feet of snow on the ground here in Ohio, I did not venture outside to take test photos.  But I did take some test product photos indoors using one of my watches:

The first thing I learned using this filter is that focusing with the Cineflow is extremely difficult.  Forget auto focus…even Canon’s manual assist isn’t accurate due the effect created by this filter.  I had to punch in using the zoom feature to visually confirm focus. Based on this, I would think it would be really difficult to use this lens hand held – even with a much larger subject.  My guess is I’ll need to use at least a monopod if not a tripod in conjunction with this filter.  An alternative approach would be to set focus first and then install the filter – but this approach would on my work in a situation where both the photographer in the subject were fixed and not moving.

Once you get the focus dialed in, then you rotate the filter to position the streaks where you want them.  In the above photo, it appears as though my subject watch has moved from the left side of the screen to the center.  But you can play around with the directionality of the streaks.  I call this one, “Beam Me Up Mr. Scott”:

I tried using a step up ring make the 77mm CineFlow filter work with my EF 35mm f1.4. which takes 72mm filters.  The effect was quite different (much shorter streaks) and less visually pleasing to my eye.  Was this due to the bit of extra distance between the lens and the filter as a result of using a step up ring?  Or was zoom lens compression giving me longer steaks with my RF 70-200 f2.8?  Distance from my subject didn’t seem to be a significant factor – The streak effect was about the same whether I was close-up or further away.

With both lenses, I got the best results shooting wide open.  Stopping down the aperture on your lens has a modest effect until you get to around f4 where the distortion just doesn’t become appealing.

WHAT ABOUT VIDEO?

PolarPro of course had to work “cine” into the name of the CineFlow filter because anything cinema related is what’s hot and trendy right now.  But based initial testing, I would tend to think that there is limited application for doing video work with this lens filter.  Maybe for specific scenes or perhaps establishing shots here and there.  But I personally see the CineFlow filter as having more application in photography then video, despite what the naming convention might suggest.

DO I RECOMMEND THE CINEFLOW FILTER?

Overall I think the CineFlow lives up to the hype incoming provide some really interesting and unique effects which I think would be pretty difficult (but not impossible) to authentically duplicate in post photo editing.  I’m actually going to order two other examples in 49mm and 82mm for use with some other lenses.  Clearly, you won’t use this filter every day or with every shot.  But I’m interested in the unique and artistic flavor this filter can bring to my photography.

Here’s my video review of the PolarPro CineFlow filter on the ThruMyLens YouTube Channel: