X4 CPL 39mm 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.

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 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.

Wow! I guess I got suckered by all the positive reviews. As one reviewer noted, however, this is not a CPL filter. It is a straight-up linear polarizing filter. This was verified with both the mirror test and by looking at an LCD screen. I double-checked that I'm not making a mistake with one of my Hoya EVO CPL filters, and it passed both tests while the Breakthrough X4 CPL filter failed both tests. Hard to give it credit for being only 1-stop darker (verified) when it's not a CPL. Beyond that, the construction is nice, and it rotates smoothly. The markings are somewhat useless/confusing, and they could have some up with something better than hieroglyphics. In the end, I just used my finger position and rotated it 90 degrees. The red ring also seriously looks like anodized aluminum. I found it AWFUL to remove the filter, and it jammed badly against the Breakthrough X4 UV. Adding/removing a CPL easily is a must when changing light conditions. My Hoya EVO CPL filters are such a breeze to remove (and are slightly thinner). This is because the tiny ridges on the Breakthrough mount ring are basically flush with the turn ring. Ironically, I found myself loosening the filter while turning the filter clockwise (as I'm looking). The Hoya has the turning ring at a slightly smaller diameter, so it's easy to feel which is which and also easier to grip the mounting ring when you need to. Lessons to be learned here. I rotate or install/remove my Hoyas effortlessly without even thinking. This Breakthrough takes 5X longer, much more concentration, and binds/jams so bad that I just leave it until I could get inside and set it down. Ease-of-use sucks. The packaging seemed a waste, too, although the filter arrived clean. There's weird stickers here and there, and some of them coming off and stuck to other things. Not impressed with the packaging but not that I really care. I would have preferred a more practical travel case like the old school clear twist-lock ones. I might try one of the Chinese magnetic filters (and pray the optics are not awful) or just go back to Hoya EVO or HD3.

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!

Very nice CPL filter. It feels solid and durable, and does the job it should.